Thread: Animal terms and people's actions.

Hello! I have a test that checks vocabulary knowlege. Here is one really hard question.


Text: Larry was dwelling on how often animal terms are given to people's actions. For example, graceful women are often referred to as having feline movements.

Question: Referring to the above scenario, which one of the following animal/human relationships does not make sense?

1. Joan Collins' ability to play the part of a vixen has won her many an accolade on the small screen.
2. People with bovine temperaments may be dependable, but they are not very exciting.
3. With ophidian guile, the woman stole out of the store in a matter of minutes without getting caught.
4. As timid as they come, Sarah ate the lollipop the lady had given her with lupine deliberateness.
5. Losing a big case always evoked a leonine rage in the litigator.


I have a feeling that second sentence is correct. Am I right?

Firstly, the question asked for the incorrect one, not the correct one.

Secondly, this is possibly the stupidest question you have posted yet, and that is saying something. I bet 95% of the English-speaking world doesn't know what ophidian means, and probably 75% don't know what bovine, lupine, or leonine mean either. Or care. So, if this is the sort of question you need to ask yourself in order to test your English skills then, congratulations, you already know the language better than most natives.

Unless, of course, you intend to enter a "who knows the most words" contest, in which case, keep going.

Thirdly, they all make sense, unless the person who wrote the list does not mentally associate the characteristics of the animal in question with the described human character trait, but that is totally subjective.

Originally Posted by scotcher

Firstly, the question asked for the incorrect one, not the correct one.

Secondly, this is possibly the stupidest question you have posted yet, and that is saying something. I bet 95% of the English-speaking world doesn't know what ophidian means, and probably 75% don't know what bovine, lupine, or leonine mean either. Or care. So, if this is the sort of question you need to ask yourself in order to test your English skills then, congratulations, you already know the language better than most natives.

Unless, of course, you intend to enter a "who knows the most words" contest, in which case, keep going.

Thirdly, they all make sense, unless the person who wrote the list does not mentally associate the characteristics of the animal in question with the described human character trait, but that is totally subjective.

I agree that this test uses hard words that most of native speakers doesn't know. I even thougth to refuse passing through this test. But if I start do this, I must complete it.

Surely, the question asked for incorrect one. I meant the nubber of correct answer.

I don't feel that all of these sentences make sense. It we take the fourth, we can see that girl is timid. So she can't eat lollipop with the appetite of a wolf. Here is another thing I'm not sure. Can we use the word "lupine" in context of appetite?

Originally Posted by Julienovich

Hello! I have a test that checks vocabulary knowlege. Here is one really hard question.


Text: Larry was dwelling on how often animal terms are given to people's actions. For example, graceful women are often referred to as having feline movements.

Question: Referring to the above scenario, which one of the following animal/human relationships does not make sense?

1. Joan Collins' ability to play the part of a vixen has won her many an accolade on the small screen.
2. People with bovine temperaments may be dependable, but they are not very exciting.
3. With ophidian guile, the woman stole out of the store in a matter of minutes without getting caught.
4. As timid as they come, Sarah ate the lollipop the lady had given her with lupine deliberateness.
5. Losing a big case always evoked a leonine rage in the litigator.


I have a feeling that second sentence is correct. Am I right?

It's the first one. It says that the actress is good in the part of a vixen, but neither her temperament nor movements are compared with that of a vixen.

Originally Posted by Полуношник

Originally Posted by Julienovich

Hello! I have a test that checks vocabulary knowlege. Here is one really hard question.


Text: Larry was dwelling on how often animal terms are given to people's actions. For example, graceful women are often referred to as having feline movements.

Question: Referring to the above scenario, which one of the following animal/human relationships does not make sense?

1. Joan Collins' ability to play the part of a vixen has won her many an accolade on the small screen.
2. People with bovine temperaments may be dependable, but they are not very exciting.
3. With ophidian guile, the woman stole out of the store in a matter of minutes without getting caught.
4. As timid as they come, Sarah ate the lollipop the lady had given her with lupine deliberateness.
5. Losing a big case always evoked a leonine rage in the litigator.


I have a feeling that second sentence is correct. Am I right?

It's the first one. It says that the actress is good in the part of a vixen, but neither her temperament nor movements are compared with that of a vixen.

Yes!!!!! You are genius!!!

Originally Posted by Julienovich

I agree that this test uses hard words that most of native speakers don't know. I even thought of refusing to pass this test. But if I start to do something, I must complete it.

Surely, the question asked for the incorrect one. I meant the number of the correct answer. [Better: I meant that number two was the correct answer to the question]

I don't feel that all of these sentences make sense. If we take the fourth, we can see that the girl is timid. So she can't eat a lollipop with the appetite of a wolf. Here is another thing I'm not sure: can we use the word "lupine" in the context of appetite?

Lupine means "wolfish", you can obviously eat something with a wolfish appetite. Also consider that the sentence "as timid as they come" might be ironic.

I think you chose the second option because that is the only option where there isn't a woman But the answer was specifically for human/animal relationships with regard to their actions. So number one one is right!

