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English Inventions #1

Name these English inventions and discoveries.
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Last updated: December 7, 2019
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First submittedMay 12, 2014
Times taken22,317
Average score50.0%
Rating3.04
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Clue
Answer
Subsegment of the internet
World Wide Web
The world's most popular sport
Soccer
Faster way to clean your floor
Vacuum Cleaner
Edward Jenner's discovery
Smallpox Vaccine
Top ingredient in Coke
Carbonated Water
Faster way to make yarn
Spinning Jenny
Social movement that promotes camping and neckerchiefs
Scouting
The first element
Hydrogen
Invented as a way to break a trench-warfare stalemate
Tank
Ironically, this opening device wasn't invented in France
Corkscrew
Game of scrums
Rugby
Charge-carrying subatomic particle
Electron
Synthetic moldable material
Plastic
Using circles to show the relationships between sets
Venn Diagram
Before this, groundskeepers used scythes
Lawn Mower
Cheap floor covering that sometimes peels at the corners
Linoleum
Spiral structure of this molecule
DNA
Bessemer process for making this
Steel
Branch of mathematics simultaneously invented by Newton and Leibniz
Calculus
George W. Bush sent 1.5 million of these in 2005
Christmas Card
Symmetrik
+10
Level 57
May 17, 2014
I have a couple of qualms with this one. Firstly, plastic isn't really a moldable material. You can't mold it to something else once it's been set. It will just break.

I'm also not sure why a corkscrew is "ironically" not invented in France. Corkscrew isn't a french word. Cork isn't. Screw isn't. That clue makes no sense.

Lastly, are you sure sugar isn't the top ingredient in Coke? :)

joshneil
+4
Level 23
May 17, 2014
I believe the irony referred to with the corkscrew comes from the fact that France is very famous for its wine.
SpankyMcFabulous
+1
Level 44
May 19, 2014
Symmetrik is right...irony is where the result is the opposite of the intention...and is often used incorrectly (more often than not).

It should be worded "Funnily enough" instead

Quizmaster
+3
Level ∞
May 19, 2014
Irony can also be a contradiction between circumstances and expectations. In this case, the expectation that the corkscrew is a French invention. The clue seems fine to me.
McLerristarr
+1
Level 62
Apr 15, 2016
No one is saying they legitimately expected France to have invented the corkscrew. It's just a joke playing on the stereotype of the French liking wine. It would be more misleading to say the fact is interesting or intriguing. "Ironic" at least makes it seem more obvious that it's a joke.
segrasso
+5
Level 69
May 16, 2016
Yes, it's obvious that that was the intention, but the clue is still very poorly phrased. As pointed out, the origin of the corkscrew not being French is not ironic at all. It's not really enough of a clue to rely on people's minds instantly going to wine when France is mentioned and connecting it to 'opening device'. It's a bit of a stretch.
FlickerP
+2
Level 72
Sep 2, 2022
I also assumed that it was a French word and would never have got it from the clue, although it would seem that a quarter of quiz takers did
kalbahamut
+2
Level 82
May 17, 2014
I also guessed sugar first, then stopped to think about it, and thought of the correct answer.
eric29cocoanuts
+3
Level 77
May 17, 2014
I also tried sugar, and corn syrup, before getting the right idea. I then tried water, CO2 and carbonation before finally giving up.
AllenY
+2
Level 69
Apr 21, 2015
For plastic, well, considering that before the material was invented, "plastic" as an adjective basically meant "mouldable".
tom88
+1
Level 72
Jan 15, 2016
I think for the plastic one, they are talking about it's ability to be moulded into any shape before setting. When you make something from plastic you usually put it in a mould, and then let it set. a couple of the definitions for the word "Mould" actually include the example of a plastic mould. - http://www.thefreedictionary.com/mould - For the coke one, sugar is not the top ingredient. it's water. It goes in order of the amount of each ingredient and there is definitely more water than sugar. I think maybe asking for carbonated is a bit nit picky but that's just my opinion.
roleybob
+1
Level 75
Feb 29, 2016
plastic is not a material, it is a property
McLerristarr
+2
Level 62
Apr 15, 2016
@roleybob: Nope. Plastic is definitely a material. Hence why you can say "This is made of plastic." There are different types of plastic just as there are different types of rock. Both materials. The first four words of the Wikipedia article on plastic: "Plastic is a material".
roleybob
+1
Level 75
Jan 15, 2018
I was told by my old lecturer that plastic is not a material but a property only.

