Akkan Just Miss - Fourth Edition

May the fourth be with you!

What tongue-in-cheek name is

used for rocks that are incorrectly

thought to be meteorites?

Meteowrongs

Which Ramone (albeit misspelt)

featured in the Steve Miller

Band album Brave New World

as a special guest vocalist and

bass guitarist?

Paul ‘Ramone’ McCartney

Melkuhaakodu is a popular Kannada

metaphor for reminiscing and conversing

about an old story over and over again,

mostly induced by nostalgia. The literal

translation however refers to a certain

practice of a particular animal.

What practice of what animal?

Cow chewing the cud

“Lectu Mihi Mars” is a classical piece

whose lyrics are in Latin, and don’t seem to

make much sense. That’s because the

composer wrote the piece for his friend, a

Bavarian baritone with a thick accent. So

when the baritone sang this song it would

sound like something else, causing much

laugher.

Who composed this piece? And what would

it sound like?

Mozart

Leck mich im arsch (“lick my ass”)

The piece in the previous question also

incessantly repeats the word “jonicu”—

that’s because, when said over and over, it

sounds like a particular dirty Italian word.

We very well know the Spanish equivalent

of this word, because it has passed on to

the English language as a loose synonym

for bravery.

What is the Spanish word?

Cojones

Pictured here is a Polish

Academy Award winning set

decorator and costume

designer

Though she has been

working in production design

since the 1960s, she came

to limelight for her Oscar

winning effort in Steven

Spielberg’s Schindler’s List.

What is her name that

makes all this so interesting?

Ewa Braun

Explain the joke here

He starts off with the Jaws theme and then after

the second verse moves to the riff from Can't Take

My Eyes Off You by Frankie Valli.

X was a diet suppressant candy which sold well in America in the '70s and early '80s. It was named so because it helped / assisted you in dieting, the spelling was modified slightly to make it easier to trademark the name.

But by mid 1980s, it sales plummeted as more people became aware of Y, which among other things reduced your weight. By late 1980s, Y began to receive heavy publicity and so X's rather simple taglines like, "Why take diet pills, when you can enjoy X" or "You will notice the difference when you get X" made it a sure shot failure in the market. The company was never able to regain its lost glory and went quickly out of business.

X, Y?

X- Ayds (Diet Ayds)

Y – AIDS

As part of anti-malarial campaign in the northern states of the island of Borneo in the late 1950’s, the World Health Organization sprayed DDT and other insecticides to kill the mosquito vector for malaria. During this campaign, DDT was sprayed in large amounts on the inside walls and ceilings of the large “long houses” that housed an entire village in these areas.

As a consequence of this effort, the incidence of malaria in the region fell dramatically. However, there were two unintended consequences of this action. There was an increase in the rate of decay of the thatched roofs covering the long houses because a moth caterpillar that ingests the thatch avoided the DDT but their parasite, the larvae of a small wasp, did not. Also, the domestic cats roaming through the houses were poisoned by the DDT as a consequence of rubbing against the walls and then licking the insecticide off their fur. In some villages, the loss of cats allowed rats to enter, which raised concerns of rodent-related diseases such as typhus and the plague.

To rectify this problem what did the Malaysian govt do with the help of the RAF?

A few dozen cats were parachuted into

some villages thus giving rise to the

many different versions of the

Operation Cat Drop story

This Bollywood “star-kid” was famously

overweight in is teenage years. In those days

he would often be seen wearing loose sports

jerseys made by a particular US brand. Thus

the brand name became his nickname as well. Name the person and the brand.

Arjun Kapoor

Speaking about what two simple yet

remarkable inventions, in a field where

women are often unfairly chided as being

clumsy or not skilled enough to carry out this

common everyday activity, did Sandi Torsvik

on an episode of QI rather philosophically

say "So women enabled you to see where

you were going and where you'd been" ?

Mary Anderson invented the windshield wiper, Dorothy Levitt first described and advised the use of a rear view mirror. In fact women have contributed a lot more

to hazard free, safe driving. Insulation

for spark plug, early version of turn

indicators, improvements to clutch and

carburetors, even coffee cup holders in

the door

The identity of the girl in the ad had long remained a mystery. Over the years, she’d been incorrectly identified first as Jagi Mangat Panda and then as Sophie Haque. The Sophie Haquemisidentification was even propagated by certain filmstars on twitter. The model is actually one Shimona Rashi.

Sadly, a divorce case - Rekha Deepak Malhotra vs Deepak Jagmohan Malhotra on 18 February, 1999 – found on indiankanoon.com is the only prominent reference you'll find online of hers (for her alleged role as the other woman). Even today, rather than her name, you will probably better recognize her simply as 'that dancing girl in the ad'. Which ad?

The dress worn by ballet dancers is known as

a tutu. The name was given (sometime in the

18th century) by those sections of the audience

who, on account of not having enough money,

bought cheaper tickets and sat in what were

known as pits in front of the stage. What is the

etymology behind the name?

Tutu means buttocks in French (a

variation of cucu).

In the late 1980s and early 1990s due to conflict with the military regime in Burma, many of the tribes in the country fled to the Thai border area and lived in refugee camps set up there.

