The chairperson selects an object/idea/whatever and announces whether it's animal, vegetable, mineral, and/or abstract. The others have to ask questions to figure out what it is. Whomever guesses the object correctly is given the chair for the next round; repeat ad nauseam.
[rab] The Snark's tail has been grasped. [Inkspot] The Snark gulps them down and burps. [Chalky,Penelope] The Snark flings two of its hunters into the top of a tree. [Software] Wielding the Sword of Truth and the Shield of Fair Play, Software has captured the Snark! (Hogmanay, actually, rather than the festival of stocktaking at the piggery, but I'll give you that.)
Audience presents Software with the mounted head of a Snark.
Hey! There's a whole new game here. We ask a whole load of questions (say, 20) and then, only when 20 questions have been asked, the winner of the previous round thinks of something that fits some of the questions, but not all of them. On second thoughts.....where is Software, anyway?
Inky: No Raak: Yes (slight ripple of clapping and murmering from audience) Chalks: No, well not exactly, oh, all right, technically yes. (one lonely individual in audience claps a loud, embarassing single clap).
Ooh! Goodness! *stands up and takes a brief bow, blushing furiously* I apologise for keeping you waiting so long, have been out doing the Christmas necessaries with the relatives. Okay, the next one is ABSTRACT.
[ZK, Kim] ahem ... like Ann Elk - I have a theory. However, it would be unfair to hijack this game in order to expound it. I'll mention it in Banter one day, I'm sure :-)
[Chalky] No. [Inkspot] No. [Kim] In a way. [Software] No. [Raak] (excited murmurs from audience)OOOoooh....no. [Chalky] It depends what you do with it :)
Thank you one and all and especially to ZK for a festive and entertaining go. Right: this one is.....*flattened trumped makes ham-fisted attempt at fanfare*....ABSTRACT!
I had assumed that ZK was male, on the basis of my theory that the more strange the nickname, the more likely the person is to be male. But I really want to hear Chalky's theory now.
Sorry, everyone, but I had no chance to get to a computer today. Right, let's see.. [Raak] No. [Software] Y..y..y..y..y...just about. [Inkspot] No. [Breadmaster] No. [ZK] No. That's my favourite opener! [snorgle] Strictly, yes. And Yes. [Lib] No. [Tuj] Not in any conventional sense.
[snorgle] Yes, a bit. It's not a hard and fast rule. But your name is less silly than, say, "DrQu+xum", "I Say! Porter!" or indeed my own. What is the origin of "Snorgle"? Or do I not want to know?
Snorgling is a noise my dog makes - it sounds like a snore and a gargle - usually when he wants some food or attention. It's quiet but effective at getting your attention, although it can be quite annoying! (I also saw the name in a comic book letters page once, and fancied it...)
[Chalky] No. [Fridge] Sorry, you have to post a question or a guess as well. [LotUS] No. I'd be interested to hear the origins of a lot of these names. Perhaps we could turn it into a game. [Breadmaster] No. [snorgle] No. [Raak] Yes. *The Snark is sighted in the distance. Raak rallies the hounds with a clarion call on his bugle and sets off in hot pursuit.*
Ok, that makes no sense. I meant to say.... The origin of Lib is rather underwhemling, but I'm still quite ford of it. (I've got a cold and my head isn't working!)
[Raak] No. [Inkspot] No. [LotUS] I cannot answer that definitively, without researching other faiths, which I am not in a position to do. I *think* that it is uniquely associated with Judaism.
[Inkspot] Yes. *One of the hounds has picked up the scent of The Snark. "If he turns down that way, shouts Inkspot, we can run him to ground!"* [Raak] No. [Tuj] In the sense that it was something that supposedly happened a long time ago and got written about, yes.
Was it written about in the Old Testament of the Bible?
Is there an interesting reason why you call yourself Kim? Also, if we had a game about the origins of all our screen names, how long would it last? *schizophrenic voice chips in* I suppose it would depend on what you made the rules...
[ZK] Yes! Well, I had this idea that it could be played within the general boundaries of Animal-Vegetable-Mineral-Abstract. People ask yes/no questions and from the answers given slowly uncover the truth. [snorgle] No.
No idea what I'm babbling on about, but my name is not very well disguised, I keep posting the latest Celebrity MC tables on an of and on weekly ad hoc basis, so players would have to diliberatley not get it right;)
[ZK] No, no, no, no and no. [Inkspot] No. [Raak] No. I'm tempted to post a clue, but Inkspot is perilously close to a breakthrough with his last two postings and ZK may get there by a process of elimination. I'll provide a clue, if asked.
[Inkspot] No. Go back to your question before last. [Software] No. I think we've already eliminated the Torah. One more go, then I think we'll put up a clue.
