Humor will not be tolerated!! -Portia

http://theboard.byu.edu/questions/63666/

Alright, let's not post the answers just yet. I just want to see what people think in terms of the questions.

I don't know any of the answers.

I know the last two only.

I don't know any of them either.

I used to play strat-o-matic baseball with my dad's old cards as a kid, so I know the lineups for most of the classic teams. I can also name things like batting averages, home runs hit, etc.

Other than that, I only know the last two. I've watched plenty of Match Game, but I've never paid attention (or cared) who the host was.

I also only know the last two.

Woo! I own the 1930's!

I don't know any, either. But it won't let me guess none. You should add a "none of the above" option.

Dragon Lady wrote:I don't know any, either. But it won't let me guess none. You should add a "none of the above" option.

And done.

Yay! I voted!

I know them all, but then, I wrote the quiz.

(The prize really is pretty cool, you guys.)

Well, since you only restricted Google, that means I can find the answers using Yahoo, right? And still be eligible for the prize?

Also, I nominate that we do another of these quizzes but with political references. I would totally do much better.

Happy to oblige, if that's what the people want.

You know, when I asked this question, I had it in my mind that you could use multiple questions to narrow things down (like the Star Wars one could eliminate everything before the seventies). Also, how a person answered could be just as important as knowing the answer (example: "Who on earth is Dumbledore?" versus "What?! Dumbledore dies?!")

Dare, this has been up long enough - I'd love to see all of the answers.

heh. I knew as many from before the 50s as after.

1910s: "We'll be over, we're coming over, and we won't come back 'til it's over over there!"
1920s: Any of Earle Combs, Mark Koenig, Bob Meusel, Tony Lazzeri, Joe Dugan, or Pat Collins.
1930s: "Once I built a railroad; now it's done. Brother, can you spare a dime?"
1940s: "Joltin' Joe DiMaggio!"
1950s: $100.
1960s: Max Yasgur.
1970s: Gene Rayburn.
1980s: Kristin Shepard.
1990s: Maggie Simpson.
2000s: "Wardrobe malfunction."

Building a little bit off of Dead Cat's comment, what grading format would make this quiz optimal?

Assuming it is free response, you could determine a target range of when an individual is from. Any time they answer a question correctly, you could be sure they were from, at the latest, that decade. Someone who correctly answers two in a row, then can't answer any subsequent ones could be assumed to live in the period from their answers. (They would have knowledge centered around their decades that wouldn't continue afterwards.)

Any other ideas?

Oh man,I should've gotten the 1930s question. That was one of the academic decathlon songs this year. I listened to it all the way to St. George and the team based their shirts on "brother can you spare a dime?" it goes well with our school name.

Though, based on the number of people who didn't know any of them, I don't think it's the ideal set of questions. Or maybe there should be multiple questions from each time period to cover different interests.