Sunday Times Travel Quiz

[laila's dad]

Q 16. What colour would do you think a polar bear is? Do an image search, ignore the cartoons etc, and voila - they're yellow!

Q 40 d. Are we after two answers here? Korea is not a country.

Q 43. Does girning mean gurning?

[jno]

good points. I'm sticking with white for the bear, regardless. Both North and South Korea have a currency called the won, though they're different, like different countries' dollars; I guess either will do. According to an earlier answer, Scotland's version of gurning is girning.

[andy hughes]

A polar bear is black - its fur is white, but the skin underneath is black, weird but true.

[Chillum]

Scotland's version of gurning is gurning. Girning is entirely different. To girn, in Scotland, is to incessantly complain (especially in a young child). e.g. A child continually moaning, would be told to "Stop yer bl**dy girning!"

[jno]

Thanks, Chillum. The Scots don't actually hold a world championship girning contest, do they? If not, I wonder what the right answer is.

[Chillum]

not that I know of, but if we did, we'd walk it.

[gucka]

And can you tell me waht is the right answer to Q43 I can't find anything about girning.

[Chillum]

According to the online Scots' dictionary (http://www.scots-online.org/dictionary/search.asp), girning has the following meanings : girn   
  snarl, grimace, complain peevishly, a noose, a snare, grin, whine

I suppose "grimace" could (at a push) be the equivalent of gurning, but I've certainly never heard it used as such.

[gw1]

Girning/Gurning - The World Championship takes place during the Egremont Crab Apple Fair, Whitehaven, Cumbria - so the answer is 'England'.

[keyring]

Laila's dad is right - polar bears are definitely yellow. Aaargh!

[737700]

Polar bear fur is transparent, it has no colour. Polar bears look white because of the way their fur reflects visible light.

from www.yesmag.bc.ca/questions/polarbear.html

The page goes on to say that the bear's skin is black.