[Software] No. Isn't that what Inkspot was *babbling* on about before? [Inkspot] Yyyy...yes. In the sense that it is something that He caused to happen. Now, go back again to your question about language and your question about the Tanakh and put them together. If you don't get this one, I will be disappointed. [Ibid] Not as such. [Raak] Not as such. [Breadmaster] No. *But the Snark is utterly trapped between several of the hounds and cannot move one way or another. Surely one of them will now deliver the fatal blow...*
[Raak] Yes! The exact words I was looking for were "Mene Mene Tekel Upharsin", although I would, at this point, have accepted "The Writing on the Wall". I was sure that Inkspot would succeed. It is from the Ketuvim, the third section of the Tanakh, it had everything to do with language, it was not a prophesy as such, although it did tell the king what would happen to his kingdom and it was not Balshazzars feast, as such, although it did occur at the same time. Many contestants came within a gnats, but Raak hits the spot once again. Congratulations, Raak! The chair is yours, but with an honourable mention to Inkspot for incisive questioning.
Goddammit! That was going to be my next question. I had forgotten that the book of Daniel is traditionally considered one of the prophets, although today it is always classified as an apocalyptic work. Arrrgh!
Actually I just dismissed 'haggis' on account of not being veggy, but then I remembered the oats. And here we learn the importance, finally, of checking our oats.
[Kim] Yes. [rab] You have, alas, overshot the mark. [Kim] It is indeed HAGGIS. The audience carries the triumphant Kim on their shoulders round the room, to the accompaniment of massed pipers.
[Bm] Well, pick up a haggis. Do you have a single thing in your hand? Or is it two things, the skin and the contents? Or is it a trinity of skin, animal edibles, and vegetable edibles? If three, is it simultaneously one? Does the process of combining the ingredients to make a haggis subsume their three natures into a single nature, or do they retain three separate natures which in the cooking process become like, but still separate? Will you be hunted through every glen in Scotland for confusing homoousion with homoiousion?
[Raak] Ha! Very good. You and your sneaky iota. When I said "single thing" I meant a particular, unique individual, but I should probably have phrased it better. I shall retire to a monastery in the Thebaid and secretly write self-vindicating books to be discovered 1500 years in the future.
[raak] No. [ZK] No. [ZK] Yes. [ZK] Err...yes. It could have been a snowman (which would fit the "carrot and a couple of rock" idea (but isn't). [Breadmaster] No. [Inkspot] No. [Toby] No.
[All] P.S. I will have limited playing time today. My wife is on call (she's a midwife) and so I shall have to keep our telephone line free (we only have one, which does double duty as land line and internet line) from 9 O'clock this evening. I'll try to get back to this game at least once between then and now.
[Good news] No. [Good news] Hmmm....difficult. Let me say that the thing could not exist without both, but the wood holds the whole thing together. [Inkspot] Yyyyyyyes.....most likely to be used in certain rooms rather than others... [Raak] No. [Toby] Yes! [ZK] I see you've been lurking....(!)
[Raak] No. [Inkspot] *Clue* Not on. [Lib] No. I have been looking at plump's first question, which, I think, is capable of more than one interpretation. Comments, supplementary questions invited.
[Raak] No. [Inkspot] *Clue* Mine isn't, but there are some varieties you can get that are. [Software] No. [Dazed5] No. [Raak] Nice, but no. (*Thinks*) "Hmmmm, walnut and brass......" [Toby] No. Try again.
[Toby] Oh, bad luck. None of the above. And not every home is likely to have one, although I think that every home should. [ZK] Bingo! *sings*"Sitting at my pi-a-no the other day...". [Inkspot] I would love to visit your home one day.... Congratulations, and the antique birthing stool with bronze attachments goes to Zoological Keeper with compliments. Lurking clearly works.....
Hurrah! [Kim] Gratefully received and sitting next to my medieval teak espressomatic. Right, I shall endeavour to offer another one for all to get their metaphorical teeth into. And it shall be ABSTRACT. How do you get colour tags?
*trolling back from amazon* [Inkspot] I've found it included in a few, but it is not the title of a book in itself. [Inkspot once more] Not to the best of my knowledge. [Raak] Possibly.
I can't promise to be back before the end of today; I need to clean my room, wrap presents, help around the house and attend midnight mass and this may involve arranging with my friend for her to come stay with us for crimble so Merry Christmas all if I don't see you again soon, and I hope some brilliant period of enlightenment visits you and tells you the answer - I suspect Breadmaster's onto a winner anyway, if someone else doesn't filch it first. christmas blessings all! xx
And with the dawn of Boxing Day, we usher in a new age of guessing as Kim rides home with the victory and an extra glass of egg-nog. It was indeed Father Time. :)
[Breadmaster] I would say the average 10 year-old would not know about this. [Raak] In the broadest sense, yes. [Toby] Please clarify, or give an example. [Chalky] Yes. Sorry, I was out of commission yesterday.
