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Only Connect (BBC4) [Part 2]


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Old 29-10-2013, 15:33
Rorschach
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The Wiki page on Halloween is up to 14 pages of archives! The actual article is barely longer than a couple of pages (and about the same again for the list of references).


I thought Jeff's comment was he hadn't heard of the word copacetic, but that was because the word was an American import just like the word Halloween.

I merely pointed out that whilst copacetic might be an American word Halloween was not, being Scottish in origin.

(In a similar way that calling the season Fall isn't really an Americanisation as it's the word used in England when the pilgrims left so they took it with them. Whilst they were away we changed to using Autumn whilst they kept Fall. So "the Fall" is in fact more traditional than Autumn)
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Old 29-10-2013, 15:38
lundavra
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I was very smug when I got the Delia question right on the first clue
I was trying to decide whether it was just Delia or if some had been affected by other TV cooks. Sure they also have been runs on items after Nigella has featured them.
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Old 29-10-2013, 15:41
atg
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(In a similar way that calling the season Fall isn't really an Americanisation as it's the word used in England when the pilgrims left so they took it with them. Whilst they were away we changed to using Autumn whilst they kept Fall. So "the Fall" is in fact more traditional than Autumn)
And don't get me started on "soccer".
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Old 29-10-2013, 15:47
lundavra
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Actually the word Halloween is Scottish.
It goes back quite a time with -eve -even or e'e at the end before the Scottish dialect version with -een became more widely use but the original word itself is exclusively Scottish. First recorded use (not the Scottish dialect spelling) is in the 16th Century by an English writer.
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Old 29-10-2013, 16:11
davidbod
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Wasn't that a recycled question? I'm sure they've had it or a very similar one on a previous episode.
There's usually one or two space/astronomy ones per series. Last series we had one about phases of the Moon (new, crescent, quarter, gibbous).
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Old 29-10-2013, 16:33
coughthecat
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Of course, but do you accept that some things are definitely more obscure than others? That omelette pan thing was hard to avoid at the time, and Chris Chattaway was certainly very well known, and I am surprised that people selected for their exceptional knowledge and quizzing abilities would not have recognised either.
Well, yes and no!

What you'll often find with these people who have "exceptional knowledge and quizzing abilities" is that they know loads of stuff about Russian authors or 18th century playwrights, but ask them to name a hit by One Direction and they won't have a clue! (Neither do I, by the way!)

Nobody knows everything (except for my boss at work, and he's an idiot!) so it depends on the individual's areas of interest.

For example, I vaguely remember hearing about the cranberries, but I had never heard of the omelette pans or other stuff ... and I don't walk around with my eyes and ears closed! I'm just not interested in what Delia says and does, so it passed me by!

I did get the Chris Chataway one on the first clue however, because I did know he was one of the first to run a sub-4 minute mile, so "4th: Chris Chataway" was obvious ... to me.
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Old 29-10-2013, 16:37
Paul_DNAP
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And don't get me started on "soccer".
The term soccer originated in England, first appearing in the 1880s as an Oxford "-er" from "association football".
Has a similar root to the term "rugger" for "Rugby Football".
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Old 29-10-2013, 17:09
atg
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The term soccer originated in England, first appearing in the 1880s as an Oxford "-er" from "association football".
Has a similar root to the term "rugger" for "Rugby Football".
Yes, well of course I know that, but you try telling the young people of today that, and they won't believe you. They get quite angry these days if you call it soccer.
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Old 29-10-2013, 17:14
atg
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For example, I vaguely remember hearing about the cranberries, but I had never heard of the omelette pans or other stuff ... and I don't walk around with my eyes and ears closed! I'm just not interested in what Delia says and does, so it passed me by!
But that's the point, it was all over the news, so even if you'd never heard of Delia it passed into popular culture, as I believe it's called. And while I'm forced against my will to be aware of One Direction (I understand they are some sort of beat combo), I couldn't tell you any of their hits. And as a matter of fact, these teams probably would be able to tell you one of those, because that is exactly the sort of obscure fact they will have noted in anticipation of getting a question on it, whereas the Delia thing doesn't really fall into that category.
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Old 29-10-2013, 17:23
Heston Veston
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It goes back quite a time with -eve -even or e'e at the end before the Scottish dialect version with -een became more widely use but the original word itself is exclusively Scottish. First recorded use (not the Scottish dialect spelling) is in the 16th Century by an English writer.
Wonder how the Scottish form became more popular - I imagine Halloween rolls off the tongue better than All Hallow's Eve. Of course, it's Trick or Treat these days...
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Old 29-10-2013, 18:42
Granny McSmith
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Wonder how the Scottish form became more popular - I imagine Halloween rolls off the tongue better than All Hallow's Eve. Of course, it's Trick or Treat these days...
It's always been called Mischief Night, in Lancashire. (And Yorkshire, I believe).
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Old 29-10-2013, 20:31
lundavra
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It's always been called Mischief Night, in Lancashire. (And Yorkshire, I believe).
Mischief Neet according to my Yorkshire Dictionary as well as Nutty-Crack Neet, Cakin' Neet and Saumas.

