These are a few definitions that
should give a basic understanding of quiz bowl terminology. In the
tradition of quiz bowl lexica, there are a great many jokes (frequently
off-color) with the legitimate glossary. For team inside jokes, see
the Lexicon Formerly Known As Old School.
Yes, it even gets updated now and again. Also see the VT-ACO Speed
Racer Page.
Editor's note: This most likely won't
give you a better idea of what Jason is talking about, but we usually don't
know either.
to "30"
v. Standard boni
are worth a maximum of 30 points. As such, an average team should
be able to get between ten and 20 points on the bonus, while claiming all
30 points requires demonstrating mastery of the subject (or an overly easy
question, known as a gift). "30ing" a
bonus is similar to powering a toss-up.
ACF
n. One of the "Big
Three" quiz bowl formats, the Academic Competition Foundation lasted for
a few years, then died. It was resurrected after a few years as the
Academic
Competition Federation, and looks today to be in no danger of folding
again. Known for its somewhat exaggerated reputation for impossible
questions (see hardcore).
Ass
1. n. Archaic synonym
for a donkey.
2. n. A socially
unacceptable synonym for the derriere. Also used as a personal
insult.
3. An informal method of classifying
questions; incredibly difficult ones are defined as "Up-Your-Ass" ("FTP,
identify this character who never does anything and is mentioned once in
the story of Gilgamesh"), while unbelievably easy toss-ups are called "Find-Your-Ass"
("Who wrote 'Paradise Lost'?"), and one gotten by sheer luck (aka "ass
luck") is known as "Out-Your-Ass" (like the A team getting a bonus on animals
that speak in the Bible and coming up with snake only. They decided
to say "ass" just to say "ass," and in doing so pulled the answer right
out of their collective, well, you know).
4. adj. Especially
as a prefix to "-luck." "Ass-luck" applies to a random guess that
results in completely undeserved points.
Bagel
1. n. The alternative
to doughnuts at any tournament that provides breakfast.
2. v. To get absolutely zero
points on a bonus. (See defensive
bonus.) An excellent demonstration of bagelling was provided
at DSHIT III by the Tech B team before lunch; in five rounds, the team
had a bonus conversion of 8.3 PPB. (Note: this improved markedly
after lunch, possibly due to blood sugar levels.)
Banished!
1. adj. The state of having been expelled or driven away.
2. excl. An epithet usually thrown down after someone else brings up an inappropriate or sore topic. Jason, Brandon, Sarah and Adam often make use or are on the opposite end of this phenomenon...well, Jason is *never* on the opposite end.
Example:
Adam: (for the fifteenth time that night) "Did you say Boo, or Boo-urns?"
Brandon: "Banished!" (done with some appropriate hand flourish, usually a
"Talk to the Hand" sort of thing, or maybe a Finger of Doom.)
Bastard Team
n. A team composed
of members of several different schools. Since these players are
usually accustomed to playing solo when they can't find a team, a bastard
team is typically quite good. This tends to lead to the term being
used in a bitterly accusatory fashion, at least during the school year.
At summer tournaments, most (if not all) entrants are bastard teams.
Blanking
v. Term for a momentary
lapse of reason in which a player buzzes in, then somehow forgets the answer
or has the answer erased from his/her mind. First used to describe an incident
at the 1995 CBI Regionals when Dennis Loo buzzed in on the question "What
is a great gross?", received a vicious stare from the moderator, and promptly
forgot the answer. He yelled out "1728" a couple seconds later, but it
was too late and he got a neg.
Blitz
v. The act of hearing
a tossup that has not yet narrowed to one specific answer, ringing in early,
and flooding the moderator with related correct information (using incorrect
information is just wrong). Officially sanctioned by ACF rules, this
tactic is very actively used by Roger. After a successful blitz he
usually starts spewing.
Bonus
n. (plural: boni)
Standard quiz bowl formats consist of toss-up questions followed by bonus
questions. The bonus can only be answered by the team that correctly
answered the preceding toss-up, which removes the need for a pyramidal
structure. A bonus is usually comprised of several related, varying
value questions that combine to a 30 point total, though in days (thankfully)
gone past, variable value boni were common (10 to 30
points). A practice I saw frequently in high school, but not in college,
was for a bonus to be related to the subject of the toss-up (called a following
bonus).
