More trivia night

Monday night was another trivia night. Rod stopped by to get me on his way to the bar. A good thing I didn't have to walk to the bar as the air temperature was around zero F and the wind was blowing strong causing a wind chill of -26 F. Brrr!!!!!

Almost everyone from our team was there. The only person missing was Rod's wife. Bonnie, her husband, Rod, Alan, Austin and I made up the team this night. As it was so windy outside I suggested our team name to be the "Mighty Wind". The others agreed.

There were 35 to 40 people in the bar. They weren't smoking as much as the previous week. My clothes still smelled of cigarette smoke when I got home.

Last week Austin told of installing his new washer / dryer combo in his house. This week his story was his selling the old washer and dryer for $50. He had call after call all weekend. The first call was at 5:45 am Saturday morning. When the guy asked if he could come over right then to look at them, Austin say "Might as well, I am awake now."

The guy wanted to buy the washer and dryer but didn't have $50 on him. Austin said he would take a check, and after searching his clothes and car the guy couldn't find his checkbook. Hmmmm... maybe he shouldn't have gotten up so insanely early!!

We felt good about our answers in the first game but ended up tied for second place with 14 correct out of 20. As usual the judge and lawyers won with 15 correct. *Grrr!*

The second contest was harder and we had a number of questions we had to brainstorm or guess an answer for. Surprisingly we got 13 correct, but that was only good for third place. The team of three consisting of two part-Indians (and with whom we had tied for second place earlier) won outright beating the judge and lawyers team. The winners had 16 correct.

The prizes for the "quarter in the bucket" trivia questions were lame: a set of screwdrivers, shower massager(?), and other odd items. Bonnie played each quarter game even if it seemed to me that sometimes she hadn't a clue what the answer was. For the question "What card game did Vanderbuilt invent in 1925?", our group told Bonnie to say 'bridge' since she had a quarter in her hand ready to guess. Bridge was partially right, and she was asked "What kind of bridge?" Austin came up with "Contract Bridge" for Bonnie to say and she won. Bonnie chose a set of bookends made of football helmets. They were generic helmets with no team name. She gave them to Austin. Like I said, the prizes were lame this week.

Harold Sterling Vanderbilt, 1884–1970, born Suffolk co., Long Island, N.Y., gained note as a sportsman. He won the America's Cup yachting races three times. The modern game of contract bridge was largely invented by him. A grandson of the younger Cornelius Vanderbilt.

For the final "quarter" question I gave a try to win the bucket of quarters. My guess of "7 Day bicycle races" was wrong to the question (as I remember it) "What sport was invented in the 1920s that was based on speed-walking and dance competitions?" The answer: roller derby

In my defense I had a little to drink as our team used the gift certificate for drinks we had won several weeks ago.

Other people were "feeling good" as their answers were humorous or a bit naughty. For the question as to "What is a prestidigitator?" (One who is good at sleight of hand - which we got correct) another team answered "dry humper". Earlier while everyone was trying to figure out the answer the woman on that team had laughed and laughed and laughed and everyone stopped until she was done. (We thought she was going to fall off her bar stool.)

For "What is gynephobia?" (The abnormal fear of women - we got it wrong) other answers couldn't be repeated verbatim. But those answers were in the minority as most people tried to give good answers.

I led our team wrong for at least one answer. Earlier in the afternoon I had watched the recent movie, "Troy". For the question "What Greek warriors burned their breast to improve their archery skills?" The only answer I could think was the Spartans. The correct answer was Amazons. What?!

The Greek variant of the name was connected by popular etymology to a- (privative) + mazos, "without breast", connected with an aetiological tradition that Amazons had their right breast cut off or burnt out, so they would be able to use the bow more freely.

I, and the rest of our team, associated Amazons with South America not with the Greeks. Guess the Amazon River is to blame. I did enjoy the movie "Troy". I might have enjoyed it even more if there were Amazons in it.

I did know that Wonder Woman's shorts were blue with white stars on them.