First order questions describe someone you are trying to stump me with--like LB's. Second order are yes or no questions designed to get closer to my person.
It's a question including enough information to pick out a particular person with the correct initial. If the person playing can't come up with an answer that matches the question, they can then be asked a second-order question about their own person.
Clearly you aren't David Copperfield's classmate, Traddles.
Hey could I make a request as to your answer format: it would be really useful and helpful if you boldfaced your answers to 2nd-order questions. This would allow quick perusal of the thread thus far without getting sidetracked by the 1st-order stuff.
I guess I don't understand the rules on this: what is the impact on my question of ac's saying she wasn't someone I wasn't thinking of, and can't judge if did or didn't meet my criteria?
31: No, Templeton the rat from Charlotte's Web, but I guess you gleaned the origin of my doubts about its legitimacy. Do you want to accept anthropomorphized animals?
If I meet the terms of your question, whether or not you were thinking of that person, you don't get a second order. I was guessing, though. If there's no Tauber mathematician--which I grant you leave to look up--you win the point.
You need to figure out if her answer did meet your criteria (through googling, conversation, however.) If her answer works, your first order question fails (but you could re-ask a similar question, aiming at the same person, with a smidge more information to exclude the answer she just gave). If her answer doesn't work, she fails and you get to ask her a 2d order question.
There was, according to Wikopedia, a mathematician named Tauber who died at Theresienstadt in 1942. There is no description of his personality, although "mathematically gifted" may I suppose be inferred.
This feels stilted even to me, Mr. Stilt: Given your reputation, what you are famous for, were you surprisingly preoccupied with measure and calculation?
(well, I certainly don't know who you're talking about, so I could keep playing, but...)
My Alter Ego's variant is to restrict the questioners to questions about people who fit the description of your person thus far. So if we know your person's a woman, only women, etc. That would be really hard, but maybe fun.
I probably didn't make clear that the last name of the person you think of for first order questions should be the same as the letter the answerer gives you.
I would commence the disemboweling but I don't have a willing second to finish the job.
Oh and 101, looks like I stumped you; I was thinking of Cincinnatus. So I get to ask a 2nd-order question! Here goes: Were the books you wrote per 90 works of fiction?
Hey 'Postropher, did you know you're close to the top of the Google result set for "Do you have Prince Albert in a can?" That seems to me like something to be quietly proud of.
Austro--I just had a woman come into my office demanding attention, sorry for the delay. Picture me at my computer hiding from ten million people knocking on my door.
I'm just painting a picture. I have actually had about twenty-seven conversations with people who are angry with me while playing this game. One or two screamers in there. So this is far more pleasant.
Don't know a chess champion with C. So you guys should fire ahead on the 2nds.
I don't think I wrote any plays, or at least, that's not what I'm known for. But I wrote a few different kinds of things, so maybe there's a play in there.
194, are you trying to dig at my choice of article? Because I will maintain that the error in 150 is the form preferred by juvenile prank callers across the country. Google returns 800 hits for the indefinite-article form, only 100 hits for the definite-article form. And the 'Postropher post which I mentioned in 152, uses the indefinite article.
202--No, I was suggesting that my comment was a deliberate play on your earlier comment, wherein my change of the tense of the question and to the definite article altered the meaning of the phrase.
I don't think my death was actually mysterious to anyone, but if it had happened nearer our time would have been investigated by the police or there would have been some kind of inquest.
Yeah, I was taking pot shots with the first order questions at the 18th Century poets i'd read all those years ago. It never occurred to me to take a blind route to them. I like the tactic. Cool. Once more. Well played.
AC: You should do this more often, if you have the time.
I didn't play the second game, but despite the happy post game afterglow here I wonder if we shouldn't clarify, for future Botticelli's, who's a good mystery person, because I don't know this Chatterton fellow and wouldn't have been able to guess. If I'm a tiny minority, that's okay, but if I'm not, I think it's usually better to pick someone you're pretty confident a large minority of your questioners would know.
To fess up, I only sort of know who he is -- that is, the name rang a bell as '18th C British writer', but I don't know a blessed thing beyond that, and wouldn't have had a hope of guessing it. I don't think it was too hard, though -- it's supposed to be a stretch.