The most common bonus formats is
the 10-10-10 (three related questions for ten points each), and its variants
(the 5-10-15, the 5-5-10-10, the six 5s, the five 5s with a five point
bonus for all correct, etc.). Another popular format is the 30-20-10,
which stops the bonus after your first correct answer; the first (hardest)
clue being worth 30, the next clue worth 20, and the last worth 10.
Some questions use scaled-down versions of the 30-20-10 (three questions
at 10-5, for example).
See also bagel,
book
of three, defensive bonus, gift,
lame.
Bonus Conversion
n. The average points
scored on a bonus question, this value will range be between 0 and 30.
At "standard" difficulty, an average team should be able convert ten to
twenty points on any given bonus. There will always be boni on topics
a team knows thoroughly (and can 30), as well as topics
the team knows next to nothing about (and will bagel).
Since boni have no bias on speed, a team's conversion rate can be compared
with its average score to determine its strength -- a high scoring team
with poor conversion has enough breadth and speed to seem dominating without
actually being so, while a continually losing team with a high conversion
rate is probably just slow on the buzzer, rather than ignorant. In
use, the term is often abbreviated to just "conversion."
The Book of Three
n. A significant prophetic
artifact possessed by Dallben in the Chronicles of Prydain.
Also, a set of three answers that are always found together in a bonus
(ex: Pegasus, Bellerophon, Medusa). Depending on knowledge
of subject matter, a book of three will either become a gift
or a defensive bonus. Books of three are usually
considered butt.
Butt
adj. Sometimes questions
are of poor quality, either by poor wording, lack of a pyramidal structure,
or simply being too darn hard or too darn easy. Extreme cases tend
to draw a "butt" comment, such as: "That was just butt," or "Yeah,
I was looking at the old Terrier Tussle questions on the Stanford
Archive. Those packets are butt!" (In fairness to
Terrier Tussle '92, I wasn't even in high school when those were written,
and I assume they were a fair representation of the game at that time.
Still, if submitted today, they would be universally considered to be butt.)
Buzzer Race
n. When a question
reaches a "Find-Your-" clue, the usual result is players
diving en masse for the buzzer system as everyone attempts to be the first
to ring in and grab the points from everyone else. This can be particularly
amusing to moderators, especially when playing with a Judge. Alternately,
it can be incredibly frustrating when playing "slap and
curse." A buzzer race is also known as a speed
check.
Buzzer System
n. The tool of the
trade, there are many different types of buzzer system. They all
have the same basic function, however -- indicate which player was first
to jump on an answer, usually by means of a light and locking out other
players. Everyone has their own favorite style, but the most discussed
is probably the Judge, which uses controllers that look like sewing machine
foot pedals.
Buzzing
See ringing in.
Canon
n. The nebulous range
of information considered "standard" or "fair" knowledge for quiz bowl
questions. Arguments about a token fact's status with relation to
the canon generally spawn lengthy unproductive flame wars that eventually
die without resolving the issue. Topics outside
the academic canon still tend to weasel their way into regular packets,
either as token trash or through ties to canonical information. Then,
of course, there's always TRASH. Sample Usage: "We were leading Harvard
at XYZ Invitational until the canon expanded and blew up in our faces."
(quote courtesy of Eliot Brenner)
CBI
n. Also referred to
as CBCI, the College
Bowl Company, Inc., is the oldest of today's "Big Three" national quiz
bowl organizations, and possibly the first evolution of the quiz bowl game,
period. Progenitor or not, age does not necessarily dictate quality,
and many (if not most) players on the circuit profess disgust with either
low
question quality, the (over-) organization of its events, or its stated
legal rights to the concept of toss-ups and boni (universally rejected
as specious).
Chemistry, Blood
n. Generic term for
any measurement concerned with a person's chemical balance. For example,
Ashley must eat before playing, or low blood sugar
will adversely affect her performance. Robin claims to require large
doses of caffeine and sugar to act at all, while scores from before-and-after
matches at DSHIT III suggest that Roger will post better results after
a shot of cheap tequila.
