Social Science Questions & Answers

‘Jack of all trades, master of none’ is a figure of speech used with reference to a person who is competent with many skills but is not outstanding in any particular one. The phrase was in common use during the 1600s and was used as a term of praise. ‘Jack’ in those days was a generic term for ‘man’. Later, …

Tabla, Tambura and sitar have one thing common that they are all the traditional Indian Musical Instruments. Tabla is a drum, the sitar and tambura are stringed instruments.

The Spanish fiesta of San Joan dates back to the 14th century and has religious significance. The riders participating in it or caixers as they are called represent the social strata of the church, nobility, craftsmen and country people (mostly farmers).

The best thing to do is walk slowly away and not bother it. These animals don’t see you as a food item and they won’t see you as a threat if you leave them alone.

Charts are maps of the sea. As maps show distances, roads and railways, hills and woods and many other features of the land, so charts show distances over stretches of sea, the depth of the water round coasts, dangers to shipping such as rocks and sand banks, tidal currents, the position of lighthouses, marker buoys and other information vital to …

The mammoth fed entirely on plants. In other words, it was a herbivore – like its smaller relative, the elephant of today. These colossal animals, whose name has become another word for hugeness, must have needed a great amount of vegetation to keep themselves alive. In a broad sense, the name mammoth has come to be applied to any extinct …

Australia is the only continent where venomous snake species outnumber non-venomous ones. Australia is also home to the deadly box jelly and blue-ringed octopus.

From mid-October to January, when the sun sets, the western horizon turns a myriad combination of yellow, red, orange and mauve. This is known as the winterline. The phenomenon is unique to Mussoorie and a part of Switzerland. The sun drops behind a false horizon, a grey and mauve strip, with a bright line of yellow and orange colours at …

Velafrons are possibly the world’s earliest beach bums. They were dinosaurs that lived by the Mexican seashore about 7 million years ago. It was a duck-billed dinosaur with a sail-shaped crest on its head. They were recently discovered by US, Canadian and Mexican scientists. Its biological name is Velafrons coahuilensis which means ‘sailed forehead from Coahuila’.

Traditionally, ugg boots are Australian boots made from sheep skin, with wool as the inner lining and a tanned outer surface. The natural properties of sheep skin results in thermostatic benefits. Thick fleecy fibres on the inner part of the boots allow air to circulate during summer so that the feet do not become excessively warm. In winter, the sheep …