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Why young people often are terrible contestants

Posted: Wed Feb 27, 2008 9:21 am
by silvercamaro
Why young people so often make terrible WWTBAM contestants, according to USA Today:

http://tinyurl.com/yul7dv

Okay, no quiz shows are mentioned, but the outcome remains the same.

Re: Why young people often are terrible contestants

Posted: Wed Feb 27, 2008 9:45 am
by earendel
silvercamaro wrote:Why young people so often make terrible WWTBAM contestants, according to USA Today:

http://tinyurl.com/yul7dv

Okay, no quiz shows are mentioned, but the outcome remains the same.
Hmmm...

"Big Brother" - They probably think that's about the TV show, without knowing why it's called that.

McCarthyism - a fascination with Jenny McCarthy?

the patience of Job - sticking with one's current employment

No problem here... :lol:

Posted: Wed Feb 27, 2008 9:47 am
by peacock2121
My knee-jerk reaction is that those sorts of things are things I learned from my parents talking and me listening.

Now.... the dates of the Civil War, that is something different.

Re: Why young people often are terrible contestants

Posted: Wed Feb 27, 2008 4:20 pm
by jarnon
Youngsters shouldn't worry. TPTB will slant the questions even more toward recent pop culture and current events (e.g. milestones in Britney's life).

Re: Why young people often are terrible contestants

Posted: Wed Feb 27, 2008 4:23 pm
by Rexer25
jarnon wrote:Youngsters shouldn't worry. TPTB will slant the questions even more toward recent pop culture and current events (e.g. milestones in Britney's life).
I was about to ask "She's had milestones recently?", but then I realized milestones aren't necessarily positive milestones.

Posted: Thu Feb 28, 2008 2:15 pm
by etaoin22
Well, if 51% know that the controversy surrounding Senator Joseph McCarthy focused on Communism, they know wrongly.

I suppose, though, that whatever set of choices they were given on the test did not include "The behavior of Senator McCarthy", as the surrounding that had a focus.

Is the standard pronunciation of "focus" that from Candid Camera,

"With a hocus-pocus, you're in focus"?

I find myself putting the syllables almost equal, and then writing the past participle as "focussed".