Chemistry, Team
n. The collective term
for the combination of intangible factors such as individual strengths,
personality compatibility, and trust that affect a team's performance.
Team chemistry can be a visible demonstration of a whole being more or
less than the sum of its parts, and is the best explanation of why a team
that plays together regularly can beat other teams too often to be explained
by pure luck. This past year's Tech A team had a marvelous mix; with
three of four gone, we will have to strike a new balance in the fall.
Circle of Death
n. The inevitable problems
of 3 teams, all 1-1 against each other, with the same record. Usually,
this ugly problem rears its head when said 3 teams are all fighting for
a playoff spot. Since the head-to-head record (usually the first
tiebreaker) is insufficient, some methods used to resolve this include
point differential between tied teams, or total points scored, which leads
to utter chaos as well as feelings of discontent among the teams who lose
the tie break. It seems that at least half the time at local tournaments,
Tech A, Maryland B, and George Washington A all get into a circle of death
with each other.
Clock killing
neg
n. The act of buzzing
in with about 5-7 seconds left during a timed tournament when your team
is up by at least 10 points, but not more than 45. Since most timed tournaments
allow a team a bonus if that team beats the clock ringing in with a correct
answer at the last second, one cheap but effective tactic to ensure victory
is to ring in with about 5 seconds left and giving an incorrect answer
slowly to kill the clock and prevent the other team from any chance at
the question. Jody and Dennis seem to be particularly active users of this
tactic, which seems to inspire cardiac arrhythmia in Jason due to sheer
panic.
This technique is one to be used
with caution, as evidenced by a close call in one of the many Michigan
A - VT A games at the 1999 NAQT sectionals at Carnegie-Mellon. Going
into the last toss-up with six seconds on the clock and a score of 115-115,
our own Roger Craig thought a clock killing neg would help (?) and Rory
Molinari of Michigan thought he was trailing. Fortunately for us,
Rory was faster than Roger, and Tech won the match 115-110.
Colvin Science
n. Named for the unique Matt Colvin, originally of UMD but now at Cornell, this describes any science or math question that requires no knowledge of science or math, instead relying on trivia or Latin word roots. Less specifically used to describe questions of any topic that require only cursory knowledge of the material. Apparently Dave Hamilton thinks it odd that anyone other than Maryland would define Colvin Science, but it is definitely a recognized and widely used term on the circuit.
Defensive Bonus
n. An unplanned event,
in which a team is forced to listen in either glee or frustration as their
opponents bagel a bonus that they would have considered
a gift.
Distribution
n. A normal packet is expected to cover a broad range of questions, usually drawn from various facets of the canon. This range, referred to as the packet distribution, covers topics from history to science to philosophy to fine arts to some trash. Poorly assembled packets are the bane of the specialist who doesn't get to hear his three history questions, and have prompted most TDs of submission tournaments to specify the exact number of questions for each field.
Feeling Dirty
v. / adv. Occasionally, a toss-up calls for knowledge beyond the pale; topics such as sex toys, Dungeons & Dragons and drug street names fall under this heading. Players who know the answers for whatever reason often pretend that they do not, sacrificing points for dignity (apparently called "closeting" elsewhere). Normally, when players do take the points, they confess to "feeling dirty," while some show no remorse at all. Notable examples of feeling dirty include Ryan's buzz on Ultimate Fighting, Jason reading a TRASH toss-up on dildos, and the bonus from Maribeth Swiatek's "chick" theme packet. Notable exceptions occur almost any time Roger
gets a non-science buzz, or ANY time Jody makes
a comment.
Flossin'
v. - the general act of being cool, or performing some action in a cool way. Can be used in place of virtually any verb. Also, a vital part of good dental hygiene.
Example:
Jason: Roger, I still can't believe you got 19 tossups in two games at the trash tournament.
Roger: Yeah, I was just flossin'.
Alternate usage:
Kevin: What took you so long in the bathroom?
Jeremy: Yo, I was just flossin'.