Looking it up now, Google does define it as both - don't know whether that's because it has entered common use as a material or just that my lecturer was talking rubbish

InterAlia
+2
Level 75
Mar 12, 2023
You should talk with your old professor about how the same word can be both an adjective and a noun, or can have multiple definitions within various parts of speech. Any educated person should understand this. How do people get so rigid in their thinking?
PitifulExcuse
+1
Level 56
Mar 18, 2024
you make a good point about the corkscrew. Wikipedia isn't explicit but it seems like cork stoppers may have been first used in France.

On the coke one water is the largest ingredient. carbon dioxide is a separate, smaller, ingredient.

Plastic is a word whose origins literally mean to be mouldable. It was adopted to describe the newly invented materials which had this property. Not sure why you think plastic isn't mouldable. take any object made of plastic (other than plastic film) and it's been created through a moulding process.

WelshWizard
+3
Level 83
May 17, 2014
Can you accept "Hoover" for Vacuum Cleaner? It's what most Brits (well the ones I know, including myself) call it.
Quizmaster
+1
Level ∞
May 17, 2014
Hoover will work now.
NekroNeko
+1
Level 26
May 21, 2014
Then you should accept Dyson also. Considering the bag-less vacuum is also an English invention and a lot of people now refer to their vacuum as the Dyson these days.
McLerristarr
+4
Level 62
Apr 15, 2016
I've never heard anyone refer to a hoover as a Dyson other than when they're specifying the actual brand name of their hoover. Calling a hoover a "henry" is a thing.
Cog
+2
Level 75
Dec 25, 2017
No, can you not allow hoover
FlickerP
+1
Level 72
Sep 2, 2022
Hoover is a generic term used for vacuum cleaners, rightly or wrongly. As stated before, 'Dyson' is only used to refer to it when it is in fact a Dyson
roncon82
+2
Level 56
May 17, 2014
Can you accept boy scouts or girl scouts for scouting?
Quizmaster
+1
Level ∞
May 17, 2014
Okay
Arron321
+9
Level 27
May 17, 2014
im sorry you cant do a quiz in which English people invented things and still call football by its American name
B1Bomber
+5
Level 76
May 17, 2014
Soccer is an English name from the mid nineteenth century. We just kept it on our side of the pond when y'all switched.
diondublinwowdoge
+4
Level 18
May 17, 2014
Soccer is an abbreviation for association football and it was created by British. The majority of the world adopted football whilst USA adopted soccer.
OfficerDibble
+2
Level 80
Oct 1, 2018
Plenty of us Brits still call it soccer - especially in areas where rugby is as popular or more popular.
FlickerP
+2
Level 72
Sep 2, 2022
Other than occasionally on the TV, I have never heard anyone use the term soccer in England
EcceHomo
+1
Level 79
Mar 5, 2024
Regardless of what the nitpickers say, football and soccer are interchangeable in British English.

American Football is abbreviated (naturally) to football in the USA, because they are, well, American.

Oddly though, until (relatively) recently, you could never get an English muffin in the UK. You had to go to the good old USA for them. And very good they are too. I first had one in Schnackenberg's Luncheonette in Hoboken.

