Quiz Kid

A very smart youngster. A popular radio show during the 1940s and '50s and later a television series, Quiz Kids featured a panel of five youngsters, none over the age of sixteen, with extraordinarily high IQs. They answered difficult questions on a wide range of topics that were submitted by listeners. Among the panelists who went on to bigger and better things was James Watson, the Nobel scientist who codiscovered DNA. People used the phrase as both a compliment (“My son is so smart, he could be a Quiz Kid”) and sarcasm (“You flunked another test?—nice going, Quiz Kid!”).