Phrase originated when several TRASH
bound VT-ACO members were listening to "Let Me Ride" by Dr. Dre. Dre says,
"The sun went down when I hit Slausson, on my way to the strip, now I'm
just flossin." After several hours of heated debate, no conclusion was
reached on what the word flossin' means, except that it was cool, and we
should use it as often as possible.
Following Bonus
n. A bonus that is related to the material of its leading toss-up.
Fossil
n. Anyone who remembers
the days before quiz bowl had history, literature, or science questions
because they were playing before the world had history, writing, or anyone
to comprehend science. Affectionate nickname for team founders Jason
Thweatt and Dennis Loo, less affectionately used to refer to mean balding
men and similarly aged hostile personages. Synonomous with "dinosaur."
Gift
n. A ridiculously easy
bonus, particularly a book of three. The answers
to a gift bonus are so simple that moderators are sometimes tempted to
just give them 30 points and move on. Also referred to as "30 points
on a platter," these sometimes turn into defensive boni
without warning.
Give-Away
n. A clue so ridiculously
easy that anyone can be reasonably expected to get the correct answer from
it. If a part of a toss-up, it will initiate a speed
check; if it is in a toss-up, it had better be the final clue.
Hardcore
adj. Slang for a quiz bowl question that a player considers ridiculously difficult or obscure. Usually used to refer to questions from tournaments like Philly Masters, Yaphe Bowl or ACF Nationals, or else the type of questions Eliot Brenner tends to write for invitational (and high school) tournaments, regardless of the intended difficulty the tournament is striving for. After looking at some of Eliot's questions for Penn Bowl, Dennis Loo commented "Those were hard-core, goat-raping, brain-enema ACF questions!" In current
parlance, these may also be called "Up-Your-" questions.
This adjective can also apply
to people who are extremely serious quiz bowl players. Roger Craig,
for example, confesses to reading Benet's while on the toilet. Motivations
vary, from Jeff Bocock's view that it's just more fun to play when you
know more to Matt Colvin's self-proclaimed urge to win out of spite.
Hose
n. Any question that leads players to one specific and incorrect answer before signalling left, taking a hard right and giving another answer. Apparently reviled by everyone except for a small set of question writers, a good example is: "He was an illegitamate child, but became First Lord of the British Admirality before becoming Prime Minister in World War II. FTP, name Churchill's failed invasion of the Dardenelles." Since these questions tend to punish those with deeper knowledge (eg, ring in on the "First Lord of the Admiralty" and say "Churchill" rather than "Gallipoli"), they cause
negs.
They are reportedly called "neg-bait," "bosches" or "swerves" elsewhere
in the country, but at Tech are typically referred to as "f***ing hose
s***."
Interrupt
See neg.
Lame
adj. A general term
applied to any animal or person experiencing difficulty walking, due to
injury, cramp, etc.
adj. Slang for anything of low quality.
v. Under an experimental rule created by TRASH, a team may choose to reject a bonus and hear a different one if it is not to their liking. The team must announce that they are laming the question after the question introduction, but before the first part of the question (under some interpretations, before the first prompt). The lame adds a humorous way for players to directly influence questions. It also adds a goodly bit of the "blame yourself" factor, since using a lame usually results in an even worse bonus as replacement.
Lexicon
n. A collection of
terms and their definitions, usually with anecdotal clarifications.
Alternately, a list of a team's inside jokes. First created at the
UMD team's site, apparently everyone felt obliged to follow suit.
Dave Hamilton expresses his opinions on lexicon quality in his Lexica in Review.
List
n. A compliation of related data, such as composer-work or author-title. Some memorize lists to provide quick recognition of toss-up clues, while others reject such "knowledge" as unworthy, since this approach yields points to players without requiring any real familiarity with the information in question. This does not change the fact that such "learning" does yield points to players without requiring any real familiarity with the information in question. To counter this, many question writers research their topics further to formulate toss-ups that do not reward list knowledge.
Our personal favorite list is the Eric Hilleman "mother lode" (not to be construed as a "yo momma's load" joke).
