We played Trivial Pursuit on Family Game Night last week and I’ve come to the disturbing conclusion I’m getting stupider.
Granted, it’s trivia. Outdated trivia at that. “What city has the tallest building outside the U.S?” Um, pretty sure it’s not Toronto anymore.
But some of it falls under the category Stuff I Used To Know. Like geography. And who won the first Super Bowl. And the name of Carole Lombard’s husband. I did, however, know Ms Lombard died in a plane crash, but no, she wasn’t married to Cary Grant.
My struggle for the answer reminded me of one of my favorite jokes…
An elderly couple goes to their friends’ house for dinner. After they finish eating, the men go in the living room to chat while the ladies go into the kitchen to clean up.
The first man says, “We went to a really good restaurant yesterday. I’d recommend it to anyone.”
The second man asks, “What’s the name of the restaurant?”
The first man thinks and thinks and finally says, “What’s that flower that has thorns and you give to someone you love?”
The second man says, “A rose?”
The first man says, “Yes, that’s it! A rose!” He turns his head toward the kitchen and says, “Rose? What’s the name of that restaurant we went to yesterday?”
Yeah. That’s me.
“Let’s see … Carole Lombard was in ‘My Man Godfrey’ and ‘Mr & Mrs Smith’ … married to William Powell, the Thin Man … he had that skinny mustache … so did this guy … “Hey, honey, who was that guy, in a bunch of movies, married to Carole Lombard?”
“You mean the answer to the question?”
“Yeah.”
“You mean the one for the wedge?”
“Yeah.”
“You mean Cary Grant?”
“Yeah. Cary Grant.”
“Is that your final answer?”
“Yeah.”
“Wrong. It was Clark Gable.”
“%$#%^&.”
So I was happy when I saw this article in Prevention Magazine. I’m going to start tricking my brain into making me smarter instead of dopier.
This is my favorite game so far …
You say out loud the color each word is printed in—not the word itself.
If I play it enough, I’m going to reward myself with a trip to Toronto to see the world’s tallest building. Then I’m going to watch The Thin Man starring Cary Grant.
What’s your favorite way to get smarter?
3 thoughts on “Getting Stupider”
I found your site googling Trivial Pursuit Silver Screen Edition problems. One of the answers says that Bette Davis was Clark Gable’s most frequent co-star. That’s a pretty good trick seeing as how they never were in a movie together. I was trying to find a list of corrections that I could convince my friend that I’m right… I enjoyed your post…
OMG, that was me trying to play Trivial Pursuit last year when my kids all came home for Christmas. TP used to be my favorite game, and I even had to play under a handicap so others would play with me. NOT ANY MORE. 🙁
Ugh, Nancy, that’s tough! Here’s what you need to do—pull out 5 cards every day and memorize them. By the time NEXT Christmas rolls around, you’ll be back on top. Guaranteed. Don’t let the whippersnappers whip you!