Tuesday, March 11, 2014 Game Recap & Discussion [SPOILERS]

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gnash
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Re: Tuesday, March 11, 2014 Game Recap & Discussion [SPOILERS]

Post by gnash »

Speaking of mispronunciations on the show, in my first game, due to the lack of brain-tongue coordination under pressure, I mangled "quadriceps" so badly it sounded something like "quad roo sips" and was deemed correct without a prompt, pause, or anything. Most of such decisions are very subjective. Most pairs of similar words objectively sound much more alike than we tend to think, and controlled experiments invariably show that most people cannot distinguish pairs for which they are convinced they hear (and say) them differently.

On another note, I was disappointed that none of the three contestants said "I'd like ANALBUMCOVER for $x". I am further disappointed that Turd Ferguson didn't comment on that.
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Re: Tuesday, March 11, 2014 Game Recap & Discussion [SPOILERS]

Post by Turd Ferguson »

gnash wrote:On another note, I was disappointed that none of the three contestants said "I'd like ANALBUMCOVER for $x". I am further disappointed that Turd Ferguson didn't comment on that.
I guess I was too annoyed with the contestants for not finishing the category to comment. I did run a TD once which had a category called "AN ALBUM COVER" in which contestants were to pick an album from the description of the cover. The cover described in the $2000 TS clue in this game was one of the options.

I wouldn't be surprised if the category was a deliberate Celebrity Jeopardy! reference. In one of the warmup games on my taping day, "THE PEN IS MIGHTIER" appeared in one of the clues. I was in the audience at the time and literally LOLed when I saw that, and was surprised to not notice any of the other contestants else doing the same...
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Re: Tuesday, March 11, 2014 Game Recap & Discussion [SPOILERS]

Post by TenPoundHammer »

One strange overturn that I remember is some guy who said "counterfeit" as "counter-fayt". They took it, but later overturned it.
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Re: Tuesday, March 11, 2014 Game Recap & Discussion [SPOILERS]

Post by gnash »

Turd Ferguson wrote:
gnash wrote:On another note, I was disappointed that none of the three contestants said "I'd like ANALBUMCOVER for $x". I am further disappointed that Turd Ferguson didn't comment on that.
I guess I was too annoyed with the contestants for not finishing the category to comment. I did run a TD once which had a category called "AN ALBUM COVER" in which contestants were to pick an album from the description of the cover. The cover described in the $2000 TS clue in this game was one of the options.

I wouldn't be surprised if the category was a deliberate Celebrity Jeopardy! reference. In one of the warmup games on my taping day, "THE PEN IS MIGHTIER" appeared in one of the clues. I was in the audience at the time and literally LOLed when I saw that, and was surprised to not notice any of the other contestants else doing the same...
IIRC, one show had an entire round consisting of SNL category titles. I'm too lazy to search for it, though.
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Re: Tuesday, March 11, 2014 Game Recap & Discussion [SPOILERS]

Post by Turd Ferguson »

gnash wrote:IIRC, one show had an entire round consisting of SNL category titles. I'm too lazy to search for it, though.
Yep. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celebrity_ ... ve)#Impact
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Re: Tuesday, March 11, 2014 Game Recap & Discussion [SPOILERS]

Post by sarah0114 »

I remember an episode I watched years ago where a contestant answered "aluminium" instead of "aluminum". They ruled it correct, then later came back and changed it. Every time I hear "aluminium" I think of that episode. I looked it up in the J-Archive and apparently this has been haunting me since I was eight years old.
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Re: Tuesday, March 11, 2014 Game Recap & Discussion [SPOILERS]

Post by koam »

sarah0114 wrote:I remember an episode I watched years ago where a contestant answered "aluminium" instead of "aluminum". They ruled it correct, then later came back and changed it. Every time I hear "aluminium" I think of that episode. I looked it up in the J-Archive and apparently this has been haunting me since I was eight years old.

Category: Corporate America
Clue: The "al" in Alcoa stands for this

Aluminium was wrong. Aluminum is correct. They're looking for the specific name of the American company.

Aluminium isn't an alternate pronunciation. It's an alternate spelling with its own pronunciation.
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Re: Tuesday, March 11, 2014 Game Recap & Discussion [SPOILERS]

Post by harrumph »

The clue writer must have been from Vilnuis
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Re: Tuesday, March 11, 2014 Game Recap & Discussion [SPOILERS]

Post by gnash »

koam wrote:
sarah0114 wrote:I remember an episode I watched years ago where a contestant answered "aluminium" instead of "aluminum". They ruled it correct, then later came back and changed it. Every time I hear "aluminium" I think of that episode. I looked it up in the J-Archive and apparently this has been haunting me since I was eight years old.