Which is of course related to the current festive season in that the introduction of the assumption of the existence of Father Christmas is a necessary premise; and is also of course pure fiction. [Breadmaster] I thought it did - Ding, an sich, Dingalingaling - which was subsequently corrupted by the uncomprehending rabble.
[Chalky] No. [Toby] *More applause*. No. It is not a calendar event as such, but something that has an association with that particular calendar event. [Inkspot] No, but thank you for thinking of me.
[Toby] None of the above. [All] I'm getting concerned that if we get too far into this month, my choice will cease to be aposite. There is one very popular question arising out of "abstract" that has not yet been asked.
[snorgle] No. But yes to your previous. Apologies for missing it. [Toby] No, and I have no idea what that is called, but you are getting closer. [Inkspot] Apologies for missing your earlier post. Nice, but no.
He didn't invent my biology. I'm fairly certain that two sexually-inclined Yorkshirepersons were responsible for my spawning. I believe they were doing their service to the nation, in an attempt to prevent us from being outnumbered by the Germans, as is the time-honoured custom in this fair land of ours.
Ooh - that was lucky. It's ages since I had a turn in the chair. I'm office based for the next few days, so will try to keep it simple: M I N E R A L with 'vegetable' connections . . .
And I see the boys are at it again ;-) Maybe we need a Jesting Pilate game for the what is art/what value philosophy/science to whom/why a duck? discussions?
I forget which artist painted it. I like the sound of a band though. I always wanted to be in a band when I were a lad. Unfortunately I have no musical talent whatsoever. (Cries) I can't read write or play music to save me life, though I'd be at home on the mic, butchering Pink Floyd tracks and pretending I was doing them justice.
[Thrax] When I was a student I had a burning ambition to start a band called Asymmetrically Repulsive and release an album entitled Messianic Duck. Like you, I was hampered by an actively negative musical ability, being semi-tone deaf. One day, though...
I was a drummer in a rock band for a while. We were originally going to call ourselves Thundering Imbeciles but settled, in the end, on Barok. Well, it was 25 years ago...
Breadmaster - Yes Kim - No Dazed - No Inkspot - Metal, yes, and other stuff Raak - No [I may not be able to get back here before 6pm. Keep piling on the guesses - it's quite straightforward].
Software - No Raak - No [although I suppose it could be found in a garden] momus - if I'm not mistaken, a garlic crusher is a kitchen device [but of course, you may use one for entirely different purposes :-)
Eek - I thought I'd replied to the first 3 questions above at about 3pm... I'm so sorry, I must have left it on preview. To repeat: Raak - No Inkspot - Not always ... and a *'hearty cheer* for a superb example. SO close! Dazed - YES! Breadmasterly person - Not yet ;-)
Well done Dazed - DAB it is - and very much on my mind as the grateful recipient of such a wondrous beast this Christmas [Pure Evoke 1]. I think Bob's got the same toy :-) Inkspot - commiserations ... ... and apologies to all for being so busy just at the wrong time - which rather lost the momentum of the game.
Backtracking ... [Raak] Digital radios - most of the popular new models [including mine] are in a nice wooden casing. I dare say there are some that are NOT, which is why I qualified my reply to B'master. It was there for all to read. [Software] Erm ... don't understand your comment. Surely you're not implying I led you up the garden path? And why the apostrophe?
[Breadmaster] Not so much. No one ever talks about 'the law of this-particular-thing' in the way they would refer to 'the law of gravity.' But it is a reflection of a truth.
I'm not really going to be around enough to take the chair here (those ex-Pants-o-Philes may remember I was in the chair when Pants MC went belly-up, and I was annoying every one then with my slow responses). May I suggest Inkspot takes up the challenge as he/she was so close with Chalky's radio.
Bigsmith, thank you, I am honoured indeed by your invitation, and I'm sure that despite the rumours, the demise of Pants MC wasn't totally your fault. ;)
Raak]YES *almost there* Bigsmith]No Bigsmith]No Bigsmith]No, my bedroom widow used to look out over Milford docks, towards the BP and Texaco refineries.
snorgle]No, not a stone circle, try further west. clue: This early Neolithic ancient monument was built for a purpose which we kmow for certain, and is one of the best examples of its kind in the U.K.
Raak]Yes; Burial tomb or cromlech Raak] No; Stonehenge being the tenuous link, the stones came from the Preseli hills 200 miles away *hint*? extra points will be awarded for guessing how they got them there, and we all know what points mean. Bigsmith]No; further west