Hm. The way I play it's not supposed to be. I got totally annoyed with an exboyfriend once and I got all the way to ancient Greek rhetoritician starting with "D" and I was like, who the hell are you talking about? I don't know any Greek rhetoriticians. And it turned out to be Demosthenes, but I wouldn't have had any way of getting to that.
Yeah, I'd say Demosthenes is absolutely okay. Once you start worrying about keeping it too narrow, you take all the fun out of it. And we've got enough overeducated weirdos here that someone will know everything.
Thanks Tia. The letter is T.
Posted by ac | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 8:09 AM
Are you known for your graphic representations of the human skeletal structure?
Posted by LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 8:11 AM
Hmm. The word "graphic" made me think of Tom o' Finland. But I don't know who you mean, LB.
Posted by ac | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 8:12 AM
I'm afraid I don't quite understand what a first-order question is.
Posted by apostropher | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 8:12 AM
Just that it has to have a specific person in mind?
Posted by apostropher | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 8:13 AM
First order questions describe someone you are trying to stump me with--like LB's. Second order are yes or no questions designed to get closer to my person.
Posted by ac | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 8:14 AM
Are you a composer with several ballets to your credit?
Posted by apostropher | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 8:15 AM
designed to get closer to my person.
Hott!
Posted by Matt Weiner | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 8:16 AM
It's a question including enough information to pick out a particular person with the correct initial. If the person playing can't come up with an answer that matches the question, they can then be asked a second-order question about their own person.
Clearly you aren't David Copperfield's classmate, Traddles.
Are you alive?
Posted by LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 8:16 AM
No, I'm not Tchaikovsky. (Suddenly unsure of spelling.)
Posted by ac | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 8:16 AM
No, I'm not alive.
Posted by ac | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 8:17 AM
So I'm still at first-order questions, yes?
Posted by apostropher | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 8:17 AM
Yes, apo.
Posted by ac | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 8:18 AM
Was I precise and mathematically gifted?
Posted by I don't pay | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 8:22 AM
Are you a Scottish botanist?
Posted by The Modesto Kid | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 8:23 AM
Are you someone Bill Mahr listed in his book as an example of the kind of person our society should be treating as a hero?
Posted by Tia | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 8:26 AM
14- No, I'm not, um... was there a mathematician named Tauber?
Posted by ac | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 8:26 AM
I can't think of a Scottish botanist.
Posted by ac | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 8:27 AM
Hey could I make a request as to your answer format: it would be really useful and helpful if you boldfaced your answers to 2nd-order questions. This would allow quick perusal of the thread thus far without getting sidetracked by the 1st-order stuff.
Posted by The Modesto Kid | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 8:27 AM
And I haven't read Bill Maher's book.
Posted by ac | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 8:28 AM
Were you Borked?
Posted by apostropher | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 8:29 AM
18: then you must not be Templeton. Are you European?
Posted by The Modesto Kid | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 8:29 AM
19- Ok will do.
Posted by ac | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 8:29 AM
20: You're not Pat Tillman.
Are you real?
Posted by Tia | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 8:30 AM
22- Yes, I am European, and, to recap, I am not alive.
Posted by ac | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 8:31 AM
Were you wrongly suspected of killing the ambassador to the U.N.?
Posted by The Modesto Kid | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 8:34 AM
24- I am real.
Posted by ac | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 8:34 AM
First order: did you once help to rescue someone with your foraging skills?
(Someone may argue this is illegitimate. I'll let ac decide.)
Posted by Tia | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 8:34 AM
Thanks -- that makes this game way more fun.
Posted by The Modesto Kid | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 8:35 AM
Jeremy, is the UN ambassador in question Bernadotte? I don't know who was suspected of assassinating him.
Posted by ac | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 8:38 AM
28- Er, Thumper?
Posted by ac | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 8:40 AM
30: then you must not be Roger Thornhill. Do you write books?
Posted by The Modesto Kid | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 8:41 AM
Oh, right, from North by Northwest. The fictional thing makes it tricky. But I'm in favor of fictional possibilities here.
Posted by ac | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 8:42 AM
I guess I don't understand the rules on this: what is the impact on my question of ac's saying she wasn't someone I wasn't thinking of, and can't judge if did or didn't meet my criteria?
Posted by I don't pay | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 8:43 AM
32- I'm almost certain that I have written a book.
