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Friday, April 28, 2006

The Friday Brain-teaser from Xrefer

The Friday Brain-teaser from Xrefer - this week: Punishment. Answers here.

1. What was the name for the wooden frame used until the 19th century to confine the legs and sometimes the arms of minor offenders, and expose them to public humiliation?
2. What is the name for the instrument for beheading which consists of a large heavy blade that slides rapidly down between two upright posts?
3. What was the cat-o'-nine-tails?
4. If you "send someone to Coventry" as a punishment or protest, what do you do?
5. "Running the gauntlet" was a form of military punishment which involved what?
6. If you rusticate a student from college or university, what do you do to him?
7. What is involved if someone is "tarred and feathered"?
8. What was the "taws" or "tawse", formerly used for corporal punishment in Scottish schools?
9. If you keelhaul a person, what do you do to them?
10. Which part of the body was beaten with a stick in the punishment or torture known as the "bastinado"?

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