Category: Corporate America
Clue: The "al" in Alcoa stands for this

Aluminium was wrong. Aluminum is correct. They're looking for the specific name of the American company.

Aluminium isn't an alternate pronunciation. It's an alternate spelling with its own pronunciation.
I think that decision was wrong, because the clue did not unambiguously ask for a proper name.

An unambiguously worded clue would be something like The "al" in Alcoa is shortened from this word in the company's earlier name.
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Re: Tuesday, March 11, 2014 Game Recap & Discussion [SPOILERS]

Post by lieph82 »

gnash wrote:
koam wrote:
sarah0114 wrote:I remember an episode I watched years ago where a contestant answered "aluminium" instead of "aluminum". They ruled it correct, then later came back and changed it. Every time I hear "aluminium" I think of that episode. I looked it up in the J-Archive and apparently this has been haunting me since I was eight years old.

Category: Corporate America
Clue: The "al" in Alcoa stands for this

Aluminium was wrong. Aluminum is correct. They're looking for the specific name of the American company.

Aluminium isn't an alternate pronunciation. It's an alternate spelling with its own pronunciation.
I think that decision was wrong, because the clue did not unambiguously ask for a proper name.

An unambiguously worded clue would be something like The "al" in Alcoa is shortened from this word in the company's earlier name.
In Alcoa, the "al" stands for "aluminum," not "aluminium." How is that ambiguous? If Aluminium could have been accepted, why not Alabama or the Arab League?
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gnash
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Re: Tuesday, March 11, 2014 Game Recap & Discussion [SPOILERS]

Post by gnash »

lieph82 wrote:In Alcoa, the "al" stands for "aluminum," not "aluminium." How is that ambiguous? If Aluminium could have been accepted, why not Alabama or the Arab League?
Strictly speaking, in "Alcoa", the "Al" doesn't stand for anything. "Alcoa" is not an abbreviation of an existing longer name, it is the only current name of the company.

So the question has to be interpreted as asking what the "Al" represents. And that has two reasonable answers:

1) It represents the first word of the previous, longer name of the company.

2) It represents the metallic element with the atomic number 13.

The first answer is a fixed form, "Aluminum". The second answer is aluminum or aluminium, depending on which side of the Atlantic you are from.

There is nothing in the clue that would invalidate the second answer.
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Re: Tuesday, March 11, 2014 Game Recap & Discussion [SPOILERS]

Post by seaborgium »

TenPoundHammer wrote:One strange overturn that I remember is some guy who said "counterfeit" as "counter-fayt". They took it, but later overturned it.
Vijay pronounced it that way in one of our games. Accepted and not overturned.
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Re: Tuesday, March 11, 2014 Game Recap & Discussion [SPOILERS]

Post by econgator »

gnash wrote:Strictly speaking, in "Alcoa", the "Al" doesn't stand for anything. "Alcoa" is not an abbreviation of an existing longer name, it is the only current name of the company.
It wasn't in 1988, though. They only officially became Alcoa, Inc. in 1999.

https://www.alcoa.com/global/en/about_a ... istory.asp
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Re: Tuesday, March 11, 2014 Game Recap & Discussion [SPOILERS]

Post by silverscreentest »

I've read various explanations for the MacBeth superstition. One is that the pyrotechnics have burned down theaters. Another is that very superstitious people actually believe the witches call up real spirits or ghosts. A more mundane explanation I've read is that theaters in financial trouble stage this popular play as a last gasp at solvency. And when the theater goes under anyway, the actors blame the play.
Silver Screen Test, my movie trivia game show. Watch some of the episodes On-Demand.
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gnash
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Re: Tuesday, March 11, 2014 Game Recap & Discussion [SPOILERS]

Post by gnash »

econgator wrote:
gnash wrote:Strictly speaking, in "Alcoa", the "Al" doesn't stand for anything. "Alcoa" is not an abbreviation of an existing longer name, it is the only current name of the company.
It wasn't in 1988, though. They only officially became Alcoa, Inc. in 1999.

https://www.alcoa.com/global/en/about_a ... istory.asp
Ah, OK, that does change things. I thought the official name change came quite a bit earlier.
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Re: Tuesday, March 11, 2014 Game Recap & Discussion [SPOILERS]