Lord of the Dance
One of our organization's finest competitors and strongest players was Eliot Brenner (until he graduated). He is also one of our quietest members. Because Eliot is an outstanding student (he actually did homework during practice!) he does not get much time to delve into the world of trash. For our third annual high school tournament, Eliot turned in one of the best and most complete question packets, so tournament director Jason Thweatt chose to save that packet for the finals. When our final came around, Jason first thanked the schools for coming, droned on for a bit about this, that, and the other, and then said, "I would also like to acknowledge the writer of this excellent packet that we are about to use, one of our organization's most outstanding players and best question writers, the Lord of the Dance, Eliot Brenner." Eliot, like the rest of the people in the room, was shocked and confused by his new nickname. We can now attribute this trash outbreak to Jason's lack of sleep, and from this, we can now also tell that Mr. Thweatt was most likely quite cranky at the time. The nickname, however, will haunt Eliot to his grave (even with his relocation to Yale).... or at least until I stop maintaining this lexicon.
Moderator
n. Hey, any competition
between groups needs some sort of (hopefully) impartial oversight.
The moderator (who is usually also the reader,
and sometimes the scorekeeper) handles official recognition, prompting,
protests, that sort of thing. A good moderator remembers to prompt
players who delay in answering, allow a consistent length of time when
doing so, and handle protests quickly and fairly. It is possible
to separate the roles of moderator and reader, but I've never played in
a game where this was done. It would really just be a pain in the
reader's.... neck.... to do it that way.
NAQT
n. Another of the "Big Three," the National Academic
Quiz Tournaments (LLC) is a relatively new national organization.
It is generally considered a good compromise between the academic purity
of ACF and the perhaps over-accessibility of CBI,
though the 1999 ICT drew criticism for extreme difficulty. I'm in
no position to comment myself, I wasn't there.
Neg
n. Officially known as an "interrupt penalty," this is a five point penalty incurred by buzzing in and giving an incorrect answer before the question is completely read. Murphy's Law tends to kick in when a neg occurs, as the negger's entire team usually realizes the correct answer immediately following the buzz. While minimizing negs is topically a worthy aim, it is generally recognized that it is an inevitable occurance, and those who complete entire tournaments without a single neg are typically castigated for not buzzing in often enough.
Some take a perverse pride in accumulating high neg tallies, and some tournaments award gag prizes to the neg leader (such as the shot of tequila won by Roger at DSHIT III).
See also blanking,
vulching,
and the clock killing neg.
NTN
n. National Trivia Network, the latest team addiction. A few players had dabbled in this game prior to the end of year picnic, but team play has jumped significantly since. Probably the only time you will ever find Jason Thweatt, Eliot Brenner, Jeff Bocock, Waldon Jue, and Robin Ripley in a bar. Roger had plans to get Eliot drunk at Hokie House one night, but it has yet to happen. Though he tried once (12 May 1999), he only got himself smashed.
Packet
n. Question sets for a match are normally distributed to the readers as computer printouts (or photocopies thereof); the stack of pages is also called a packet.
Pink
n. Robin's least favorite color; therefore the obvious choice for a outfit in a prank.
Power
n. A type of toss-up invented by NAQT that rewards depth of knowlege by giving an extra five points for an extremely early correct buzz.
v. To beat the power mark of a toss-up in order to get said bonus (ex: "He signed his letters to Moncharmin as 'O.G.', and --" <BUZZ> "The phantom of the opera.").
If the knowledge rewarded is academic in nature, this can be impressive and a source of pride. On other questions, it can cause everyone in the room to draw away in horror (like questions on Nabakov's Lolita, or Elvis Presely's panty fetish). Attempts to force a power without being certain of the answer often results in a neg.
Prompt
v. When a player or team is expected to answer a question, they are granted a short space of time to formulate the answer in their mind(s); if they delay too long, however, the moderator will prompt them to give their answer immediately or be ruled incorrect. The time allowed before a prompt varies with format rules, and changes further with the individual moderator's internal clock.
n. The phrase used to prompt for an answer is also called a "prompt." It usually takes one of the following forms: "Answer," "Answer please," "Answer now," or "Hey, you! Say something." If a prompt is given and the answer is not supplied immediately, the player or team will be considered to have given no answer. Of course, if this happens before a question is finished (it happens a lot, see blanking), it becomes a neg.
