MCMNT 2008 Discussion

[pray for elves]

Matt, in Hebrew the title is Moreh Nevuchim, which has no article at all and is usually translated as Guide to the Perplexed for whatever reason. Also, I think it was originally written in Judeo-Arabic and not pure Arabic, so you'd really need a scholar to answer that question (perhaps I could ask an expert here at Brandeis). Until that time, I'd always accept to] because it's a known translation that's in wide use in books I've read.

Trygve, I agree that the question length was fine, since it is a novice tournament.

About the Mike Sorice meta, I didn't mind it, but maybe next time throw in a few references to other quizbowlers instead of just six or seven references to Sorice.

The rest of my criticism was aired in the IRC, but I will summarize here: the Jew questions were not done well at all for the most part (which can happen if they're not edited by a Jew, and Illinois seems to have a much lower percentage of Jews on their team than most), there were a few individual questions that were not so good, and not to beat a dead horse, but copy editing made it very difficult to read for the one round where I did so, which happened to be the final for the novice division at Harvard (out of everyone there, the teams playing picked me for whatever reason).

EDIT: I edited this without having seen Matt respond, so note that the part of the first paragraph after the word "Also" was not there when he replied.

[Matt Weiner]

Matt, in Hebrew the title is Moreh Nevuchim, which has no article at all and is usually translated as Guide to the Perplexed.

Wasn't this work originally written in Arabic? I can certainly attest that, as a speaker of neither language, "Guide for the Perplexed" is the more common title both on Google and in previous quizbowl packets.

[pray for elves]

Matt, in Hebrew the title is Moreh Nevuchim, which has no article at all and is usually translated as Guide to the Perplexed.

Wasn't this work originally written in Arabic? I can certainly attest that, as a speaker of neither language, "Guide for the Perplexed" is the more common title both on Google and in previous quizbowl packets.

As I just edited in above as you were posting this, I'm pretty sure it was originally written in Judeo-Arabic and not regular Arabic.

[Captain Sinico]

...the Jew questions were not done well at all for the most part...

Perhaps you would elaborate?

MaS

[Kyle]

Judeo-Arabic is Arabic, just with Hebrew letters instead of Arabic letters. Everything that Charles said is correct, except that he forgot the initial definite article, which doesn't matter in quizbowl anyway.

[Sir Thopas]

...the Jew questions were not done well at all for the most part...

Perhaps you would elaborate?

MaS

L'shanah tovah and chametz are dead giveaways for Rosh Hashanah (see that "shanah" there in both? Yeah) and Passover. They led to frustrating buzzer races among all Jews.

[BobGHHS]

And to top it off, a tossup on wrestling. WRESTLING, for crying out loud! Its like getting kicked in the nuts when you have a hernia.

I wasn't at WoQ so I have yet to hear the set... but I can guarantee if the tossup was on the Royal Rumble, I would've powered the living crap out of it. Yes, the extent of my knowledge is baseball and pro wrestling.

[Sen. Estes Kefauver (D-TN)]

...the Jew questions were not done well at all for the most part...

Perhaps you would elaborate?

MaS

L'shanah tovah and chametz are dead giveaways for Rosh Hashanah (see that "shanah" there in both? Yeah) and Passover. They led to frustrating buzzer races among all Jews.

I'm sorry, but that's exactly what they are supposed to do - allow Jews to buzz in before everyone else. Hence it is a pyramidal question designed to reward the more knowledgeable people. I'm sorry if there are a ton of Jews in quizbowl, but I don't actually see any problem with putting those kinds of clues in leadins.

[vcuEvan]

And to top it off, a tossup on wrestling. WRESTLING, for crying out loud! Its like getting kicked in the nuts when you have a hernia.

I wasn't at WoQ so I have yet to hear the set... but I can guarantee if the tossup was on the Royal Rumble, I would've powered the living crap out of it. Yes, the extent of my knowledge is baseball and pro wrestling.

It was on Battle Royal.

[The Atom Strikes!]

I'm sorry, but that's exactly what they are supposed to do - allow Jews to buzz in before everyone else. Hence it is a pyramidal question designed to reward the more knowledgeable people. I'm sorry if there are a ton of Jews in quizbowl, but I don't actually see any problem with putting those kinds of clues in leadins.

The thing is, Charlie, there really are a lot of Jews in Quizbowl-- so we need to reward the more knowledgeable Jews over the less knowledgeable ones.

[sabine01]

...the Jew questions were not done well at all for the most part...

Perhaps you would elaborate?

MaS

L'shanah tovah and chametz are dead giveaways for Rosh Hashanah (see that "shanah" there in both? Yeah) and Passover. They led to frustrating buzzer races among all Jews.

Indulge this goyeh one second, but doesn't "chametz" refer to Passover/Pesach (in that chametz is leavened stuff that needs to be removed before the holiday)? If it was in the Rosh Hashanah question, I'd consider it a completely wrong clue...

[pray for elves]

Indulge this goyeh one second, but doesn't "chametz" refer to Passover/Pesach (in that chametz is leavened stuff that needs to be removed before the holiday)? If it was in the Rosh Hashanah question, I'd consider it a completely wrong clue...

Two different questions: one on Rosh Hashanah, and one on Passover.

[sabine01]

Indulge this goyeh one second, but doesn't "chametz" refer to Passover/Pesach (in that chametz is leavened stuff that needs to be removed before the holiday)? If it was in the Rosh Hashanah question, I'd consider it a completely wrong clue...

Two different questions: one on Rosh Hashanah, and one on Passover.

Ah, gotcha... Wasn't clear from the OP, since he had linked the two together. (Which made me scratch my head).

Edit. I also should read the post a bit more.

[Maxwell Sniffingwell]

Re: my assertion that I'd never seen a tossup or bonus on Guide (thingy) the Perplexed:

It turns out that there WAS a tossup, but I never got to play it. Figures.