Post by Woof »

sarah0114 wrote:I remember an episode I watched years ago where a contestant answered "aluminium" instead of "aluminum". They ruled it correct, then later came back and changed it. Every time I hear "aluminium" I think of that episode. I looked it up in the J-Archive and apparently this has been haunting me since I was eight years old.
As Gnash alludes to, the element's name in the UK is aluminium. In fact, our spelling of the name is nothing more than a typographical error propagated.
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Re: Tuesday, March 11, 2014 Game Recap & Discussion [SPOILERS]

Post by El Jefe »

Woof wrote:
sarah0114 wrote:I remember an episode I watched years ago where a contestant answered "aluminium" instead of "aluminum". They ruled it correct, then later came back and changed it. Every time I hear "aluminium" I think of that episode. I looked it up in the J-Archive and apparently this has been haunting me since I was eight years old.
As Gnash alludes to, the element's name in the UK is aluminium. In fact, our spelling of the name is nothing more than a typographical error propagated.
Hah! Hardly. Discoverer Davy changed his original name (for the then-theorized element) of ALUMIUM to ALUMINUM and the extra I was anonymously suggested later to conform with the by-then-traditional-Davy-IUM construction.

http://books.google.com/books?id=d6Y5AA ... um&f=false
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Re: Tuesday, March 11, 2014 Game Recap & Discussion [SPOILERS]

Post by sarah0114 »

Just to clarify... I wasn't disputing the ruling. I just remember as a child being really upset at how close he was to correct. If the clue were just about some property of the element, I think they would have accepted aluminium. But because the name of the company came from the American spelling/pronunciation, it was ruled incorrect.
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Re: Tuesday, March 11, 2014 Game Recap & Discussion [SPOILERS]

Post by gnash »

El Jefe wrote:
Woof wrote:
sarah0114 wrote:I remember an episode I watched years ago where a contestant answered "aluminium" instead of "aluminum". They ruled it correct, then later came back and changed it. Every time I hear "aluminium" I think of that episode. I looked it up in the J-Archive and apparently this has been haunting me since I was eight years old.
As Gnash alludes to, the element's name in the UK is aluminium. In fact, our spelling of the name is nothing more than a typographical error propagated.
Hah! Hardly. Discoverer Davy changed his original name (for the then-theorized element) of ALUMIUM to ALUMINUM and the extra I was anonymously suggested later to conform with the by-then-traditional-Davy-IUM construction.

http://books.google.com/books?id=d6Y5AA ... um&f=false
Given the modern spelling and capitalization otherwise in the book excerpts you linked to, I don't think this is the original edition, so we cannot be sure what spelling is Davy's original, and what has been changed in subsequent editions or printings. Also, Davy is not the discoverer of aluminum (he had a role in the process, but was neither the person who isolated it nor the first one who predicted its existence and properties), and even if he had been, why would his spelling be dispositive?
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Re: Tuesday, March 11, 2014 Game Recap & Discussion [SPOILERS]

Post by El Jefe »

gnash wrote:
El Jefe wrote:
Woof wrote:
sarah0114 wrote:I remember an episode I watched years ago where a contestant answered "aluminium" instead of "aluminum". They ruled it correct, then later came back and changed it. Every time I hear "aluminium" I think of that episode. I looked it up in the J-Archive and apparently this has been haunting me since I was eight years old.
As Gnash alludes to, the element's name in the UK is aluminium. In fact, our spelling of the name is nothing more than a typographical error propagated.
Hah! Hardly. Discoverer Davy changed his original name (for the then-theorized element) of ALUMIUM to ALUMINUM and the extra I was anonymously suggested later to conform with the by-then-traditional-Davy-IUM construction.

http://books.google.com/books?id=d6Y5AA ... um&f=false
Given the modern spelling and capitalization otherwise in the book excerpts you linked to, I don't think this is the original edition, so we cannot be sure what spelling is Davy's original, and what has been changed in subsequent editions or printings. Also, Davy is not the discoverer of aluminum (he had a role in the process, but was neither the person who isolated it nor the first one who predicted its existence and properties), and even if he had been, why would his spelling be dispositive?
Yes, Davy is more properly called Namer (though he did isolate several other elements). Do you have contradictory info that the earliest name was ALUMIUM from 1808? Perhaps someone else who printed the word ALUMINIUM before 1812? I'm not arguing against current or past joint acceptability (spelling variations are natural and a feature not a bug) just the wild unsupported claim that ALUMINUM was a typo. Supporting doc's Woof or did you look it up 'in your gut'?
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