Protest
n. Despite editing, factual errors sometimes slip into a packet being read. Such mistakes may not be caught during the match by a reader, who may well have no knowledge of the material. In such a case, a player may choose to lodge a protest, an official complaint and request for the TD to set matters straight. Protests are usually marked and ignored until the end of a match, when they will only be addressed if the ruling would affect the game's outcome. While not affecting the game outcome, un-judicated protests may impact individual statistics or total point style tiebreakers, this is considered acceptable in the interest of time.
There has been some debate as to whether a player has the obligation to speak up if a mistake hurts the other team. Some say it is dishonest to keep silent when the other team really deserves the points; others say that if the other team knew the material well enough to deserve the points, they would lodge the protest themselves. Either way, there is consensus that if the other team does protest and you know they are right, then fairness and courtesy dictates that you should concede the protest. This does have the benefit of making judication unnecessary.
v. The process of lodging a protest is also known as protesting. As if you couldn't figure that out.
"Push"
Term often uttered by Tech Captain Jason Thweatt during a close match. He says this often enough that Dennis Loo has openly wondered if Jason is considering giving up electrical engineering for a career in obstetrics. Usually accompanied by a hand motion which, according to Kevin and Dennis, looks like Jason is trying to throw a fireball like Ryu from Street Fighter II. Quote at the intramurals when Jason's team played Dennis's in the finals and Jason made another pushing motion at Jeff Ladd, who was scorekeeping directly in front: "One of these days, Jason's going to charge up enough chi and vaporize poor Jeff with a Hadouken."
Despite being a part of our own team's peculiar make-up, Jason's habit has been noticed by other members of the circuit, both in bemusement and
less generously.
"Push the button"
A (sometimes) derogatory retort to any indication by one player that the
answer to a question was easy or obvious (see: "Tuesdays!"), and could have been gotten by anyone other than the
player who got it. Usually the person on the receiving end has given some
indication that he was sitting. In making the
retort, the one who got the answer is making it known that had the complaining
party pushed the button, then he would have gotten the 10 points.
Sometimes, the statement itself need not be made. One can simply mimic the
motion of pushing the button, often in a manner that is not natural for
buzzing in. For example, Jason likes to hold the buzzer in the grip of one
hand (often at face level), and make as though he is pushing the button with
the index finger of his other hand.
Pyramidal Structure
n. A concept important to the crafting of quality toss-ups. Since players can (and usually do) interrupt a question to try an answer, it cannot be assumed that all clues in the question will be heard. To reward those players with a better understanding of and familiarity with the subject, more obscure facts should be placed at the beginning of the questions, with clues becoming progressively easier; they often end with a give-away clue. This organization begs the analogy of a pyramid shape.
Forming questions this way is not necessarily an easy skill to master; it requires that the question writer be familiar enough with the topic to know what is a "hard," "medium," or "easy" clue.
Since only one team can answer a bonus,
there is no need to rush to answer. For that reason, pyramidal structure
is not particularly important for boni.
Reader
n. All questions are read aloud to the players. This creates a need for a person to do the reading. While anyone can read, being a good reader and moderator
(and, regrettably frequently, scorekeeper) takes
practice. Since two of the three major formats run timed games, the
most best way to ensure a meaningful outcome is to get through as many
questions as possible. This requires swift reading, which must also
be clear enough for everyone to understand!
Recognition
n. With almost any game format, a player who rings in must wait to be "recognized" by the moderator before giving an answer. Under CBI rules, the player is recognized when the moderator announces his school and name, while under less strict rules a look or a point will suffice. In any event, it is a good idea to be certain you actually have the right to answer; in many cases an undisciplined player will get beaten in a buzzer race and shout out an answer before finding out that someone else actually rang in first.
Repeat
n. There are occasionally instances where an answer appears more than once in the same tournament. While this is not necessarily a problem, it quickly becomes one if the same clues are used. This phenomenon causes buzzer races between players who have been paying attention, and tends to occur most often at submission tournaments, perhaps as illustration that great minds think alike (or perhaps just that players at a certain level have heard the same parts of the canon). While just about everyone professes disgust with repeats, no one minds grabbing the points again.