Posted by ac | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 8:44 AM
31: No, Templeton the rat from Charlotte's Web, but I guess you gleaned the origin of my doubts about its legitimacy. Do you want to accept anthropomorphized animals?
Posted by Tia | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 8:45 AM
Are you a painter commonly associated with a particular color?
Posted by Standpipe Bridgeplate | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 8:45 AM
If I meet the terms of your question, whether or not you were thinking of that person, you don't get a second order. I was guessing, though. If there's no Tauber mathematician--which I grant you leave to look up--you win the point.
Posted by ac | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 8:46 AM
You need to figure out if her answer did meet your criteria (through googling, conversation, however.) If her answer works, your first order question fails (but you could re-ask a similar question, aiming at the same person, with a smidge more information to exclude the answer she just gave). If her answer doesn't work, she fails and you get to ask her a 2d order question.
Posted by LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 8:46 AM
I'm staying away from google myself, though, so other people will have to look things up and correct me.
Posted by ac | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 8:48 AM
(I can't remember an incident in which Thumper rescued someone through foraging.)
Posted by Tia | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 8:48 AM
37- No, I'm not Titian?
Posted by ac | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 8:49 AM
I'll allow anthropomorphic animals. And ok, Thumper didn't rescue anyone. (???)
Posted by ac | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 8:51 AM
Did you work at Bletchley Park?
Posted by Jackmormon | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 8:52 AM
Are you a woman?
Posted by Tia | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 8:53 AM
There was, according to Wikopedia, a mathematician named Tauber who died at Theresienstadt in 1942. There is no description of his personality, although "mathematically gifted" may I suppose be inferred.
Posted by I don't pay | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 8:56 AM
If you want, though, you can re-ask 14 if you add another fact that differentiates your guy from Tauber. (Or so I've always played.)
Posted by LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 8:57 AM
I think I have to give up already. Mine was too easy.
Posted by ac | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 9:00 AM
*delurk*
There was in fact a mathematician named Tauber.
Are you a Scandinavian who's associated with penguins?
Posted by mjs | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 9:00 AM
Huh? We haven't even gotten close yet -- how can it be too easy?
Posted by LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 9:01 AM
Never mind.
You guys are quick!
Posted by mjs | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 9:02 AM
48: Has someone guessed it? You can start again, and you can play with My Alter Ego's variant to make it harder for the questioners.
Posted by Tia | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 9:02 AM
Yes, someone has guessed it. Remind me of My Alter Ego's variant?
Posted by ac | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 9:03 AM
Was it Turing? Or who?
Posted by LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 9:04 AM
This feels stilted even to me, Mr. Stilt: Given your reputation, what you are famous for, were you surprisingly preoccupied with measure and calculation?
Posted by I don't pay | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 9:04 AM
Turing.
Posted by ac | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 9:04 AM
(well, I certainly don't know who you're talking about, so I could keep playing, but...)
My Alter Ego's variant is to restrict the questioners to questions about people who fit the description of your person thus far. So if we know your person's a woman, only women, etc. That would be really hard, but maybe fun.
Posted by Tia | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 9:05 AM
And I couldn't think of someone else who worked at BP with a T. An H! A J! But no T.
Posted by ac | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 9:05 AM
That's so funny; I thought of asking a first order about Turing but I didn't know how to phrase it so you wouldn't know exactly who I meant.
Posted by Tia | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 9:06 AM
I did have an alternate person, starting with a C. But up to you guys.
Posted by ac | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 9:06 AM
I win! Totally inadvertant victories count, right?
Posted by Jackmormon | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 9:07 AM
But was JM's question a first or second order? You could have said "No I'm not Turing" to a first order question.
Posted by Tia | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 9:07 AM
Sure, let's go. Are you wearing a hat in the most famous image of you?
Posted by I don't pay | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 9:08 AM
Well, I was wondering if I could do that, I know it was discussed on the other thread. But it seems too confusing.
Posted by ac | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 9:08 AM
Did you ever describe the flight of a projectile in exasperating detail?
Posted by Standpipe Bridgeplate | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 9:11 AM
I did have an alternate person, starting with a C.
Are you a Panamanian in the Baseball Hall of Fame?
Posted by apostropher | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 9:13 AM
Are you guys giving me a second chance? Really?!!! O frabjous day.