Only Mischief Night in the Lancashire Dictionary.
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Old 29-10-2013, 21:37
johnny_t
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Just watching it now, but here's a quick question for Davidbod....

Having got Monica, Erica, Rita, I would have gone for (e.g.) Tia Carrere, as having 6-letter, 5-letter, 4-letter etc. names ending in 'a'.

What would have happened in those circumstances ? Would I be just plain wrong, would I have got points for 'a' sequence, or something else ?
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Old 29-10-2013, 22:35
davidbod
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Just watching it now, but here's a quick question for Davidbod....

Having got Monica, Erica, Rita, I would have gone for (e.g.) Tia Carrere, as having 6-letter, 5-letter, 4-letter etc. names ending in 'a'.

What would have happened in those circumstances ? Would I be just plain wrong, would I have got points for 'a' sequence, or something else ?
I think we'd probably give that - there's definitely a logic to it.

In reply to the previous post, usually MIschief NIght is regarded as the night before Hallowe'en.
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Old 30-10-2013, 00:44
lundavra
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I think we'd probably give that - there's definitely a logic to it.

In reply to the previous post, usually MIschief NIght is regarded as the night before Hallowe'en.
My Yorkshire Dictionary has it on 4th November though it seems to suggest that might have moved there from Halloween / All Souls' Eve. But my Lancashire Dictionary has it on Halloween / All Souls' Eve
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Old 30-10-2013, 10:08
davidbod
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My Yorkshire Dictionary has it on 4th November though it seems to suggest that might have moved there from Halloween / All Souls' Eve. But my Lancashire Dictionary has it on Halloween / All Souls' Eve
Actually, you're right. We used this as a sequence clue a series or two ago but it was "Devil's Night" in the US which is October 30th.

The OED seems comprehensive on this matter: "an evening, orig. 30 April, now 4 November or 31 October (Halloween), on which children traditionally indulge in mischievous pranks".
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Old 30-10-2013, 10:59
The Gatherer
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And don't get me started on "soccer".
"Soccer" is actually English, being derived from Association Football, with "Rugger" being derived from "Rugby Football". In the Sixties it was in common use in England. Just because Americans use the word to distinguish it from American Football doesn't make it any less English.

EDIT: I see this point has already been made. Apologies.
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Old 30-10-2013, 11:11
Heston Veston
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Actually, you're right. We used this as a sequence clue a series or two ago but it was "Devil's Night" in the US which is October 30th.

The OED seems comprehensive on this matter: "an evening, orig. 30 April, now 4 November or 31 October (Halloween), on which children traditionally indulge in mischievous pranks".
In parts of Scotland it's also known as 'guising', presumably derived from 'disguise'. In my day you simply got dressed up in whatever came to hand around the house - none of this buying in ready-made costumes! And your lantern was a hollowed-out turnip (or swede) - a task which probably resulted in long-term ligament damage amongst the population.
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Old 30-10-2013, 11:23
degsyhufc
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Yes, well of course I know that, but you try telling the young people of today that, and they won't believe you. They get quite angry these days if you call it soccer.
Plenty of young people will be familiar with the use of soccer in place of football due to Sky's Soccer AM, Soccer Saturday and Soccer Special.
In fact Sky go all out on their coverage with the Soccer Centre and the Soccer 6 competition and Soccerettes.

