Question about meaning of "flying colors" and "featuring" in this driving related context

Question

Preparing to take your driver's test so you can get your driver's license? Bone up for both the written test and the road test with these videos featuring A Club Driving School; they teach you everything you need to know to pass your tests with flying colors (including that bane of every new driver's existence -- how to parallel park!).

1. Which one is correct while defining featuring ? Showing a driving school or showed by a driving school ? Or none of them?

2. I cannot figure out what flying colors is refering to.

3. What does bane of one's existence mean? ( I know bane is something that make one unhappy ) but what is the use of the word existence here?

Answer 1

1.Which one is correct while defining featuring ? Showing a driving school or showed by a driving school ? Or none of them?

"featuring" can usually be replaced with "showing", so this means that it is showing a driving school.

2.I cannot figure out what flying colors is refering to.

"Flying Colors" is a saying that means to easily get the best results.

3.What does bane of one's existence mean? ( I know bane is something that make one unhappy ) but what is the use of the word existence here?

"bane of one's existence" means something that makes you unhappy as long as you exist. It's a saying to refer to things that can make your life unhappy.

Answer 2

1. Featuring can mean starring or having in a big role, a phrase possibly coming from movies. In this case it probably means that the instructional videos were produced by A Club Driving School.

2. To pass with flying colors means to pass the test with a high score, so that you can be proud of your achievement. "With flying colors" is a metaphor depicting the test passer as a military unit on the march or a marching band with flags "flying" (another metaphor within the larger one) proudly.

   Some military flags, specifically the cherished unit flags of infantry and artillery battalions and regiments, are called colors (the colors of cavalry regiments and battalions are called standards). In most armies there is one color per regiment or battalion, but the US and UK armies and those influenced by them have two colors (or colours) per unit.

3. The original and obsolete meaning of bane was something that killed someone. It is still used that way in fantasy novels. Thus in The Lord of the Rings the balrog (an evil demon) that killed King Durin VI of Moria and drove the Dwarves out of their underground city is called "Durin's Bane" by the Dwarves.

   So when "bane" still had its original meaning calling something the bane of someone's existence meant it really annoyed or troubled him and thus metaphorically killed him.