63- Not Churchill.
65- Um? No idea.
Posted by ac | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 9:13 AM
66- Yes, go ahead, stump me with sports questions. No idea.
Posted by ac | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 9:14 AM
Heh. You are not Rod Carew.
Posted by apostropher | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 9:14 AM
Did you finish out your days in exile? (And BTW, are we doing the MAE variant discussed above? I'm not clear whether or no.)
Posted by The Modesto Kid | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 9:15 AM
Are you alive?
Posted by apostropher | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 9:15 AM
I don't think we need to do the MAE variant.
Posted by ac | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 9:16 AM
Oops, ignore 70 -- it is based on an incorrect memory.
Posted by The Modesto Kid | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 9:16 AM
71- No, I'm not alive.
Posted by ac | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 9:17 AM
You're not James Fenimore Cooper.
Are you a woman?
Posted by Standpipe Bridgeplate | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 9:17 AM
75- No, I'm not a woman.
Posted by ac | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 9:18 AM
Maybe I'm showing an ugly Canadian streak here, but the most famous image of Churchill is Youseff Karsh's portrait. No hat.
I demand satisfaction, or would, if I wasn't a Canadian. Gee, it would sure be nice if somebody felt there should be some satisfaction somewhere...
Posted by I don't pay | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 9:19 AM
Does asking a second-order question mean that the questioner then returns to a first-order question next?
Posted by apostropher | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 9:20 AM
78- Yeah, you return.
Posted by ac | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 9:20 AM
77- Ask your person question differently, I shouldn't be that hard to stump.
Posted by ac | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 9:22 AM
Did you sex Mutombo?
Posted by Standpipe Bridgeplate | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 9:22 AM
I realize I never answered the Borked question above, but that was for the first person anyway. (And I wasn't Clarence Thomas.)
Posted by ac | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 9:23 AM
81- Other people clearly know more about Mutombo's sexings than I.
Posted by ac | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 9:25 AM
82 - I was thinking John Tower. Thomas got confirmed.
Posted by apostropher | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 9:25 AM
Were you once Donald Rumsfeld's protege?
Posted by Jackmormon | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 9:26 AM
True! I owe you a 2nd order and you can cash in now, if you like.
Posted by ac | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 9:26 AM
85- I should know, but I don't.
Posted by ac | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 9:27 AM
Ha HA! So you aren't Dick Cheney.
2nd order: Did you write books?
Posted by Jackmormon | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 9:29 AM
I didn't have anyone in mind, just thought it had to be asked.
You judge performances that often mock you?
Posted by Standpipe Bridgeplate | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 9:31 AM
88- Yes, I wrote books.
Posted by ac | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 9:32 AM
89- No, I'm not Simon Cowell.
Posted by ac | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 9:33 AM
you can cash in now, if you like.
That's okay. Was a movie made about you last year?
Posted by apostropher | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 9:34 AM
92- No, I'm not Capote.
Posted by ac | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 9:35 AM
Were you born in Algeria?
Posted by Jackmormon | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 9:37 AM
Hmm, do you judge such performances, and have a receding hairline?
Posted by Standpipe Bridgeplate | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 9:37 AM
(True confession: I had to look up Simon Cowell.)
Posted by Standpipe Bridgeplate | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 9:39 AM
94- No, I'm not Camus.
95 stumps me.
Posted by ac | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 9:41 AM
Were you both a consul and a dictator?
Posted by The Modesto Kid | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 9:42 AM
You're not Clive Anderson.
Did you write your best-known works in a language other than your native one?
Posted by Standpipe Bridgeplate | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 9:44 AM
You're not Clive Anderson.
The letter isn't A, SB.
Posted by apostropher | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 9:45 AM
98- Castro?
Posted by ac | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 9:46 AM
Whoops! It has to be last names? I suck.
Posted by Standpipe Bridgeplate | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 9:47 AM
Did you write children's books?
Posted by apostropher | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 9:47 AM
Are you an adorable orphan?
Posted by Jackmormon | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 9:49 AM
I probably didn't make clear that the last name of the person you think of for first order questions should be the same as the letter the answerer gives you.
I would commence the disemboweling but I don't have a willing second to finish the job.
