To think general knowledge quiz shows do not give a measure of intelligence, just of memorisation skills?

[pennypinchh]

I am totally rubbish at all quiz shows, trying to play along on the couch and never know anything! But I don't understand why my family say I'm not that smart just because I don't know some obscure fact about the TV show Frasier, which I've never even seen! Has anyone else been shamed because of this?

Yes BadLad, that's exactly what I mean.

Plenty countries end in two constants. Can't think of any ending in double.

I googled countries ending in a double consonant (e.g. ll, nn, that sort of thing).

Couldn’t find any. Although there’s definitely some ending in 2 consonants.

I interpreted it originally as meaning 2 consonants, not necessarily the same, although I know that’s not correct—however if it’s an easy quiz show that is probably what they meant as the Q is very hard otherwise, and quiz shows do make quite a few mistakes a lot of the time?

Still trying to think of a country that ends on a double consonant...

There aren’t any.

Well, there’s the Marshall Islands, but that’s cheating a bit.

I went through all the UN member states and the only country that (sort of) fits is Marshall Islands. So if the question was intended to be two of the same consonants it was very hard indeed!

Haha @NikeDeLaSwoosh we did the same thing 😂

I’m laughing, but I think we have just illustrated the point here.

I saw that question yesterday, have mulled it over a bit and was intrigued enough to find and read through a list of sovereign states on Wikipedia.

I looked through it to get the answer I wanted, but on the way, I enjoyed learning some new states, was interested in the politics of some of the states where sovereignty is in dispute, and also enjoyed looking at the flags of some countries with which I unfamiliar.

It’s taken me a couple of hours, but it was a really enjoyable little rabbit hole down which to disappear on my day off, and I’ve picked up a few new tidbits of information on the way.

I do get that this doesn’t appeal to a lot of people, but curiosity like this is how general knowledge is acquired.

And yes it was 'ends in two consonants', pendants

www.nme.com/news/pointless-clip-worst-answer-all-time-paris-country-1932641

@NikeDeLaSwoosh, I bloody love reading lists of countries and looking at maps.

There has to be a beautiful irony in calling pedants 'pendants'.

Muphry’s Law 😂

😂😂 well two consonants makes this very nice and easy, due to all the counties that end in “land”!

@Onjnmoeiejducwoapy

😂😂 well two consonants makes this very nice and easy, due to all the counties that end in “land”!

Remember not to count England and Scotland!

They’re not UN member states, the U.K. is and they’re part of the UK.

Its a standing joke in our house that i win every single quiz we ever do. I totally agree with op- i dont consider myself intelligent at all, i dont know anything remotely useful and my problem solving and logic skills are non- existant. I have a really good memory, but no, its not the same at all as being intelligent.

@LostAcre I’m from Ireland so it was the first country I started with in my head, and it was a right answer 😂 so a bit of an “oh, that didn’t take long” situation

I suspect that general knowledge is very much a generational thing but also uses specific skill sets. To take marmalade as an example - as a child breakfast was a tedious meal so I read the ingredients labels on the jars on the table. Being dragged around the supermarket by my mother, I'd read the labels to see what was on sale/where they came from and imagine who'd buy them/who grew/made them etc. So I'd annoy my mother by asking what Seville was and, because I have a very retentive memory for "stories" rather than fact, next time I saw Seville on a map of Spain I'd think - that's where the oranges come from.

SO two things - first many children won't have a formal sit down breakfast staring at the marmalade/peanut butter/nutella jar. Secondly, many children don't get dragged around the supermarket any more due to online delivery etc. So a source of general knowlege becomes generational. Secondly, I read history - I have a brain that asks what happens/why/how/what if and meanders its way around an issue. It also remembers stories and fires off all sorts of odd connections - so Seville oranges makes me think of Catherine of Aragon, toledo swords, the housekeeper in Gosford Park, Cranford etc etc. DH on the other hand is a scientist and computer specialist so he thinks more in lists. To him Seville oranges might mean a mental road trip around the famous Spanish cities, trying to recall as many different types of citrus fruit etc.

Both are ways of making connections and dredging up information but our brains work in very different ways - its one of the reasons that shows like University Challenge usually have a mixture of people reading a range of subjects. BTW neither of us are very good at quizzes about TV shows like Frasier either.......

Absolutely! I know people who swot up using those quiz books for the usual questions that come up. They have NO interest in any of the stuff - it's just memorising question/answer and so on, like a parrot. Never read any of the books they can give the author to

I'd rather discuss a novel with someone even if it had slipped their mind who wrote it, than have someone tell me who wrote a book and that's the end of the conversation.

I love only connect, as a family we normally get a few of the questions right, get some of the wall right and usually do really well in the missing letters round.. We also watch university challenge and at least once a show a wild guess is correct. My university challenge claim to fame is that I got all 3 questions right on Russian literature. You get me on classical music, or sport and I haven't a clue, or soaps for that matter

No, you have it totally wrong OP.

We were just talking about this yesterday. A great number of questions are answered correctly not because you happen to remember the answer, but because you can work out the answer from other knowledge held, which takes a range of skills.

You don't have it totally wrong OP

Whether right or wrong, credit to the OP for starting this interesting thread - asking the question is a sign of a curious mind.

@stampsurprise

Absolutely! I know people who swot up using those quiz books for the usual questions that come up. They have NO interest in any of the stuff - it's just memorising question/answer and so on, like a parrot. Never read any of the books they can give the author to

I'd rather discuss a novel with someone even if it had slipped their mind who wrote it, than have someone tell me who wrote a book and that's the end of the conversation.

Saying that you can't be expected to know anything about Spain because you've never been there isn't in the same ballpark as someone who is discussing a book that they have read but can't quite remember the name of the author. (Sorry OP, but it is true!)

I think dismissing someone's knowledge as "just memorizing stuff" really misses the point. There are very, vert few people who obsessively memorise facts without taking any real interest in the world around them for the purpose of doing well at quizzes. Most people who know things do so because they are interested in the world, good at linking things they've heard/read together to form a coherent picture, have good observation skills, and/or have a hobby/passion that has brought them into contact with that thing.

I agree with the PP and many others.
DH and I both like to read beyond the subject, if that makes sense. The other night we watched a film called Detroit which was a fictionalized account of civil unrest at The Algiers Motel in 1967. The following day DH read up to find out how accurate the film was and relayed that to me, so both of us has a better understanding of a shocking incident. Many other people wouldn't think about doing that and that's fine but that's how you extend your general knowledge.
We both love quizzing and complete one daily in the paper and watch some of the usual suspects on TV. When we lived abroad we used to quiz for money, as well as laughs, not much cash but it would pay for our evening out if we won. . It helps keeps my mind sharp and as the years advance it's needed. Despite that it certainly takes me longer to pluck something from the recesses of my mind these days.

@FudgeDrudge

No, you have it totally wrong OP.

We were just talking about this yesterday. A great number of questions are answered correctly not because you happen to remember the answer, but because you can work out the answer from other knowledge held, which takes a range of skills.

How does she have it "totally wrong"?

What range of skills do you need to know what the dog in Fraser was called? Or how do you work out how many flavours of jelly bean exist from other knowledge held?

Some things you know because you remember it.

@CherryValanc That’s a perfect example - never watched Fraser but say the answers were
A. Fido B. Santa’s Little Helper . Whatever the dogs name is I could probably make an educated guess as a is generic, b is from the simpsons etc.

But that's not possibly without multiple choice.