The Quizbowl Resource Center

It seems like the middle part would actually be easier for non-linguists; people with knowledge of the field might, as Brice said, answer "Nostratic," which fits nearly all the clues, but someone who's never even heard of Bantu languages can fraud "Borean" based on the last clue.

Just guessing - because it's not notable in its own right, it's just based on a famous thing? Because all gettable clues are actually references to the film?

5. Braid - Seems good, but something like "2008 indie game hit" (or whatever year) feels like it wants to be in the final because I bet someone said Prince of Persia: Sands of Time or something at the end without some guidance as to how old the game is or what system it is for. You don't ...

Any criticism of the Amoros-Maxfield packet?

mlaird, would you be willing to split one? I can't do sports and haven't been able to find anyone to split with me.

Would definitely be there.

Playing with Ahmad Ragab, still assuming I can find a team for the main event.

I'm trying to work out writing one with Guy and/or Ian, will update when information is forthcoming from either of them.

I'm in, Surya, still assuming that I manage to find a team.

Aaaand I reread and notice the "doubles" part. fail, self.

Interested in playing.

Playing with Magin assuming I can come (ie. find a team for the main event).

Seconding the desire for a spreadsheet.

I may be going, but am not sure yet. Strengths: music (mostly opera), lit, some history. Contact Rebecca underscore Maxfield at brown dot edu.

Ditto, ditto.

DumbJacques wrote:[speech]

*applause*

Modified IPA would probably be better. In the same vein, we don't really need moderators attempting [ʁ] if they're not familiar with a language that uses it, and the difference between [θ] and [ð] is probably not so crucial that [th] is not an acceptable replacement. (And [sh] for [ʃ], etc.; [h] for...

Even the NAQT pronunciation guides aren't completely transparent – a first-time moderator isn't going to know that "aa" stands for /æ/ until someone tells them, for instance. Why not make pronunciation guides resemble an actual established thing (while obviously refraining from going all-...

I swear to God, if someone tries to make me learn IPA for this, I'll start throwing things. That's an angry way of telling the linguists not to touch this. As Guy has not yet weighed in on this, I can't guarantee that you're not going to need your throwing implements, but I don't think IPA would be...

As a Francophone who often listens to non-Francophones read questions, I would greatly appreciate this. (Italian too, but people screw it up less.)

On a vaguely related subject: are the editors that edit opera questions generally not music people?* Because, while I fully admit that there is probably no plot clue for Tosca or Boheme that I could not buzz on and thus things that seem easy to me may not always be easy, dropping "Soave sia il ...

It's still coming up as an attack site for me.

One thing I like doing is paraphrasing or translating aria titles and just putting them in like you would dialogue in a lit tossup, like "One character in this work asserts that 'the offended snake does not rest'* until it has taken revenge, then infiltrates a harem in an unsuccessful attempt ...

I agree with this. Another way of putting this, I think, is to suggest that if the aria has a very famous descriptive moniker (such as Flower Duet, Champagne Aria, etc.), that English moniker should be given. If its title is actually a line from the aria, that first line should never be translated,...

I don't think there's going to be a lot of support for always writing aria names in the original language; if nothing else, giving the names in English early in a question allows you to obscure what language the opera was written in, which can be useful for pyramidality. It's not the use of English...

This is, admittedly, something of a niche topic, but I hope there are enough music types here to discuss it with. In any case: is there a standard for writing opera questions? I've found myself thrown off on occasion when an opera tossup gave the names of arias in English, especially if an opera tos...