Posted by Standpipe Bridgeplate | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 9:50 AM
103- That's first order, right? No, I'm not Lewis Carroll.
Posted by ac | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 9:51 AM
Were you exceptionally tall for your era?
Posted by mjs | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 9:52 AM
104- Er? Can't think.
Posted by ac | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 9:52 AM
107- Er...
Posted by ac | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 9:54 AM
Ha HA! You're not David Copperfield, then.
2nd order: Were you alive in the 20th century?
Posted by Jackmormon | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 9:54 AM
110- No, I was not alive in the 20th century.
Posted by ac | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 9:56 AM
Did you write a primer for making sweet sweet rhetorical love?
Posted by Jackmormon | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 9:59 AM
106 - yeah, that was first order and it was Carroll.
First order: were you a 14th-century author?
Posted by apostropher | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 10:02 AM
112- I don't know.
Posted by ac | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 10:02 AM
Oh and 101, looks like I stumped you; I was thinking of Cincinnatus. So I get to ask a 2nd-order question! Here goes: Were the books you wrote per 90 works of fiction?
Posted by The Modesto Kid | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 10:03 AM
Was Chaucer 14th century?
Posted by ac | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 10:04 AM
(Come on, Castro was never consul!)
Posted by The Modesto Kid | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 10:04 AM
Ok, so you're not Andreas Capellanus.
Posted by Jackmormon | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 10:06 AM
New 1st-order: Were you old and in the way?
Posted by The Modesto Kid | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 10:08 AM
I'm not Chaucer, if so. I was guessing on Castro.
115- I believe I wrote fiction, among other things.
Posted by ac | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 10:09 AM
First-order: Were you a founder of the Romantic movement?
Posted by apostropher | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 10:12 AM
119- Thinking of people known for oldness... ??? Nope.
Posted by ac | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 10:12 AM
121- I'm not Coleridge. Or Constable, for that matter.
Posted by ac | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 10:15 AM
2nd order: Were your better-known books published in the nineteenth century?
Posted by Jackmormon | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 10:16 AM
124 -No, not originally published in the 19th century.
Posted by ac | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 10:18 AM
Did you ever have a beer named after you?
Posted by peep | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 10:19 AM
126- Did Castro have a beer named after him? I don't know.
Posted by ac | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 10:22 AM
I think I'm just going to say Castro for everything, and let you argue with me. Ha!
Posted by ac | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 10:23 AM
Did your books seem to go against the spirit of the times, certainly in your own country?
Posted by I don't pay | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 10:25 AM
109: Then you're not Charlemagne.
2nd order: were you British?
Posted by mjs | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 10:25 AM
1st order: Did you write a biography of Kant?
Posted by Jackmormon | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 10:26 AM
127- I don't know either. "Castro Beer" got quite a lot of hits on google, but I didn't find any evidence of an actual beer.
I was thinking of Billy Carter.
Posted by peep | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 10:27 AM
129- I'm not Aleister Crowley.
Posted by ac | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 10:27 AM
130- Yes, I'm British.
Posted by ac | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 10:28 AM
Are you best know because of a translator/interpreter in English?
Posted by I don't pay | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 10:29 AM
Are you best know as the English interpreter/translator of another?
Posted by I don't pay | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 10:30 AM
122 -- I guess you must not be Vassar Clements. Were you a politician?
Posted by The Modesto Kid | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 10:32 AM
136- No, I'm not Cabrera Infante?
Posted by ac | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 10:36 AM
122- No, I was not a politician.
Posted by ac | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 10:37 AM
132- You get a second order, I believe.
Posted by ac | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 10:39 AM
Are you going to answer 131?
Posted by Jackmormon | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 10:41 AM
Oh, sorry. I don't know. You get a second order.
Posted by ac | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 10:42 AM
Ok, you're not Ernst Cassirer.
To recap, you're a dead British man who wrote both fiction and nonfiction books that were originally published before 1800.
2nd order question: were you considered a scientist in your time?
Posted by Jackmormon | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 10:55 AM
143- No, I'm not a scientist.
Posted by ac | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 10:59 AM
You are recapping correctly, but while I'd say I'm known for my writing, it's not for something I'd normally refer to as fiction or non-fiction.
Posted by ac | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 11:01 AM
I've got to get offline now, so someone else will have to solve the mystery.
