The week before last, I had actually managed to get four of our team together for the quiz, but when I arrived at the pub that Tuesday night, only Martin was there - and that was how we took the quiz, just the two of us. The other two who were supposed to come never made it; of course, both apologized, and Martin and I still had fun with the questions and answers, but it's just not the same when you know from the start that your team is simply too small to have a realistic chance at ending up among the first three. Still, considering the circumstances, we were doing well, and saw it as a warm-up for the following week.
And on that Tuesday (last Tuesday, September 30), WE WON!!!
All of this year, we've not had much occasion to go to the quiz; I think we went only once or twice during the spring, what with me being away so much for my course, and everyone else being busy as well.
But now The Corner Shop is back - and we beat our "eternal rival", Lone Star*, with a tie question in the end:
What percentage of over-18s in the US are currently smokers?
Would you have known the answer?
There were some super-easy questions, which induced me to shout "booooring!", such as "What is the first name of Barack Obama's wife", or "In what country is the city of Recife". Others were harder, for instance "In which year did the sales of colour TVs for the first time exceed the sales of black and white TVs".
The prize of a bottle of Tullamore Dew was well deserved! Although I don't drink whiskey (I am never sure whether to spell it whisky or whiskey) on its own, the others insisted that I take the bottle home with me, since I am always the one to organize us for the quiz (maybe that was their nice way of saying that I am bossy and good at pestering others until they give in!). One of my team mates - a new addition, actually, someone who knows a lot about music - got a glass of coke and gave me half of it to add to the tiny amount of whiskey in my glass (we had to open the bottle there and then to celebrate, of course), and I discovered that it is quite nice then. Real whiskey connoisseurs will probably cringe at the thought of spoiling the good stuff with coke, but I'm afraid I just can't take it on its own.
Well, that was my brief update for today - it is my first home office day in two months, and I have plenty to do, so I better get back to it.
*While Lone Star are the type of people who take the quiz REALLY seriously and get truly upset if they think the landlord has made a mistake, one of them was good-natured enough to come to our table to congratulate. We thought that was rather nice of him.
Congratulations! While my parents weren't pub-people, they very much enjoyed quiz programmes on TV, and games like Trivial Pursuit... My little brother also always had a flair for memorizing odd facts and figures. I usually lost in the family context, and still don't feel very drawn to that kind of quiz-games.
ReplyDeleteI like Trivial Pursuit and similar games, too. It's been a while since we last played that as a family! I don't care that much about winning or losing, but I guess I'd feel less drawn to this kind of game if I always lost. On the other hand, I nearly always lose at Monopoly, but still like the game!
DeleteCongratulations to you and your team! Well done! I think it is spelled "whisky" in Scotland and "whiskey" most other places..And, no, I would not have known the answer to your tie question. Not at all!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the info about spelling, Kristi! So it seems it doesn't matter that much which way I spell it, there is no real "right or wrong" with it.
DeleteAfter I wrote that, I looked it up on wiki and it seems that only in the US and Ireland is it spelled "whiskey" and everywhere else mostly without the "i". But I think you're right and there is no real right or wrong.
DeleteAs I've said before on your Blog Meike I am hopeless at quizzes because my mind doesn't operate in that way (and I have, and always have had, a terrible memory). However I was only one year out in the year that colour TV overtook B&W TV in the UK and I guessed for the US (1 years out again) and, of course, have no idea for Germany. Where was your question related to?
ReplyDeleteThe question was about the numer of TVs in the US, strangely enough. Not THAT many US-citizens are left in Ludwigsburg since the US military presence was given up shortly after the first Gulf War, and certainly not that many of those still living here are regulars at the pub quiz.
DeleteI suppose the year would have been a later one for Germany.
By the way....congratulations!
ReplyDeleteThanks :-)
DeleteWell done on your win! But coke with whiskey???
ReplyDeleteThank you, Frances!
DeleteWell, coke with whiskey (or the other way round...) has been a popular drink for teenagers when I was one, back in the 80s. They used to call it "Jackie Cola" and it was a mix of Jack Daniels and coke. I never tried the stuff back then - I was far too clean for that and hardly drank any alcohol at all, except for the odd swig of Batida de Coco, Malibu or Bailey's. Too expensive for the kind of pocket money I had, anyway!
Congratulations on winning the quiz! Sounds like a fun evening.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Carol! It was, and I am already looking forward to next time at the end of this month.
DeleteCongratulations! Well done!
ReplyDeleteI’ve never played pub quiz but I wish I could. I don’t think they are any such matches in our local.
Thank you, Friko!
DeleteNo pub quiz near you? That's strange - maybe it is just my impression, but so far, everywhere I've been in England, even in the smallest village, I saw quiz nights advertised on the notice boards in front of pubs.
Well done you clever thing! I attend a pub quiz at least once a week with Mick and Mike so Meike would fit in naturally. By the way "whisky" is for Scotch whiskies while "whiskey" is the Irish form of the amber nectar.
ReplyDeleteTullamore is Irish, isn't it, and I've got it at the Irish pub, therefore it seems fitting to spell it whiskey.
DeleteYes, Meike would definitely fit in with Mick and Mike - but I'm afraid I wouldn't be any good at your pub quizzes. I know next to nothing about current affairs, celebrities, sports etc. that are UK-related.
You could just be decorative then!
DeleteI wonder...what is the answer about the smokers? I have no idea!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on your win! I am so tickled for you! I could use that whiskey for my cough, along with some honey and lemon! That is my Daddy's cure!
If I remember correctly, the answer was 18,1 percent. Four teams had to answer this tie question; tie questions are always to do with numbers that the average person can only estimate. The team that comes closest gets the prize, and our team gave the estimate of 18,5. The others answered 16, 17 and 19 percent.
DeleteThat cough cure of your Dad's would knock me out!! (Which would probably knock out the cough, too!)
I love pub quizzes - but there are some fiendishly difficult questions sometimes.
ReplyDeleteHello Biddy, if this is your first visit to my blog (which I think it is - or at least your first comment?), welcome!
DeleteYes, some questions are difficult. There was one in that quiz NOBODY got right: When the Spanish named the rocky island in the San Franscisco Bay "Alcatraz", what was that name based on?