...but I do feel just a little smug.
Tonight's quiz was set by two recent Oxford graduates who are over here volunteering.

The format of the quiz has single question rounds in between the main rounds where the first person to shout the answer wins a shot from the bar.

Their format was to show a quote with the first person to name the author winning the shot.

One of the things they showed was

"Honi soit qui pense" and someone shouted Descartes and they gave him the prize claiming that this was what Descartes wrote meaning "I think therefore I am."

It isn't, neither in Latin (Cogito ergo sum) nor French (Je pense, donc je suis.) If it were a real quote it would mean something like "Shame on him who thinks" (which would certainly be a fine motto for Donald Trump) but it's actually a misquote of "Honi soit qui mal y pense" - Shame on him who things ill of it." (More often given as "Evil be to he who thinks evil.") which is the motto of the Order of the Garter and used to appear on some British coins. All of which I knew and none of which I interrupted the quiz for. I just sat feeling smug that I got it right and the Oxford grads didn't. Score one for the redbricks. Of course smugness is no good without telling someone so now I told you.

What withholds you from telling them, Bob?

Oh, and kudos!

It would have disrupted and delayed the quiz while it was argued about and checked and my mate Neil had already drunk the shot!

Oh, and as it was one of the interim rounds it couldn't affect the outcome.
We eventually came second but the two Dutch teachers on our team contributed no answers at all* leaving it all to me and the Australian teacher, and the winning team beat us by a clear six point margin.

(*I lie; one of them contributed by changing one of our right answers to a wrong answer. It wouldn't have made any difference to the outcome though.)

quote:

Honi soit qui pense

Oh, I wish you would have said something. Google translate says, "Honi is thinking."