Posted by Jackmormon | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 11:02 AM
And I have to go out and get lunch but will be back in half an hour or so.
Posted by ac | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 11:02 AM
You can all speculate while I'm gone, of course.
Posted by ac | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 11:03 AM
When you get back -- were you rolled in a carpet?
Posted by LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 11:04 AM
Do you have Prince Albert in a can?
Posted by The Modesto Kid | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 11:09 AM
No, but I have 12 pound balls.
Posted by apostropher | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 11:18 AM
Hey 'Postropher, did you know you're close to the top of the Google result set for "Do you have Prince Albert in a can?" That seems to me like something to be quietly proud of.
Posted by The Modesto Kid | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 11:20 AM
I did not know that.
Posted by apostropher | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 11:28 AM
Consider yourself informed. (You should have an entry in your referrals log to reflect it now.)
Posted by The Modesto Kid | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 11:31 AM
2nd order question -- Did you write poetry?
Posted by peep | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 11:32 AM
Were you a dramatist?
Posted by Austro | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 11:38 AM
Did Samuel Johnson write your biography?
Posted by Austro | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 11:39 AM
I'm back. And I did write poetry.
Posted by ac | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 12:29 PM
149- No carpet-rolled persons coming to mind.
Posted by ac | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 12:30 PM
ac.. im confused: were my 156 and 157 inadmissable?
Posted by Austro | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 12:35 PM
1st order -- were you ever world chess champion?
Posted by peep | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 12:36 PM
159: given that you weren't Cleopatra, did you write in Modern English, or in some earlier variant?
Posted by LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 12:41 PM
Dramatist--I'm not Chekov. (Not MAE version, I remind you.)
You've got me on the Johnson biography, though.
Posted by ac | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 12:46 PM
Austro--I just had a woman come into my office demanding attention, sorry for the delay. Picture me at my computer hiding from ten million people knocking on my door.
Posted by ac | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 12:47 PM
Yes, I wrote in Modern English.
Posted by ac | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 12:48 PM
Sorry.. it wasnt meant to pressure.. i just was not sure about the degree of first oderness..
So do I get a 2nd order question?
Posted by Austro | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 12:49 PM
Yes, Austro, you do!
Posted by ac | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 12:50 PM
Are you william congreve?
Posted by Austro | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 12:50 PM
Did you write a poem about a million slimy things?
Posted by LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 12:51 PM
(or, at least, a poem that mentioned them?)
Posted by LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 12:53 PM
I'm just painting a picture. I have actually had about twenty-seven conversations with people who are angry with me while playing this game. One or two screamers in there. So this is far more pleasant.
Posted by ac | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 12:55 PM
Um, no, I'm not William Congreve.
Posted by ac | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 12:56 PM
shame.
Posted by Austro | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 12:57 PM
169 is your second order, LB? (Before I bold it.)
Posted by ac | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 1:02 PM
169 is a first order. I spent my second order on the Modern English question.
Posted by LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 1:03 PM
Did you have Prince Albert in the can?
Posted by Chopper | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 1:09 PM
Is an area of London's Docklands eponymous with you?
Posted by Austro | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 1:09 PM
1st order: Did you collaborate in the writing of a famous hymn?
Posted by synaesthete | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 1:11 PM
176, meet 150.
Posted by The Modesto Kid | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 1:12 PM
As far as I know, I did not write about a million slimy things and don't have a part of the Docklands named after me.
Posted by ac | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 1:12 PM
Also first oder: Did you take opium for more than 40 years?
Posted by Austro | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 1:13 PM
180, you are mixing up first and second orders again I think.
Posted by The Modesto Kid | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 1:14 PM
Oops. I mean, I don't know who you're talking about.
Posted by ac | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 1:15 PM
Is that an 'I don't know' to my first order 169?
Posted by LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 1:15 PM
181- No, I'm not Coleridge.
Posted by ac | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 1:15 PM
Also first oder: Did Elisabeth Barret Browning write about your grave?
Posted by Austro | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 1:16 PM
Yes, it's an 'I don't know'.
(And I wasn't drinking at lunch, I swear.)
Posted by ac | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 1:16 PM
So you aren't Coleridge ("a thousand thousand slimy things, lived on, and so did I...").
Did you write plays?
