I'm not the best speller so I was amused by a Facebook post about the illogical spelling of "Queue" (Q followed by 4 silent letters). It piqued my interest in another "Q" word - "Quiz," and I discovered an interesting legend:
A man in Dublin made up the meaningless word "Quiz" and bet his friend that he'd have Dubliners saying it within 48 hours. He hired people to scribble it on walls, doors and windows, and the rest is history. It was first used to describe an odd person but evolved to our present meaning.(1)
True or not, this legend explains a characteristic of human nature: We're easily duped.
Joseph Goebbels, the evil head of Nazi propaganda said it this way: “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it."
There are many lies scribbled on the walls of our culture and many have been accepted by Christians.
We must compare all things with Scripture and avoid being duped (Colossians 2:8).
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(1)Some people doubt its validity although it is quite an old legend.
"Quiz" - English for Students
Origin of Word Quiz
I'm glad you said, "True or not . . ." There is usage of the word before that date, according to this article: http://comeheretome.com/2012/07/18/the-word-quiz-a-dublin-invention/
ReplyDeleteYes, Marilyn. I found sites that presented it as fact and others that doubted its validity. That's why I said "legend" and footnoted two sources with different opinions about it's validity : )
DeleteYou are a good researcher.
God bless you,
Gail
:-)
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