Tuesday, August 07, 2007
Trivial Matters
The other day, I went to lunch with some co-workers. For some reason, I made a reference to Thor Heyerdahl and Kon-Tiki. Everyone looked at me as if I were speaking a foreign language. (In a way, I suppose I was.) Apparently, they'd never heard of him. Later, I asked some other people (who I thought knew a bit of trivia) if they knew who Thor Heyerdahl was. Nope.
In another conversation, I was talking to someone who was about to honeymoon in northern California. He was asking if I knew anywhere worth visiting (because I'm such the world traveller! Ha!). I mentioned that there were two places I've always wanted to see: the Hearst Mansion and the Winchester Mystery House.
(By the way, I love the Winchester House, which was built by the heir of the Winchester rifle fortune. She was convinced that she had to be CONSTANTLY building the house to keep away the ghosts of the people murdered by Winchester rifles. So the house was under construction 24/7 for 38 YEARS!)
This guy gave me that blank look that I'm now familiar with. He'd never heard of either place. (In fact, I'm not even sure he knew who William Randolph Hearst WAS.) This just made me wonder why *I* know of these places. Why do I know so much freakin' trivia? More importantly, why do I want to know more?
I think the "problem" started with my friends when I was growing up. They're all pretty smart people who enjoy trivia. And so if you wanted to be the King of the Dorks, you had to know MORE trivia. (In fact, I remember one bus ride home from Great America in high school where we played Blues Brothers Trivia, trying to pull obscure facts from the movie. For example, what drink does John Candy order at the Blues Brothers concert? "Orange whip? Orange whip? Three orange whips.")
And so it started with movie quotes and had morphed into some horrible beast. Not only do I watch the History Channel and Discovery, but I actually TIVO shows on those channels. You know, so when I'm bored at home, I can see how the Babylonians engineered their civilization.
The other big factor is my love of crosswords. Crosswords are essentially a big collection of trivia. And the more crosswords you do, the more you recognize certain clues and answers. For example, "Heyerdahl" is a frequent clue because "THOR" fits in a lot of crossword puzzles. Interestingly, my hometown of Des Plaines is also a frequent clue because "DES" fits very well too.
I don't see this "problem" getting any better either. I think at this point, I should actually INCREASE my trivial knowledge. Hopefully, then, I can get on Jeopardy and win me some money. Or at least look way cool doing TNT Trivia at the local BW3. Yeah, I'll settle for looking cool (for once).
In another conversation, I was talking to someone who was about to honeymoon in northern California. He was asking if I knew anywhere worth visiting (because I'm such the world traveller! Ha!). I mentioned that there were two places I've always wanted to see: the Hearst Mansion and the Winchester Mystery House.
(By the way, I love the Winchester House, which was built by the heir of the Winchester rifle fortune. She was convinced that she had to be CONSTANTLY building the house to keep away the ghosts of the people murdered by Winchester rifles. So the house was under construction 24/7 for 38 YEARS!)
This guy gave me that blank look that I'm now familiar with. He'd never heard of either place. (In fact, I'm not even sure he knew who William Randolph Hearst WAS.) This just made me wonder why *I* know of these places. Why do I know so much freakin' trivia? More importantly, why do I want to know more?
I think the "problem" started with my friends when I was growing up. They're all pretty smart people who enjoy trivia. And so if you wanted to be the King of the Dorks, you had to know MORE trivia. (In fact, I remember one bus ride home from Great America in high school where we played Blues Brothers Trivia, trying to pull obscure facts from the movie. For example, what drink does John Candy order at the Blues Brothers concert? "Orange whip? Orange whip? Three orange whips.")
And so it started with movie quotes and had morphed into some horrible beast. Not only do I watch the History Channel and Discovery, but I actually TIVO shows on those channels. You know, so when I'm bored at home, I can see how the Babylonians engineered their civilization.
The other big factor is my love of crosswords. Crosswords are essentially a big collection of trivia. And the more crosswords you do, the more you recognize certain clues and answers. For example, "Heyerdahl" is a frequent clue because "THOR" fits in a lot of crossword puzzles. Interestingly, my hometown of Des Plaines is also a frequent clue because "DES" fits very well too.
I don't see this "problem" getting any better either. I think at this point, I should actually INCREASE my trivial knowledge. Hopefully, then, I can get on Jeopardy and win me some money. Or at least look way cool doing TNT Trivia at the local BW3. Yeah, I'll settle for looking cool (for once).