As per 2002-2003 audit reports of the Burmese Border Consortium (a consortium of humanitarian agencies), a particular camp known as the Long Neck Section had become self sufficient and had received no assistance for years. What’s interesting is that their revenue got generated even without them having to work.

What was their main source of income then?

Long Neck in the refugee camp’s name

refers to the Paudang Karen

tribeswomen’s neck. Their income was

from NatGeo types paying to see them

and click their pictures.

Black Ivory Coffee is a brand of coffee made

from Arabica coffee beans exclusively

produced by the Black Ivory Coffee

Company Ltd in Northern Thailand. Explain

the name.

Consumed by elephants and collected

from their feces. Taste is said to be

enhanced by Elephant's stomach acid.

Harry Truman had a very poor eyesight from

a very young age. But that didn’t hinder him

from enlisting himself in the army and

ultimately getting accepted as well. How did

he manage to clear the mandatory vision

test in spite of a poor eye sight?

He just mugged up the entire chart

before the vision test

If you want to catch a cab in Jaffna, the

best place to go to would be the Jaffna

Teaching Hospital, where most cabs end

up parking by default. Why is this location

favoured by most cab drivers?

During the civil war, cabs in Jaffna used to

double up as hearses and ambulances

more often than not, and so they would

always hang around Jaffna’s only hospital

for their business. Even after the war

ended, inertia meant that Jaffna Teaching

Hospital continued to be the hub of Sri

Lankan city

In the 1920s, Bimal Mukherjee wrote a

book called ‘Du Chakay Duniya’ which is

till date considered one of the best pieces

of travel-writing in Bengal. What did Bimal

do before writing this book?

Went around the world on a bicycle

Mauritius

Trinidad and Tobago

Papua New Guinea

Vanuatu

Haiti

List all countries whose capitals start with

the word “Port”

Forks in Washington state is one of the

wettest places in the USA, and had been

the reason for its steady stream of tourists.

However, the number of tourists visiting the

place has shot up by 10X in the last decade

or so. For what reason?

Twilight series of books is set here

‘Blackfish’ was a documentary that pointed

stern fingers at San Diego’s Sea World,

and the notion of oceanic creatures being

held in captivity. The popularity of this

documentary has made Pixar tweak the

storyline of which upcoming 2015 movie?

Finding Dory

The demonym ‘Zonian’ is used

to refer to people from which

part of the world?

Panama Canal Zone

Ali Bin Nasser from Tunisia, and Bogdan Dotchev from Bulgaria. The last

time these two communicated with each other was on 22 June 1986.

However, they didn’t do a good job at that, and haven’t talked to each

other since and have both railed against the other in interviews with the

media. What was the reason for their falling apart?

The Hand of God goal

Charlie Victor Romeo was a

2013 documentary. Where did

the entire material for this

documentary come from?

Transcripts from various airline black

boxes

The four words that follow are “quam

minimum credula postero” which is Latin

for “trusting as little as possible in the next”

What are the two words that precede this

that we all know pretty well?

Carpe diem

The entire regular cast that made

Monty Python’s Flying Circus

happen, featured in this March 2004

issue Photograph in Vanity Fair. And

I’m not kidding about the entirety.

How so?

Graham Chapman was obviously a Dead

Parrot by then.

But his Ashes are beside Terry Gilliam.

They usually carry it to their group

appearances.

"Indira was out in Vijayawada, with Narasimha Rao, when Buta Singh was given three choices, one of them being an elephant. He booked a trunk call to seek Indira's approval.”

"The line was not very clear or, perhaps, Buta's Hindi pronunciation was so thick that Indira kept hearing elephant. She kept saying no to it.”

“The comedy of errors continued till Indira handed the telephone over to Rao. In a matter of seconds, Rao, master of more than a dozen Indian and foreign languages, understood what Buta was trying to convey.”

Put funda for the confusion.

Indira kept hearing Haathi instead of

Haath, and she said no to the elephant.

Eventually Buta was asked to say Panja,

and Congress(I) got its new symbol

Usually, male frogs excel at courtship croaks. Published

in the Ceylon Journal of Science, the discovery of about

16 Dancing Frog species from the Genus Micrixalus in

the Western Ghats, suggests that they use a Visual

mating call.

Should a rival male intrude on the display, he may get

kicked ( considering they have a 100:1 Male-to-Female

ratio, such foot-flagging becomes essential).

However, What is the main reason for this visual mating

call instead of the Croak?

The rushing streams of India’s Western

Ghats mountains are too loud for female

frogs to hear courtship croaks.

Legally, there is an Indian Supreme Court judgement on

bursting firecrackers till 10pm only.

What clause/clarification however allows you to continue

firecrackering way past that deadline though?

The Ban only applies to firecrackers that

produce sound.

Since radiation poisoning in the early 1900s was not very

well known, these indeed carried this element – thus

giving this otherwise-generic product an elemental name.

This is the name that many in the world (including India)

continue to call these shiny products by.

These days, phosphorescent materials and zinc sulfide

etc are used for this purpose.

What it is?