Ringing in
v. Since several players
may realize the correct answer to a toss-up at about the same time, some
method must be used to distinguish who can answer. Standard rules
have the first person who signals as recognized able to answer. This
signalling process, usually done with a buzzer system
of some sort, is known as "ringing in," or "buzzing."
"Safety Dance"
n. In the 1997 intramural tournament, Jason Thweatt was stretching out before moderating a match. No one really knows why he does this, but apparently he takes moderating quite seriously. Anyway, Jason was jumping around and Dennis Loo said "You can dance if you want to." Showcasing a rare bit of trash knowledge, Jason recognized the 80's song and replied with, "You can 'Safety Dance' your ass out of here in a minute!" Dennis stopped harrassing our fearless leader.... for a few stunned seconds, before replying "Hey Jason, does that mean you're the dwarf?" Of course, this statement would have been much more humorous had anyone else in the room possessed any in-depth knowledge of 80's music trivia, but it fell on deaf ears, so to speak.
Scorekeeper
n. Like almost any game, quiz bowl is determined by score. Of course, this requires a person to keep track of each team's points. Most tournaments nowadays also pay attention to individual statistics, recorded round-by-round by the scorekeeper. When possible, the scorekeeper is only the scorekeeper, but personnel shortages often require the reader to pull double duty.
Sit
v. When a player knows the correct answer to a question, he/she may for whatever reason opt to "sit" on the question rather than ringing in and answering. This is approved of only after the other team has negged, when the player is merely avoiding
vulching.
Not at all approved of when someone else rings in and the team loses points
that the sitter could have won.
Slap-and-Curse
n. When a buzzer
system is unavailable for a match or practice, rather than wait or scratch
the game most teams will agree to play anyway, "buzzing" by hitting the
table, saying "Buzz," or some other means. Such games are collectively
known as slap-and-curse games, possibly from Ryan Gunderson's favorite
way to play such a game. Since he was our digital design TA and therefore
immune from revenge, Jason professed to enjoy playing a variant in which
he slapped me or J.P. to ring in.
v. To play a slap-and-curse game.
Socially Unacceptable
adj. A good start when attempting to describe the people of the quiz bowl circuit, especially the Tech team. Frequently personified by Ryan, Jody, or anyone who (to quote Dennis Loo) will often "make Ashley lament the fact that she can't escape prepubescent scatalogical humor," though said "humor" is more often pornographic than scatalogical. This quote comes from Dennis' email announcing the contest for the "Most Socially Unacceptable" title, decided by popular vote and awarded at the 1999 end-of-year picnic. Ask Roger what the prize was.
Speed check
n. Occasionally, a painfully obvious clue is given in a toss-up (ie, "Who wrote Paradise Lost?"). This prompts everyone in the room to race for their buzzer, an event known as a "speed check" or a "buzzer race."
Spewing
v. After a snaring a question on which a player has fairly significant knowledge, said player will often add extra related but purely unnecessary and unsolicited information.
This practice, known as "spewing," may concievably be an attempt to edify
the others in the room but is more likely just showing off knowledge.
Spewing tends to evoke "Yes, I know" responses from people who do and "I
don't care" responses from everyone else. Spewing while answering
a question is known as
blitzing.
Roger Craig is infamous for frequent
spewing, and the author shamefacedly admits to doing the same on occasion.
Submission Tournament
n. For some tournaments, complete question sets exist. This tends to only happen at nationally organized competitions, such as ACF, NAQT, CBI, or TRASH -run tournaments.
In most independent tournaments, however, TDs require or give incentives
for teams to create a complete packet and submit it for use in the tournament.
This allows TDs to cheaply assemble questions for the tourney and usually
assures that the questions are accessible to most participants. This
can frequently lead to repeats, which are tolerated
as long as the pre-tournament editing ensures that the questions use different
clues.
The Superman Patch
n. The less said, the better.