For all I know it was only used for alliterative purposes but it still gets an outing in British language.
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Old 30-10-2013, 12:45
Heston Veston
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Plenty of young people will be familiar with the use of soccer in place of football due to Sky's Soccer AM, Soccer Saturday and Soccer Special.
In fact Sky go all out on their coverage with the Soccer Centre and the Soccer 6 competition and Soccerettes.

For all I know it was only used for alliterative purposes but it still gets an outing in British language.
There's a Dickie Davies (of 'World of Sport' fame) blooper where he attempts to pronounce 'world cup soccer' and it comes out sounding rather rude...
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Old 30-10-2013, 17:00
Granny McSmith
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Actually, you're right. We used this as a sequence clue a series or two ago but it was "Devil's Night" in the US which is October 30th.

The OED seems comprehensive on this matter: "an evening, orig. 30 April, now 4 November or 31 October (Halloween), on which children traditionally indulge in mischievous pranks".
We used to go "Molly Dancing" on April 30th in Manchester when I was growing up, as iirc. Similar to Mischief Night.
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Old 30-10-2013, 22:05
rcolfer
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Hi Digital Spies. Long-time reader (of this thread), first time poster.

Had to register at long last mostly as some people were having a pop at the captain of the 'Press Gang', Robin Seavill. Just so you know, he's a smart guy. You may have seen him on 15 to 1, or more recently on Mastermind in two series - including a semi-final appearance a few years ago. The comments about him being 'humourless' are harsh. He has a wicked (dirty) sense of humour and is a pleasure to work with. On the two questions that timed out we weren't going to guess the right answer, so we lost nothing. True, it would have been better to guess something - but Robin was a little bit off his game, it happens. We didn't have a great run at any point and it was getting him down. We did *very* well in the audition and the actual show wasn't going to plan.

While I'm here:

Vicky's pronunciation of Don Quixote just sounded wrong to me. At the time, and since. I don't think you can reinterpret how to say someone's name. Imagine you met the (fictional) guy:

DQ: "Hi, I'm Don Quixote!" (sounds like Key-ho-tay)
You: "Hmm, how do you spell that?"
DQ: *Writes Don Quixote*
You: "Oh, Don Quicks-oat!"
DQ: ...

Random analysis/sour grapes:

I agree that the number of holes question in our first show (four-hole button, bowling ball) was dead easy!

I think Mambo No 5 was brutally hard. Even if you'd just written out 'Monica' 'Erica' 'Rita' you've made the question far easier but you're still trying to pick out the first four similar-sounding names of seven in the chorus (not the whole song) of a hit from 14 years earlier. Vicky *really* wanted to give them the point for 'Christine Keeler' but she got overruled, by the way.

I'm not interested in cooking, so it's a shame we had so many cookery questions! I pay no attention to Delia Smith except when she's shouting at the crowd in Norwich. 'Omelette Pans' did indeed pass me by completely. I constantly watch and read the news, so maybe my brain just refused to accept the fact that a huge number of people would go and buy something pointless because they were told to. I may have subconsciously blocked it out. To be honest, the 'cranberries' thing is vaguely familiar, but that's not enough to make a connection.

In Monday's heat we would (if I'd got my way!) have gone in for the correct answer on the first clue on "4th: Chris Chataway", "4: A Feast for Crows" and "P---HER" but they weren't our questions. We picked four of the five questions that neither team answered correctly. I still feel pretty sick about it to be honest.

Closing stuff:

We had a great time, the crew were very nice to us, it's the most fun I've had while involved with telly (though that's only first out of two!). I'd encourage you all to apply next time it's open. You'll get on BBC2, not BBC4, for one thing!
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Old 30-10-2013, 22:18
davidbod
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The Byron poem is most definitely pronounced 'Quick-soat' (VCM can give you chapter and verse on that). For the Cervantes, you can take your pick.
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Old 04-11-2013, 21:00
10monty
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Can't take to either of these teams tonight, but especially Jamie.
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Old 04-11-2013, 21:09
HarrisonMarks
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Can't take to either of these teams tonight, but especially Jamie.
Love the idea of him eating cheese from a Billy Goat.
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