Posted by LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 1:17 PM
181 - Actually.. i was not thinking of him. So are you stumped by the opium or not? i guess i remain at first level
Posted by Austro | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 1:18 PM
I don't know whose grave Barret Browning wrote about, so that's two 2nd orders for you, Austro.
Posted by ac | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 1:18 PM
did you forget #161? (1st order)
Posted by peep | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 1:19 PM
In re the Opium: Are you George Crabbe?
In re the EBB: could you be William Cowper?
Posted by Austro | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 1:20 PM
Don't know a chess champion with C. So you guys should fire ahead on the 2nds.
I don't think I wrote any plays, or at least, that's not what I'm known for. But I wrote a few different kinds of things, so maybe there's a play in there.
Posted by ac | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 1:21 PM
179, read more closely.
Posted by Chopper | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 1:23 PM
I'm going to count both of Austro's as 2nd orders. No, I'm not Crabbe or Cowper.
Posted by ac | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 1:24 PM
yes, they were the two seconds owing. Oh dear. Seem to be barking up the wrong period! :)
Posted by Austro | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 1:25 PM
193: So, I guess you are not Jose Capablanca.
2nd order -- Did you live in the 18th century?
Posted by peep | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 1:26 PM
Was my first too easy and my second too hard?
Posted by ac | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 1:26 PM
Yes, I lived in the 18th century.
Posted by ac | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 1:27 PM
Not at all.. this is fun!
Posted by Austro | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 1:27 PM
Would i be likely to confuse you with a travel agents?
Posted by Austro | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 1:28 PM
194, are you trying to dig at my choice of article? Because I will maintain that the error in 150 is the form preferred by juvenile prank callers across the country. Google returns 800 hits for the indefinite-article form, only 100 hits for the definite-article form. And the 'Postropher post which I mentioned in 152, uses the indefinite article.
Posted by The Modesto Kid | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 1:28 PM
Are you breaking my heart, and shaking my confidence daily?
Posted by LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 1:29 PM
201- No, I'm not Thomas Cook? (That's what they're called, right?)
203- No, I'm not Cecilia.
Posted by ac | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 1:31 PM
1st order -- did you sex Sand?
Posted by peep | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 1:31 PM
205- No, I'm not Chopin.
Posted by ac | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 1:32 PM
Right, ac, thats what they're called.
Posted by Austro | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 1:32 PM
Do you explain it all?
Posted by slolernr | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 1:35 PM
Mind you, he was a Cooke.
Posted by Austro | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 1:35 PM
Ooh, have a feeling I know what you're referring to slo, but can't think of it.
Posted by ac | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 1:37 PM
1st order -- did you direct Beauty and the Beast?
Posted by peep | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 1:37 PM
211- No, not Cocteau.
Posted by ac | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 1:38 PM
Well, I was asking if you're Clarissa.
Posted by slolernr | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 1:38 PM
Were you based in Bristol and did you write an epistle to Reynolds?
Posted by Austro | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 1:38 PM
I know to whom slol refers!
Posted by ben wolfson | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 1:38 PM
Well, goody for you, Ben.
Posted by ac | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 1:41 PM
I'll tell you, I'm having trouble answering Austro's question.
Posted by ac | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 1:41 PM
1str order -- Did you play Norton?
Posted by peep | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 1:42 PM
202--No, I was suggesting that my comment was a deliberate play on your earlier comment, wherein my change of the tense of the question and to the definite article altered the meaning of the phrase.
Posted by Chopper | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 1:44 PM
218- Don't know.
214- I'm assuming I don't know. But although it's a first order I'll tell you've got the birthplace.
Posted by ac | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 1:44 PM
Oh, Sorry.
Umm I was aiming for William Combe.
Posted by Austro | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 1:44 PM
And if you're not William Combe, did you die in mysterious circumstances?
Posted by Austro | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 1:46 PM
219 -- ok, you lost me now. I got no idea what's going on anymore.
Posted by The Modesto Kid | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 1:46 PM
I don't think my death was actually mysterious to anyone, but if it had happened nearer our time would have been investigated by the police or there would have been some kind of inquest.
Posted by ac | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 1:48 PM
Is there a painting of you in the Tate by Henry Wallis?
Posted by Austro | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 1:50 PM
220: So you're not Art Carney.