TheShadow
+1
Level 7
May 26, 2014
Well said, Arron
Shikari
+3
Level 33
Nov 18, 2014
Soccer's just the older posh British name for association football, in opposition to rugger.
sadba5terd5
+3
Level 59
Jan 29, 2015
face it we have football, you have a bastardised version of rugby!
Maladroit
+2
Level 51
Apr 27, 2017
Heck, they can't even write down 'hoover'! Who are these people and what are they doing with the language Brits invented?
Djilas
+2
Level 82
Dec 17, 2017
Some say it was actually invented by the French
martay
+2
Level 70
Oct 6, 2023
English is inextricably rooted in other, older languages that are themselves inextricably rooted in other, older languages. Language ever evolves. It's babbling turtles all the way down.
eric29cocoanuts
+1
Level 77
May 17, 2014
Synthetic moldable material immediately made me think of Play-Doh and Silly Putty. How about "Cheap modern substitute for nearly everything formerly made of wood, glass or metal"?
joeythelemur
+1
Level 84
May 20, 2014
Haha, I like it.
brandybuck96
+2
Level 83
Oct 28, 2015
I tried plasticine, which was lucky as it begins with plastic.
scottyc
+1
Level 20
May 17, 2014
Come on is ven not good enough?
fantasticmrknox
+1
Level 31
May 19, 2014
Can you please accept “Ven” for Venn Diagram? I couldn’t figure out why I wasn’t getting it right.
DapperAlpaca
+2
Level 43
Nov 12, 2017
It's incorrect, there's no good reason to accept it
LarryLovage
+2
Level 55
May 20, 2014
The weird one about the "opening device" had me wondering if Americans had a strange French name for a Yale lock, or a mortice lock or any other of opening devices. I was only thinking of doors and windows when I saw "opening device".
aaron11778
+8
Level 57
Jul 3, 2014
Come on. You can't invent electrons or Hydrogen. Or the helix in DNA. The Brits invented lots of things. I'm sure you can think of a few replacements.
berlinbride
+1
Level 71
Jul 5, 2014
Amen to that.
LuckyPunk
+1
Level 77
Jul 6, 2014
It includes inventions and discoveries. Though they could expand the title.
ColoHarpare
+2
Level 50
Jul 14, 2014
It SAYS "Inventions and Discoveries". I know, if you stop to read that small print, it slows you down...but sometimes they help get the right answers more quickly!
Shikari
+2
Level 33
Nov 18, 2014
Can you not have soda or soda water for carbonated water?
Quizer
+1
Level 40
Aug 30, 2015
As far as I'm aware nobody in England actually calls it a Spinning Jenny
brandybuck96
+1
Level 83
Nov 10, 2015
So what do we call it??
sillie
+1
Level 77
Feb 15, 2016
It might be a question of taste, but I'd say Newton and Leibniz discovered calculus, not invented it. It's not like doing it any other way gets you results at all. You don't say Newton invented gravity either, or do you? -- Also wondered for a long time what do you put in Coke really? It's water, carbondioxide and sugar, not? Didn't think of combining the two.
coro
+2
Level 58
Jan 9, 2017
Try reading the instructions.
Djilas
+3
Level 82
Dec 17, 2017
try reading the clue: "Branch of mathematics simultaneously

invented by Newton and Leibniz"

roleybob
+1
Level 75
Feb 29, 2016
DNA's structure isn't a spiral, it is a (double-) helix
stylus
+2
Level 76
Apr 6, 2016
If this is an English quiz, could we PLEASE have soccer written as football? You Americans with your differen words... It's confusing.
MacZidane
+3
Level 65
Apr 8, 2016
Can we please change the title of this quiz to 'British Inventions'. The English might claim they invented football, but the earliest known football was discovered a few years ago at Stirling Castle. Also, the man who set up the first proper league structure in England was actually Scottish. ;-)
McLerristarr
+1
Level 62
Apr 15, 2016
If there's a quiz on British inventions, we'd need a lot more for all the other great Scottish and Welsh inventions.
loonapick
+2
Level 49
Jun 28, 2016
That's true - also until Queens Park, a Scottish side, came up with the idea of passing the ball to a teammate, the game was nothing like its modern counterpart, so I'd agree that the game is intrinsically Scottish despite the English claiming it.

A Scottish inventions and discoveries quiz would be great, as there are loads of them.

ruftytufty
+1
Level 79
Oct 12, 2018
The rules were devised by the English. The first clubs were English, The first league was English. The first cup competitions were English. The English football association is just called The Football Association for a reason. Apart from that, yes it's Scottish.
Hammerhead22
+1
Level 30
Nov 10, 2016
Some of these answers were discovered not invented.
coro
+2
Level 58
Jan 9, 2017
Try reading the instructions before complaining.
joshyking9
+3
Level 52
Nov 13, 2016
"Soccer" smh
Peteylovesgolf
+1
Level 65
Mar 25, 2021
Fun quiz, but some of these are discoveries and not inventions. If you want inventions, look to Scotland, we pretty much invented the modern world.
BigToes5563
+1
Level 32
Apr 24, 2024
WHY IS IT SOCCER? IT SAYS 'ENGLISH' INVENTIONS
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