These 38 brilliant examples of pedantic quiz arguments were anything but pointless
We’ve all been there – you’re so close to winning the Christmas ham in the festive pub quiz but an answer you know to be correct is ruled out by the pompous little estate agent acting as quizmaster. The indignation never goes away – you lie awake at night thinking of ways you could have convinced them and gone on to enjoy that sweet, sweet ham. So, when travel journalist, David Whitley, asked people to share their stories of rogue quiz questions, he unleashed Hell.
OK. This should be a megathread. What is the most pedantic argument you have ever had with a pub quizmaster over an answer?
— David Whitley (@mrdavidwhitley) September 22, 2018
He had his own example.
I have fought (and won) over Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte being the capital city of Sri Lanka, rather than Colombo.
— David Whitley (@mrdavidwhitley) September 22, 2018
These are our 38 favourite outrageous inaccuracies and ruthless pedantries [Not a word -Ed.]
1.
Got barred after fliping a table when my answer of “Raiders of the Lost Ark” was marked as incorrect for not including “Indiana Jones” in the answer. The question was name the film poster.
That pub closed down since, in the long run I won that one. https://t.co/jR0zo2Olax
— Bethany Black (@BeffernieBlack) September 23, 2018
2.
QM: “what was the 2nd most common name for a crowned monarch in English history?”
ME: “Edward, seven kings”
QM: “Wrong! 6 Georges! There were 8 Edwards and Henries in joint 1st!”
ME: “No! 9 Henries and Edward V wasn’t crowned”
QM: “still a king tho”
ME: “But not crowned 🙄”— Greg Jenner (@greg_jenner) September 22, 2018
3.
It was a tie-break question: ‘In which country was the famous Rumble In The Jungle boxing match held. My answer: D.R. Congo, formerly Zaire. The answer he had on the card was ‘Africa’. The other guy won.
— Matheius (@Shruggable) September 23, 2018
4.
I remember an argument about Gandhi’s first name. No way would the quiz ’master’ accept that it was Mohandas and that Mahatma was a title.
— David (@DavidMuttering) September 23, 2018
5.
We were actually asked to leave the pub because we ‘aggressively insisted’ that the answer to the question “what are the names of the two New York baseball teams?” was the Yankees and the Mets (which is correct), and not the Yankees and the Jets (the QM’s answer).
— Beau (@DrBeauBeaumont) September 23, 2018
6.
‘What are the five zones of New York City?’ We pointed out they’re called boroughs, and Harlem wasn’t one. Quizmaster only backed down because, by sheer weird chance given it was in a small pub in Stockport, there was an actual New Yorker in the room
— Ian Ford (@ij_ford) September 22, 2018
7.
Technically this was an argument over the question.
Q: Which city did the Romans call Jorvik?
Me, after the quiz, following the quizmaster to his car: That’s not the Roman name. It’s the Viking name. The Roman name was Eboracum.
Him: The wife does the questions.
— Ben Traynor (@mrbentraynor) September 22, 2018
8.
Quiz master: So, how many murders are there in the film Se7en? It’s six, because Sloth is still alive
Me: By that logic, Pride is a suicide
QM: No…
Me: Gluttony is ASSISTED suicide…— Andy Ryan (@ItsAndyRyan) September 23, 2018
9.
QM: What is the cube root of 8?
Me: 2 obviously, but also the complex roots, -1 ± √3i
QM: Only 2 is right and you get no points for multiple answers
Me: I have an actual doctorate in mathematics, I can *literally* prove I’m right
— So-called “Barry” (@QuantumPirate) September 23, 2018
10.
Name Dennis the Menace’s dog.
Me: He had two dogs, Gnasher and Gnipper.
Was refused the extra point for naming both.
(This was prior to 2008 when Gnipper was sent to live with Dennis’ granny. Gnasher also had 5 daughters)
— Periwinkle Jones (@peachesanscream) September 23, 2018
11.
Question ‘When was the first Fifa World Cup?’
The answer, according to the question master was 1950.
It fucking isn’t.
When challenged he said ‘I don’t know anything about football’
So that’s fine then.— James Cook (@jamesecook) September 23, 2018
12.
Question: Who was the first child of a British monarch to get divorced? My answer: Henry VIII. Quizmaster: No, Princess Anne, I said child of a monarch, not monarch. Me: But Henry VIII was a monarch AND a child of a monarch, that’s LITERALLY HOW A HEREDITARY MONARCHY WORKS etc
— Red Sky At Night (@redskyatnight) September 22, 2018
13.
That James Clark Ross explored both the Arctic AND Antarctic. He absolutely swore blind it was only the Arctic, even when I showed him the wiki and the Antarctic sea named after Ross.
Still annoys the hell out if me. It’s been 10 years.
— Russ 🐝 (@RussInCheshire) September 22, 2018
14.
My grandparents organised a quiz with cryptic clues for place names. One was “What newly-engaged couples do”. My wife was furious that Cockermouth wasn’t the answer.
First time they’d met her.
— Nick Lord Lancaster (@nlordlancaster) September 22, 2018
15.
“What colour is Manchester City’s home shirt?”
It’s blue
“Sky blue. I won’t accept blue”
— Alex Hannon (@Liffonmelsmork) September 22, 2018
16.
Which battle do the lines ‘once more unto the breach’ refer to in Shakespeare’s Henry V? QM: Agincourt. Me: HARFLEUR. How can you breach Agincourt? It’s a field! QM: I’ll give everyone a point. Me: *sobs* Three degrees in English and everyone gets a point.
— Peter Fifield (@PeterFifield) September 22, 2018
17.
Q- Tallest mountain in Africa?
A – Kilimanjaro!
No..I have to take the answer on the card … It’s MOUNT Kilimanjaro!
Fair enough eh? i could have meant Kilimanjaro underpants i suppose?— Kevin Caswell-Jones (@poshkev1963) September 23, 2018
18.
Music round. Played 20 seconds of Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Streets of Philadelphia’. Said ‘Philidelphia’ was correct answer. That’s the name of the Neil Young song on the SAME SOUNDTRACK!
— Dean Burnett (@garwboy) September 22, 2018
19.
We lost the quiz by one point after the quizmaster refused to accept “Budgie the Helicopter” as the answer to the children’s book written by Sarah Ferguson. Because it’s “Budgie the LITTLE Helicopter”.
— Craig Platt (@LastLaughBlog) September 23, 2018