Radium Watches

Robert Benchley was a famous American Humourist.

Here is an anecdote about his travels.

“I have even been a travel agent, in an unprofessional

sort of way, I recall helping Douglas Fairbanks, Sr. plan a

European itinerary for the late humorist Bob Benchley,

and making special arrangements for him to visit some

friends of mine. The day Benchley got there he sent us a

cable which read:

STREETS FULL OF WATER. ADVISE.”

Where did he send the telegram from?

Venice

From this book.

Only one country and one continent are fowl-free. Pope Francis I regularly dines on skinless breast bought in the markets of Rome since there is no room for a poultry farm in the tiny state of Vatican City. In Antarctica, chickens are taboo.

So why does Antarctica ban the import of live/raw poultry?

An International treaty governing

Antarctica, to protect penguins from

common chicken viruses.

From a Kendriya Vidyalaya Circular. Whose Birthday?

Why that “Growing Aptitude….” name?

Srinivasa Ramanujan

“Growing Aptitude in Numerical

Innovations and Training” Abbreviates to

GANIT

What metric did Alibaba find to be a good predictor of

Online Spending power, the possible reason being that

younger people obviously spend less.

Women who bought larger bra sizes

also tended to spend more.

What does the License plate read, that is jocularly

described as “If it has taught me anything, it's

that errors pile up and accomplishments disappear.”

That is Alexey Pajitnov, the creator of

Tetris

The opening ceremony of which recent event involved A

Magician, two Balloons and birds coming out of these

balloons?

The draw for colours at Sochi World

Chess Championship.

Dudley Le’ Blanc, a sometimes-Louisiana Senator, was

the inventor of a Patented Vitamin supplement called

Hadacol – which had 12 percent alcohol and thus

consumed more for happy times. The name was actually

short for Happy Day Company, with an L for LeBlanc.

However, When asked about the name of the

supplement, he used to often dismiss it with a jokey line

– What?

“Well, I Hadda-call it something”

What two word headline pun is often used for Tennis stars like Justin Henin (over her indecisiveness about her weight) and Kim Clijsters(owing to her uncertainty over her retirement and eventual comeback).

This is so because the 2nd word as a noun is geographically associated with the first country-word, while as a verb it means indecisiveness/flipflop.

Funnily, this two-word term is only used in USA, and the original country has other names for it.

Belgian Waffle

SMBC had this comic

strip once. Reddit,

being Reddit, went

ahead and created the

subreddit

/r/ReviewsOfAnything

On this subreddit,

what was the

review/rating for “Our

Solar System”

1 Star

Make a surreal pun.

Salvador Deli

Fill in the blank with a four word phrase.

As the Crow Flies.

Explain the joke.

Home runs are also called as Homers.

The full name of the webspinner in EB

White’s famous book ‘Charlotte’s Web’

is Charlotte A. Cavatica. Explain

White’s choice of the middle initial and

the surname.

The scientific name of the barn spider is

Araneus cavaticus

KRS-One

supplying a bit

of made-up

etymology to

bolster up a

metaphor.

Identify the

two words

blanked out.

Overseer

Officer

Screenshot from a

video game titled

“Ben’s Game”, where

the object is to

destroy cancer cells in

an Asteroids style

gameplay. Who were

the unlikely publishers

of this game?

Make-A-Wish Foundation

In 346 B.C, Philip II of Macedon sent a

message to intimidate the Spartans. "You

are advised to submit without further

delay, for if I bring my army on your land, I

will destroy your farms, slay your people

and raze your city."

What was the famous reply from the

Spartans, possibly by someone from the

Spartan region of Laconia?

If.

This is the Japanese artist Megumi Igarashi

paddling around in a kayak of her own construction.

What is the kayak modeled on?

Her own vagina

This is the Instagram

post that has landed

Mario Balotelli in a soup

right now. What are the

two blanked out lines,

that have made people

shout both “Racist!” and

“anti-Semitic!” at

Balotelli, who incidentally

is a black man brought

up by a Jewish family.

What name was coined in a review

in Sounds magazine of a concert by

the band Moose in which singer

Russell Yates read lyrics taped to the

floor throughout the gig?

Shoegazing

The name for this place comes from the

Chumash tribe, who called it Humaliwo,

meaning “the surf sounds very loud

here”, which is a pretty accurate

description if you ask me. Which place?

Malibu

She made her on screen debut in the 1974 James Bond film The Man With The

Golden Gun (Pictured) and was also seen in the Italian Job. After this she continued to

appear consistently on television and films especially on several sci-fi related

productions like Dr Who and Blake's 7. By mid 80s, however, demand for her began to

dwindle and she retired to a farm that once used to be a studio where one her tv shows

was shot. Sometime last year, there was a real concern that she would become

homeless if someone didn't do something to help her out. Due to the efforts of two

fans, Rod Thomas and Roger Holmes, she is now has a new home. The duo feel that it

is important for future generations to know about her and they don't mind spending

time and money to breathe new life into her. Name her

Flossie (ICT 1301) - one of world's oldest

business computers. Thomas and Holmes

are two computer engineers who are

undertaking her restoration at Bletchley

Park