To be fair, “do hummingbirds have feet” seems eminently wikipediable. I’d like to think that if I ever felt the need to drunk-dial an expert, it’d be for something less trivial.
Not even 20 years ago smart phones and the internet weren’t ubiquitous. I’m only 35 but even I remember personal stories about bar disagreements where we just simply couldn’t use our phones to search the net. Because all they were capable of is dialing a number and Snake.
Way back in the 1950s some guy had the same observation you did. He came up with an idea for a book that would solve disputes over trivia by bar patrons. 70 years later the Guinness Book of World Records has over 22,000 entries in their database.
began as an idea conceived by British engineer and industrialist Sir Hugh Beaver, the managing director of the Guinness Brewery, to solve trivia questions among bar patrons. During the early 1950s Beaver was involved in a dispute during a shooting party about the fastest game bird in Europe; however, the answer could not be found in any bird reference book.
I’m around the same age and I’m pretty sure we had Google on our phones by the time we could drink. That was the in between time where they still had buttons, but they had browsers and colorful screens. First iPhone released in 07. We were pretty much the first ones to have ‘smartish’ phones, though, so some people definitely still had snake bricks.
I think most people also still weren’t used to having the world’s knowledge in their pockets and would forget that Google was even there, too. It’s crazy how easily urban legends and false rumors spread around back then, before everybody knew how to fact check. I remember some particularly interesting ones about Marilyn Manson and Lil Bow Wow.
I once consulted my aunt (PHD English professor) for a small stakes bet ($5) because a friend and I were discussing whether or not letters have any fundamental rules on how they are written.
Turns out, no, they don’t. I.E. if I write: Hello there, ¥¶®×°∆| Kenobi. Aslongas"¥¶®×°∆|" is understood as “General” than according to (american) English it is written “correctly”. There’s no edict that states a " T" must be written in that shape, therefore, any symbol that’s understood intent wise is correct.
I lost that bet, cause WTF, how is that acceptable??
I have to give them credit, they actually consulted a real expert whilst they were drunk. Most people don’t, not even sober
To be fair, “do hummingbirds have feet” seems eminently wikipediable. I’d like to think that if I ever felt the need to drunk-dial an expert, it’d be for something less trivial.
Not even 20 years ago smart phones and the internet weren’t ubiquitous. I’m only 35 but even I remember personal stories about bar disagreements where we just simply couldn’t use our phones to search the net. Because all they were capable of is dialing a number and Snake.
Way back in the 1950s some guy had the same observation you did. He came up with an idea for a book that would solve disputes over trivia by bar patrons. 70 years later the Guinness Book of World Records has over 22,000 entries in their database.
Wow. That guy sure was serious about bird trivia!
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I’m around the same age and I’m pretty sure we had Google on our phones by the time we could drink. That was the in between time where they still had buttons, but they had browsers and colorful screens. First iPhone released in 07. We were pretty much the first ones to have ‘smartish’ phones, though, so some people definitely still had snake bricks.
I think most people also still weren’t used to having the world’s knowledge in their pockets and would forget that Google was even there, too. It’s crazy how easily urban legends and false rumors spread around back then, before everybody knew how to fact check. I remember some particularly interesting ones about Marilyn Manson and Lil Bow Wow.
But they don’t just want the answer, they want to share an experience with the people they’re with in a clever and fun way.
There’s nothing trivial about bar room disagreements. People die over those. That professor just saved someone’s life.
To be fair, there’s no time period listed on when the event described allegedly occurred and Wikipedia hasn’t always existed.
I once consulted my aunt (PHD English professor) for a small stakes bet ($5) because a friend and I were discussing whether or not letters have any fundamental rules on how they are written.
Turns out, no, they don’t. I.E. if I write: Hello there, ¥
¶®×°∆| Kenobi. As long as "¥¶®×°∆|" is understood as “General” than according to (american) English it is written “correctly”. There’s no edict that states a " T" must be written in that shape, therefore, any symbol that’s understood intent wise is correct.I lost that bet, cause WTF, how is that acceptable??