2nd order -- Are you Thomas Chatterton?
Posted by peep | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 1:50 PM
Damn.. that was meant as a first order!..so 225 is by way of going round again!
Posted by austro | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 1:51 PM
Grrr.. and i gave it away :)
Posted by Austro | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 1:52 PM
Yes, I'm Chatterton!
Posted by ac | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 1:53 PM
Nice one, ac. That was fun.
Posted by Austro | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 1:53 PM
That is, Yes, I'm Chatterton.
Posted by ac | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 1:53 PM
The Wallis.
Posted by ac | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 1:56 PM
So with that, I'm off to bed.
Thanks for the game, ac.
Posted by Austro | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 1:57 PM
223--
You were asking AC if she had either a)a tinned tobacco product in her posession or b) a member of the royal family locked in the bathroom.
I wasking ac if she'd ever fucked said royal family member in the butt. I'm sophisticated, see.
Posted by Chopper | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 1:58 PM
234 -- got it, ok. A curious purple light is dawning on the horizon.
Posted by The Modesto Kid | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 2:03 PM
Looking back, I wonder why on earth I thought of Combe before Chatterton. That thing with Bristol was a pure fluke!
Posted by Austro | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 2:04 PM
I did not sex Mutombo, or Prince Philip. Or Chatterton.
Posted by ac | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 2:04 PM
Sexing Chatterton could have been severly detrimental too your health!
Posted by Austro | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 2:05 PM
Severely, even.
Posted by Austro | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 2:06 PM
hey, i won!
thanks, ac!
that was fun!
Posted by peep | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 2:08 PM
Did he definitely have a disease, or is that speculation?
Posted by ac | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 2:08 PM
You're welcome. In two senses.
Posted by ac | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 2:10 PM
I was going to say -- a triumphant entry into commenting here, peep.
(And seasonally appropriate, too! I never knew marshmallow chicks could type.)
Posted by LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 2:11 PM
When I read about him, there was "evidence" (I dont know what that might be) to suggest that his symptoms of starvation were aggravated by gonorrhoea.
So I guess it is speculation. The arsenic made it academic though, huh?
Posted by Austro | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 2:12 PM
Peep, the swing from Art Carney to Chatterton was inspired: Well played, and welcome!
Posted by Austro | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 2:15 PM
Thanks! It was pure improvisation. I was just trying to stump ac.
I didn't think I knew of any other 18th century English poets that started with a C -- but then I remembered Chatterton.
Posted by peep | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 2:24 PM
Yeah, I was taking pot shots with the first order questions at the 18th Century poets i'd read all those years ago. It never occurred to me to take a blind route to them. I like the tactic. Cool. Once more. Well played.
AC: You should do this more often, if you have the time.
Posted by Austro | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 2:29 PM
I'm glad y'all liked it, after my too easy first attempt, and temporary post-lunch befuddlement.
Posted by ac | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 2:45 PM
I didn't play the second game, but despite the happy post game afterglow here I wonder if we shouldn't clarify, for future Botticelli's, who's a good mystery person, because I don't know this Chatterton fellow and wouldn't have been able to guess. If I'm a tiny minority, that's okay, but if I'm not, I think it's usually better to pick someone you're pretty confident a large minority of your questioners would know.
Posted by Tia | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 3:04 PM
To fess up, I only sort of know who he is -- that is, the name rang a bell as '18th C British writer', but I don't know a blessed thing beyond that, and wouldn't have had a hope of guessing it. I don't think it was too hard, though -- it's supposed to be a stretch.
Posted by LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 3:07 PM
Hm. The way I play it's not supposed to be. I got totally annoyed with an exboyfriend once and I got all the way to ancient Greek rhetoritician starting with "D" and I was like, who the hell are you talking about? I don't know any Greek rhetoriticians. And it turned out to be Demosthenes, but I wouldn't have had any way of getting to that.
Posted by Tia | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 3:15 PM
At least Austro loves me.
Chatterton's poetry might be obscure, but that painting of him is quite famous.
Posted by ac | Link to this comment | 03-31-06 3:18 PM
Yeah, I'd say Demosthenes is absolutely okay. Once you start worrying about keeping it too narrow, you take all the fun out of it. And we've got enough overeducated weirdos here that someone will know everything.
Posted by LizardBreath |