Theme Packet
n. In some cases, a packet writer may choose to write a round in which all the questions or all of the answers are related. Some are flat-out single topic, like the all football or all Simpsons packets, and are typically used for either TRASH or practice. More subtle packets cover the regular distribution and conceal their nature until a perceptive player notices the theme, like Maribeth Swiatek's "chick" packet.
Toss-up
n. A question that either team has a chance to answer. Speed is an issue here, in ringing in to answer the question before the other team does, so a well-structured question is important (see pyramidal structure).
Standard rules allow one person per team to attempt to finish the toss-up,
ringing in and getting recognition to answer.
A correct answer is worth 10 points and a bonus question;
an incorrect answer prevents the rest of the team from trying, and, if
the question had not yet been completely read, will incur a five point
penalty (see neg).
See also blanking,
blitzing,
hose,
power
toss-up,
ringing in,
sitting,
and vulching.
Trashing
v. In academic competition,
questions from subjects involving pop culture (television, popular music,
movies, etc.) are often not in the range of competitors who are stronger
at academic subjects, and don't delve into the world of trash much. Our
fearless leader, Jason Thweatt, is one of those people.
In preparation for our third annual high school tournament, several members of our organization spent most of the evening partaking in tournament preparation activities instead of other things like sleep. After the tournament, several of us went to the Cracker
Barrel to get some decent food, before we all went to our respective
homes and caught up on sleep. On the way back, Jason pointed out a song
on the radio, and asked, "Is that the Black Crowes?" Jeremy Rotter
replied, "Yes, it is," and Jason, in his 38th consecutive hour without
sleep said, "Oh my God, I'm trashing! I need some sleep." Another fine
example of this was when, a few hours before on the same day, out of the
blue, the phrase "the Lord of the Dance" popped into
his head. Now members of the organization have a useful way to guage how
well-rested Jason is and how cranky he may be as a result.
Tuesdays
1. n. The day of the week that occurs after Monday and before Wednesday.
2. excl. A (usually pained) reference to the (currently) fictional Virginia Tech "It's Obvious" Club that supposedly meets the day after the first VT-ACO meeting of the week. The exclamation is made after someone wonders aloud how he or she could have missed such an obvious answer.
The original usage was "It's the Virginia Tech 'It's Obvious' Club. We meet on
Tuesdays."
Example:
Sarah: (after buzzing) Abraham Lincoln
Tom: (with disgust) Tuesdays!
Jason: (holding up a buzzer and mimicking a buzz-in for double effect) God! Push the button.
Variable-Value-Bonus (VVB)
n. Though most boni today are 30 points each, in days of yore it was common for bonus values to range from 10 to 30 points. This became extremely unpopular due to circumstances in which a team is faced with a maximum of 20 points for a toss-up when the opposing team just got 40.
Vulch
v. After someone on
a team negs, the other team has the luxury of hearing
the remainder of the question without risk of the first team stealing the
answer away. As a result, the team sits on the
question, just in case it's a hose that can be avoided.
Sometimes, however, someone jumps in and answers before the question is
done. This practice, known as "vulching," is tolerated in close timed
games, but is otherwise universally frowned upon, as it is considered bad
form and is usually performed by players eager to pad their personal stats
at the team's expense. Vulching is especially hated when the free
shot is wasted by an early incorrect buzz. A vulch is apparently
known elsewhere as a "vulture," "swoop" or "pickoff." Vulching is
also known as "cutting" another player (is this taken from spades?).
Warm Body
n. A person who apparently
contributes more body heat than questions to a team. Often but not
always found in the company of outstanding solo players. The term
often applies to the author, especially at this past weekend's "Yaphe '99:
Titular Bowl."
Original contributions by Dennis Loo, Jeremy Rotter and several other parties who wish to remain anonymous.
The ACO-VT Lexicon
ACO-VT Home:
Home Page
General Information:
Who We Are |
Meeting Information |
Officers |
Everyone |
Joining the Listserve |
Contact Information
Tournaments:
Tournament Results and Statistics |
Future Tournaments |
Intramural Tournaments |
HS Tournaments
Quiz Bowl:
Packet Writing |
College QB Formats
Other Information:
Visitor Information |
Links