| dr.bob
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| 363868. Wed Jun 18, 2008 11:04 am |
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| Rift wrote: | Regarding the Book of General Ignorance;
A) Should i believe everything in there? |
No.
You should never believe anything you read, that's the whole point of the book. However, it will hopefully inspire you to do some of your own research to verify if something in the book is true or not.
There are some errors in the BoGI. If you spot them, feel free to point them out here. Although probably best to do a quick search first to see if the subject has come up before.
| Rift wrote: | | B) There a couple of things i noticed, e.g. on a few pages (i will have to look them up and add the page numbers later) the are a few grammatical mistakes, most of which involve unneccesary repetition of words, was this done deliberately to form some kind of hidden code? |
No.
You should never ascribe to conspiracy what can adequately be explained by incompetence. |
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| Rift
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| 363894. Wed Jun 18, 2008 11:18 am |
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Well thats rather dissapointing. I was hoping that the Elves at QI had discovered the hidden world conspiracy and had left clues for us to discover it ourselves. Ah well. Back to YouTube for my conspiracy clues it is then.
Still a rather good book. |
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| bobwilson
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| 410976. Sun Sep 21, 2008 4:12 pm |
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| Quote: | | You should never ascribe to conspiracy what can adequately be explained by incompetence. |
Surely that's an inversion? "Never fail to seek out and discover conspiracy. Do not assume human incompetence universal".
(Bet you don't know where that comes from). |
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| mckeonj
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| 411004. Sun Sep 21, 2008 4:58 pm |
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| bobwilson wrote: | | Quote: | | You should never ascribe to conspiracy what can adequately be explained by incompetence. |
Surely that's an inversion? "Never fail to seek out and discover conspiracy. Do not assume human incompetence universal".
(Bet you don't know where that comes from). |
From the QI Book of Gentle Irony? |
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| djgordy
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| 726658. Fri Jul 09, 2010 4:12 am |
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Why would be liable to fall asleep after a day of pimp, dick and bumfit?
Incorrect answer: you would be worn out from your sexual adventures.
Correct answer: you would have been counting sheep in Westmoreland.
1 -5 = Yan, tahn teddera, meddera, pimp.
6 - 10 = settera, lettera, hovera, dovera, dick.
11-15 = yan-dick, tahn-dick, teddera-dick, meddera-dick, bumfit.
16-20 = yan-a-bumfit, tahn-a-bumfit, teddera-bumfit, meddera-bumfit, jiggot.
It is the monotony of the words which is though by some to be the cause of counting sheep sending people to sleep rather than anything to do with the sheep themselves. There are variations of the counting system all over the country. In Derbyshire it is:
Yain, Tain, Eddero, Peddero, Pitts, Tayter, Later, Overro, Covvero, Dix; then Bumfit for 15 and Jiggit for 20. |
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| CB27
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| 726684. Fri Jul 09, 2010 6:04 am |
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| Zzzz.... |
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| MinervaMoon
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| 726793. Fri Jul 09, 2010 1:25 pm |
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| The "bumfit" fact was in the compilation episode of series fünf. |
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| suze
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| 726796. Fri Jul 09, 2010 1:34 pm |
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How to count to ten in Burmese: tit, hni, thoan, leh, nga, chao, kunhni, shit, ko, se.
So if you were to spend a long day drinking Burmese beer, you might get to a stage of being tit over the shit.
At which point I shall move swiftly on, and note that in the counting system of the Oksapmin people of Papua New Guinea, the word for "three" is bum rip. |
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| soup
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| 726810. Fri Jul 09, 2010 2:44 pm |
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| djgordy wrote: |
Yain, Tain, Eddero, Peddero, Pitts, Tayter, Later, Overro, Covvero, Dix; then Bumfit for 15 and Jiggit for 20. |
Wasn't the heroine of the "wee free men" (Tiffany) nicknamed Jiggit by her granny as she was the twentieth grandchild? |
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| Moosh
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| 726819. Fri Jul 09, 2010 3:07 pm |
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| Yes, and the Pictsies count using Yan, Tan, Tethera etc. |
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| Peregrine Arkwright
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| 735976. Mon Aug 23, 2010 6:31 pm |
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What colour is water? And how can you tell?
Peregrine Arkwright |
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| Lhyzz
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| 788499. Wed Feb 16, 2011 9:28 am |
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I did a quick search but was not able to find any discussion of this one. If it's been done, apologies.
On page 13, under the heading "Do marmots kill people?", the final paragraph deals with Groundhog Day. It says | Quote: | | Each year, a marmot known as Punxsutawney Phil is pulled out of his electrically heated burrow at Gobbler's Knob, Pennsylvania by his tuxedo-clad 'keepers' who ask him if he can see his shadow. If he whispers 'yes', it means winter has six weeks to go. Since 1887, Phil has never been wrong. |
Now, maybe this whole paragraph is just a joke... but let's just assume that it's not for a moment, since the rest of the entry was not intended as satire. There are many errors.
1. The name of the town is Punxsutawney, not Gobbler's Knob. Gobbler's Knob is just a wooded hill where they hold the ceremony, but it is not a village or town in any way.
2. Nobody asks the poor creature if he can see his shadow, and they certainly do not expect an answer, whispered or otherwise. When he emerges, he either will run back into his burrow, or remain outside. If he runs back in, he is said to have been frightened at the sight of his shadow, and if he remains outside, he is said not to have seen it.
3. Phil is far from being infallible. In fact, he has only been correct approximately 39% of the time, according to StormFax Weather almanac. |
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| CB27
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| 788531. Wed Feb 16, 2011 11:06 am |
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As I understand it, Gobbler's Knob is not actually in Punxsutawney itself, but outseide town.
I think the bit about the whispering was wrong. As you say, it's about whether he sees his shadow or not. I think the error came because part of the ceremony includes his handlers talking to him in Groundhogese, but I think this is more to elaborate on the more tehnical matters of the weather, or perhaps he's just remniding them he's not Skipinder, and to tell that boy to keep the bloody hell away from him...
You're also right about the accuracy, I'm not sure where that came from.
Welcome to the site, hope you're not firghtened by any shadows :) |
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| Oceans Edge
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| 908614. Fri May 11, 2012 12:28 pm |
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A fun little image... seemed like a good place to stick it.
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| djgordy
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| 917263. Sat Jun 16, 2012 4:05 am |
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Yesterday I was at an audition for a quiz show and as part of the exercise people had to talk about themselves. One lady, as a teenager, used to appear in police line ups. She was asked what would have happened if she had been picked out.
She said "nothing, as it would be regarded as entrapment".
I don't have any other support for the entrapment thing at the momnet but it would make a good general ignorance question if someone could check it out. |
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