The Legend Of The Quiz

Quizzes haven't been around that long, actually - Britannica says that the first use of the word was in 1782. Compared to other words, that's pretty recent. The word used to mean "an odd-looking person." But another interesting thing about the word quiz is that not a lot of people know exactly how or why it was created. Britannica says that there is a story that lots of people tell that explains why the word was created. It reads as follows.

"A widely repeated anecdote ascribes the word's invention to Richard Daly, the manager of a Dublin theater. As one version of the story goes, he wagered that he could cause a word of no meaning to become the talk of the town within 48 hours and to acquire a definite, widely adopted meaning within a week. Accordingly, he had the letters Q, U, I, and Z written across doors and shutters all over Dublin. The subsequent public response led to his winning the wager."

This story is most likely untrue, though, and nobody knows exactly why the word was created.

Now you have some idea of why the word quiz exists. I hope now you have a newfound appreciation for the quizzes you play. Thank you for reading my first blog and have a good day.

www.britannica.com