Answer on a general knowledge quiz.

In It To Win It is the one that raises our blood pressure.

In the good old days a contestant was asked a question and they answered it rightly or wrongly. Now they take ages to spit it out. We get, 'I'm leaning towards, It's not jumping out at me, It IS jumping out at me, I'm going with my first instincts.'

After all that faffing about, Dale Winton then asks, 'Would you like me to take that as your answer?'

YES!!!!! JUST GET ON WITH IT.

I was reading a book by a tour guide in Italy. He had an American client who wanted interesting things to see around Naples. He suggested Pompeii and explained that it was where the terrible volcanic eruption occurred in 79 AD. The American was amazed because he'd been old enough to read the papers during the 70's and hadn't seen anything about it!

Americans!

Continuing with the theme of Americans on tour in Italy. On a conducted tour around Venice many years ago, a tour guide mentioned that she had ushered a party of Americans around the Doges Palace prison and had asked them whether they knew who the most famous inmate was, expecting someone would answer with Casanova, she was amazed that the only response she got was Al Capone!

We spent a whole day looking round Warwick Castle (great place), and were about to take a walk from the car park to have a look at the area outside, this was about 4.30 p.m. A coach of American tourists had just arrived, and as they alighted one women asked if this was where the Queen lived. We returned to the car park about an hour later, and the coach was just leaving. Could not believe they had visited in such a short space of time.

Merlotgran - it annoys me too - I think they are just trying to prolong their moment of 'fame'!

Someone told me that when they visited Windsor Castle a few years ago an American was heard to say 'it's fantastic but what a pity they built it
so near to the airport'.

Lack of general knowledge is a lack of curiosity, I'm amazed at the almost stupidity of some of the people. When I lived in New York someone said to me that I must really miss my family at Thanksgiving. Same person at a later date asked if we had fireworks on July 4th ! At work I'd just returned from a trip to Germany and a girl asked me if I was still suffering from jet lag. I'm always amazed at some peoples' general ignorance of simple aspects of the world around us.

myGDfor part of her uni course had to memorise the location of every country in the worls and the capital city of each country. she studied so hard and i was delighted when she scored 98 out of 100 only missing out on the correct location of 2 countrys, she e mailed me the geography knowledge quiz to try but i failed miserably. geography was never ny strong point though i think my general knowledge is passable.

Am I the only one who howled out loud at tonight's clanger.
The prog. Break The Safe.
Q. The river tweed separates which two countries
A. ( from a police officer) Germany!!!!

Harris and Donegal?

If I answer about 10 questions(usually the starter ones) correctly on university challenge I feel really pleased!

Oh heavens laidback, I'm usually happy if I manage one or two answers - must get back to the books

My ex used to come from the small village of Bladon, where Winston Churchill is buried in the churchyard, near Blenheim Palace. We observed an American tourist looking at the village school, saying 'I don't think much of the Palace, not from the back anyway'.

Last time I was in London I was accosted by an American tourist looking for Sherlock Holmes's birth place.

I was sharing a funeral car with a very sweet catholic priest and as we drove down Baker Street I mentioned that there were actually people employed to answer letters written to Sherlock Holmes. He was absolutely thrilled - "That is SO BRITISH !!!" It quite made his day.

On holiday with my parents somewhere in the West Country aged about 8, my father stopped the car to ask a local whether they knew where Evelyn Waugh's house was. The reply he got was something along the lines of "she don't live round these parts" I never understood until years later why my parents found this so amusing. Evelyn, not really a good name for a bloke, no wonder he turned out bloody difficult! Maybe Ermintrude has a point!

General knowledge is a funny thing. What one person thinks is either 'obvious' or 'everyday knowledge' is often different to another person. My DH knows all sorts of things about sport that he considers general knowledge but is dull as ditch-water to me and I could tell him all sorts of things about children's writers that I think is useful knowledge!

I have a reasonable range of knowledge based on first hand experience, reading& discussion and taught education. Sadly many people have limited experience and do not read or discuss things with people! General knowledge in itself is not necessarily useful..unless doing a quiz/crossoword etc. i enjoy Mastermind and U C..but find Paxman a smug bastard..he's got the answers written down!

When I was about 18 and working in my first job in London, I joined a firm that was predominantly Jewish, but I didn't know that, although the clues were all around me, in the other employees surnames names' which I now recognise were typically Jewish such as Rosenthal, Lever, Marks, Berg etc. One of the girls I was particularly friendly with and who had left home, but nevertheless her mother would ring her daily, would always ask me if she was off sick not to tell her mother otherwise she would come round with chicken soup. Another lady I worked with always berated me when I went off to buy any new clothes by saying "why didn't you ask me first, Max, (her husband who worked in the rag trade) could have got it for you wholesale". They also favoured strange sandwiches that I hadn't really heard of before "salt beef" However, being a naive Catholic convent girl from the burbs I had never met anyone Jewish before. What really perplexed me was around September time they all started wishing each other "happy new year" Feeling I was living in some strange parallel universe I summoned up the courage to ask my friend why they were doing this in September. She looked at me amazed and said "didn't you know we were Jewish?" I can't believe now that I had absolutely no idea.

I do love it when he does a good sneer, I love it even more when a young person answers the most obscure question..the look of surprise is priceless!

I was amazed that a friend, born before the war, had never heard the term 'baby boomers'. She did not know about 'budgie smugglers' either, but I can understand that. What a strange conversation we must have been having!

A friend of mine was talking to someone she knew about women getting the vote back at the beginning of the 20th century during this conversation, my friend mentioned the word "suffragettes", the person she was having the chat with a woman aged 50 something and English born and bred, asked her who they were as she had never heard of them!

A friendly young guide on the Shard must have thought I looked stupid. He pointed at the view across London & said, "You know there is a lot of history down there." Luckily lots of tourists had more faith in me & asked intelligent questions that I could answer from gadding about London with grandkids. However lovely I don't think the guides had been much help to them.

I used to have a guest house in York, and would often get Americans arriving about 6 p.m. and leaving at 9 a.m. the next day. York was in between the 4 nights in London and the 4 nights in Edinburgh.
They would ask what they ought to see, and when we said the Minster some would say they were not religious!
The best putdown I ever heard in the Minster was when an American asked if it was very old, she was told it was older than America.
In the summer you could tell them to walk the walls, but in the winter they closed at dusk, so they were often closed before the guests arrived.
The single nighters would always say that if they'd known how much history there was in York they would have stayed longer.

Years ago I worked in an office and the junior was always sent out at lunch time to get sandwiches for the rest of the office. Asking the boss if he wanted anything was told to get 20 senior service (cigarettes) if they didn't have those to get him anything. On his return the boss shouted "have you got my fags" to which the junior replied they didn't have Senior Service so he had got him a pork pie instead. So maybe a lack off common since is timeless. Grin grin grin