"Pointless trivia" is redundant, isn't it?
Yesterday's story about trivia reminded me of...yes, it's a Pointless College Story! With trivia!
Senior year, I shared an apartment with captain_squid and a guy who attempted to call himself "Yang." It didn't stick, but it'll do for an LJ post. We had made friends with some young women who lived down the hall a bit, specifically one named (I believe) Molly...not great friends, but we would feed her fish when she was away, that sort of thing.
One afternoon, Squid, Yang, and I were sitting in our living room when Molly bursts through the door and shouts at us "You three! Trivial Pursuit, my apartment, now!" Which was a bit out of character for her, so we followed her back to her place, possibly to see what this trivia emergency might be. She had two other friends there, and explained, tersely, that Trivial Pursuit needed to be played, immediately. Still playing along, I said I was OK with that, and asked if she wanted teams of two, "every man for himself" or what? (I knew that a six-player game, with no teams, would take quite some time.) Molly just shook her head, "The three of us against the three of you."
I quickly took stock of our assets, and I could see the others doing the same: Phi Beta Kappa physics major (Yang), honors English student (me), other physics major with interest in sports and a photographic memory (Squid). Sure, we agreed. I'm reasonably sure none of us cackled or said anything like, "It's your funeral," but it took effort.
To be fair, we didn't beat them in a single turn. It took two. And they went first, so it's not like they didn't get to play at all. I can still remember the point where they realized that something had gone awry...one of our opponents asked the question "What is the most common surname in Russia?" and when Squid answered, "Easy. Ivanovich." he was accused of cheating...somehow. Squid simply explained that "Ivanovich" is the Russian equivalent of "Johnson," similar to "Jansen" in Scandinavian countries...which, he said, is completely obvious, said with the Smug Squid Face (if you've seen this, you know what it looks like).
In the end, it took about 20 minutes, and we were summarily shown from the apartment and told not to return. I spent some time trying to feel bad about the stomping we'd just handed out, but honestly, if there's ever been a clearer example of "they asked for it," I haven't seen it. Heck, they didn't just ask for it; they demanded it.
Senior year, I shared an apartment with captain_squid and a guy who attempted to call himself "Yang." It didn't stick, but it'll do for an LJ post. We had made friends with some young women who lived down the hall a bit, specifically one named (I believe) Molly...not great friends, but we would feed her fish when she was away, that sort of thing.
One afternoon, Squid, Yang, and I were sitting in our living room when Molly bursts through the door and shouts at us "You three! Trivial Pursuit, my apartment, now!" Which was a bit out of character for her, so we followed her back to her place, possibly to see what this trivia emergency might be. She had two other friends there, and explained, tersely, that Trivial Pursuit needed to be played, immediately. Still playing along, I said I was OK with that, and asked if she wanted teams of two, "every man for himself" or what? (I knew that a six-player game, with no teams, would take quite some time.) Molly just shook her head, "The three of us against the three of you."
I quickly took stock of our assets, and I could see the others doing the same: Phi Beta Kappa physics major (Yang), honors English student (me), other physics major with interest in sports and a photographic memory (Squid). Sure, we agreed. I'm reasonably sure none of us cackled or said anything like, "It's your funeral," but it took effort.
To be fair, we didn't beat them in a single turn. It took two. And they went first, so it's not like they didn't get to play at all. I can still remember the point where they realized that something had gone awry...one of our opponents asked the question "What is the most common surname in Russia?" and when Squid answered, "Easy. Ivanovich." he was accused of cheating...somehow. Squid simply explained that "Ivanovich" is the Russian equivalent of "Johnson," similar to "Jansen" in Scandinavian countries...which, he said, is completely obvious, said with the Smug Squid Face (if you've seen this, you know what it looks like).
In the end, it took about 20 minutes, and we were summarily shown from the apartment and told not to return. I spent some time trying to feel bad about the stomping we'd just handed out, but honestly, if there's ever been a clearer example of "they asked for it," I haven't seen it. Heck, they didn't just ask for it; they demanded it.