The humble pub quiz is at the heart of a Twitter megathread about pedantry and controversies.
Quizmasters come in for more than a bit of stick as quizzers retell the times when they were right and those asking the questions were wrong, just wrong.
Or were they?
Here are 20 quizzers trying to have the last word.
1. The geography question which covered fundamentals.
“What’s the largest lake in Great Britain?”
Smartrarse quizmaster said it was Lough Neagh, not Loch Lomond, because we’d all forget about Northern Ireland.
Wasn’t having it that NI was part of the United Kingdom, but not Great Britain.
— David Clifford (@djhc2) September 22, 2018
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
3. Crowned monarchs, the subtlety is in the question.
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
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
5. Celebrated phenomenal pedantry.
That is phenomenal pedantry
— Danny Bramman (@db1957) September 23, 2018
I said Proserpina, the question master had Persephone on his card. He wouldn’t accept that mine was the Latin name and his the Greek for the same character.
— Nick Heritage (@oldnick103) September 22, 2018
7. Even on University Challenge.
I was on University Challenge, was asked which Greek hero performed twelve labours. “Heracles”. Paxman: “wrong, Hercules”. Me: “you said Greek, Hercules is the Latin name”. Deferred to producer. I was given the point but they re-shot the question because Paxman is always right…
— Mike Prior-Jones ?️? (@mrpj100) September 23, 2018
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
9. Bring in an expert witness.
‘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
We’d had such a long debate about several central Asian ‘stans too. Could have saved ourselves a lot of bother.
— Simon Edmond (@Tuckineddy) September 23, 2018
11. Revenge is a dish best served as a pub quiz team name.
The next week we went back, our team name was “They’re the Mets, Stupid.”
Every week for two months.
He didn’t like that.
— Beau (@DrBeauBeaumont) September 23, 2018
I had a quiz master refuse to accept that Usain Bolt didn’t win Olympic gold in JAVELIN once. I shit you not. Apparently he had to accept what was on the card. Javelin. I nearly trashed the place. We came second.
— christhebarker (@christhebarker) September 22, 2018
13. Excellent (taps fingers together).
‘What’s Mr Burns’ first name in The Simpsons?’
Quizmaster had Montgomery but we mutinied until he accepted it was Charles
— Greig (@GreigR85) September 22, 2018
Q – Name the fastest mammalMe – Free tailed batQ – Wrong. It is a cheetahMe – That is the fastest land mammalQ – We said mammals, bats are birds
Severe facepalms all round
— SomersetChris (@somersetchris) September 22, 2018
15. Water, water everywhere but not a drop to drink.
QM: What is the most drunk drink in the world?ME: Water.QM: I’m afraid it’s coffee, but I would also have accepted Cola Cola.ME: But it’s water. Obviously it’s water. QM: You’re not thinking it through. This includes cappuccino, americano, etc. ME: Yep.
— Ollie Horn (@olliehorntweets) September 23, 2018
Me: DVD = Digital Versatile DiscEvery other table: DVD = Digital Video DiscMe: No, I make these things for a livingQM: Well I don’t agree but we’ll give everyone a point
Still annoyed. 15 years on.
— Pete Morgan (@MobyMooby) September 23, 2018
It was about 1994. Quizmaster claimed the UK’s biggest-selling single of all time was Bryan Adams’ Everything I Do, I told him it was Band Aid. Impasse. In the week I phoned Gallup, got them to fax me the list and took it to the next quiz.
— Matthew Horton (@matthewjh) September 22, 2018
18. Really smart people try their hand at pub quizzes
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
Which 90s one hit wonder is sampled in Taylor Swift’s new single.? In a Quiz in Brooklyn. I argued that the question was misleading – Right Said Fred had had at least two UK hit singles, I mean who doesn’t love Deeply Dippy?
— Caroline Clayton (@Caroclay) September 23, 2018
20. And now, on to sport.
QM: who scored the 100th goal that Swindon conceded in the 94 premier league season.Me: Chris FaircloughQM: LeedsMe: I’m leaving…
— TonyNoHair (@TonyNoHair) September 23, 2018