IMHO these tests you are given are 100% testicles ie total boll*cks
As has been indicated elsewhere, they use fairly obscure words in bizarre contexts - I don't understand how this really improves your English skills.
It makes "la plume de ma tante " French lesson stuff look good.
I have a copy of a locally produced paper for Russian speakers. Each issue contains English words and phrases in current useage on a theme -eg dating and relationships. This is quite UK specific but it would seem to be a more useful way of getting into the language to me.

I see nothing wrong with No 1. It's a stupid question anyway.
EDIT:
Oh it looks like I repeated me self. Oh well!! I will go stick my head in the oven now.

I see nothing wrong with No 1. Which happens to be the most widely used expression out of the lot. Joan Collins is a perfect example of a vixen. It's a stupid question anyway.

Obviously #4 is the only one that does not make sense. Since "lupine" means wolf-like, and a timid girl eating a lollipop could certainly not be viewed as wolf-like.
I do not think the vocabulary was difficult at all for a well-educated native English. All the words were common, except "ophidian". But no one could be expected to know every specialty word, or even want to know all 1,000,000 words that could be found in English dictionaries!! That's why there are dictionaries...and beer!

Originally Posted by Siriusly

Obviously #4 is the only one that does not make sense. Since "lupine" means wolf-like, and a timid girl eating a lollipop could certainly not be viewed as wolf-like.

As I said above, the opening of the sentence might be ironic.

Originally Posted by kalinka_vinnie

Originally Posted by Siriusly

Obviously #4 is the only one that does not make sense. Since "lupine" means wolf-like, and a timid girl eating a lollipop could certainly not be viewed as wolf-like.

As I said above, the opening of the sentence might be ironic.

I don't think so. You'd have to change "deliberateness" to something like "a lupine ravenousness produced by the sight of fresh blood." Then "as timid as they come" would be more likely to be ironic.

I don't think it needs to be ironic. I've always understood wolves to be timid around humans and human settlements, that's good enough to me to render the whole sentence perfectly correct. Besides which, even you could categorically say that wolves are in no way timid, that doesn't negate describing a certain kind of deliberateness as lupine.

As I said earlier, if the crux of the question comes down to a totally subjective appraisal of the personality of the animal in question, then the question is worthless.

Originally Posted by scotcher

I don't think it needs to be ironic. I've always understood wolves to be timid around humans and human settlements, that's good enough to me to render the whole sentence perfectly correct. Besides which, even you could categorically say that wolves are in no way timid, that doesn't negate describing a certain kind of deliberateness as lupine.

As I said earlier, if the crux of the question comes down to a totally subjective appraisal of the personality of the animal in question, then the question is worthless.

Typical animal characteristics are defined by the animal's behavior in its natural habitat, not when it wanders into a human settlement. When people say "That guy's like a wolf," they don't mean that since this guy is obviously in a human settlement, he's timid. If wolves are not timid, then the sentence does not make sense unless the timidity of the girl is ironically contrasted to her deliberateness. As you pointed out, a lack of timidity does not negate deliberateness. So, the sentence doesn't make sense.

It makes perfect sense to me. Even though she was timid, she wolfed down the lollipop because she was so happy to have received one.

Originally Posted by scotcher

Firstly, the question asked for the incorrect one, not the correct one.

Secondly, this is possibly the stupidest question you have posted yet, and that is saying something. I bet 95% of the English-speaking world doesn't know what ophidian means, and probably 75% don't know what bovine, lupine, or leonine mean either. Or care. So, if this is the sort of question you need to ask yourself in order to test your English skills then, congratulations, you already know the language better than most natives.

Unless, of course, you intend to enter a "who knows the most words" contest, in which case, keep going.

Thirdly, they all make sense, unless the person who wrote the list does not mentally associate the characteristics of the animal in question with the described human character trait, but that is totally subjective.

I was taught all these words in Russian in Russian class when I was in Russia. Quite useless.

Originally Posted by Baylissm

It makes perfect sense to me. Even though she was timid, she wolfed down the lollipop because she was so happy to have received one.

You can't "wolf down" a lollipop deliberately.

Originally Posted by challenger

Originally Posted by Baylissm

It makes perfect sense to me. Even though she was timid, she wolfed down the lollipop because she was so happy to have received one.

You can't "wolf down" a lollipop deliberately.

why not?

The correct answer is #5. The statement about the vixen is perfectly logical is you are familiar with Joan Collin's acting and American television; in which the term "vixen" is typically used and over-used to describe a nasty, conniving, seductive woman, i.e. "BITCH". Most Americans would not even know what the literal defininition of vixen is and its connection to the fox; but most would know what vixen means when it it used on a soap opera! And every American from age 4 and up would know what "bitch" means!!

Originally Posted by Baylissm

Originally Posted by challenger

Originally Posted by Baylissm

It makes perfect sense to me. Even though she was timid, she wolfed down the lollipop because she was so happy to have received one.

You can't "wolf down" a lollipop deliberately.

why not?

"Wolf down" implies a certain hasty frenzy. "Deliberately" implies a certain thoughtful slowness. But "wolf down" isn't even in the sentence, so I don't know if it's worth discussing. . .