Nightmare Categories

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Magna
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Re: Nightmare Categories

Post by Magna »

SkeeBallRaif wrote:Old Movies.
You might actually enjoy studying this category!
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dhkendall
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Re: Nightmare Categories

Post by dhkendall »

SkeeBallRaif wrote:This has all been really illuminating. I appreciate the advice to just forget about your nightmare categories and instead focus on your middling categories. The thing I worry about is that there are two categories where I am dreadful that come up all the time, the former more than the latter: Poetry, and the Civil War. I'm in "can't venture a decent guess" territory on both of those. But they seem to come up frequently enough that I worry about ignoring them entirely.

Beyond those two, I'm not crazy about Celebrity Marriages (I'm almost always 0-for or 1-for in that category, though it is fortunately relatively rare), Rivers (though that's really studiable), or Old Movies.
This is why God invented the Pavlov lists for studying. I'm at work replying on my iPhone right now do can't look it up, but I'm sure another boardie can provide the link. I know there's a poetry one there, dunno about the Civl War.
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Woof
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Re: Nightmare Categories

Post by Woof »

SkeeBallRaif wrote:
Budphrey wrote:I find that literature is a surprising weak point for me, especially novels since 1900 (except those by a certain Indiana native).
Ha, non-Vonnegut literature isn't my favorite either :D
What??? He wasn't referring to Theodore Dreiser??? :shock:
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dhkendall
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Re: Nightmare Categories

Post by dhkendall »

dhkendall wrote:
SkeeBallRaif wrote:This has all been really illuminating. I appreciate the advice to just forget about your nightmare categories and instead focus on your middling categories. The thing I worry about is that there are two categories where I am dreadful that come up all the time, the former more than the latter: Poetry, and the Civil War. I'm in "can't venture a decent guess" territory on both of those. But they seem to come up frequently enough that I worry about ignoring them entirely.

Beyond those two, I'm not crazy about Celebrity Marriages (I'm almost always 0-for or 1-for in that category, though it is fortunately relatively rare), Rivers (though that's really studiable), or Old Movies.
This is why God invented the Pavlov lists for studying. I'm at work replying on my iPhone right now do can't look it up, but I'm sure another boardie can provide the link. I know there's a poetry one there, dunno about the Civl War.
Here they be
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"The way to win on Jeopardy is to be a rabidly curious, information-omnivorous person your entire life." - Ken Jennings

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whoisalexjacob
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Re: Nightmare Categories

Post by whoisalexjacob »

THE BIBLE.
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fowlerism
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Re: Nightmare Categories

Post by fowlerism »

For me, a nightmare category has to fit the following at the very least:

1. Topic doesn't interest me at all
2. Extremely difficult to study

For me, that makes the ultimate nightmare category "1980s Song Lyrics." First of all, I never had an ear for song lyrics, because I think 99% of the time they're just bad poetry that only gets listened to because of the associated song. I'm sketchy on lyrics even in songs I love. Second, the 1980s are sort of a black hole for me. I'm too young to really remember them, but they don't have the cultural resonance for me that the 1970s and earlier do. Third, music is hard to study. You could go through lists of Billboard chart toppers and Grammy winners pretty straightforwardly, but when you throw the lyrics into that mix I'd basically have to both listen to and memorize songs from an era I dislike. That being said, if I ever got the call you bet your ass I would give it my best.

At least the 1980s song lyric category in the SHC had some TOM, so I wasn't totally sunk.
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mennoknight
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Re: Nightmare Categories

Post by mennoknight »

Opera. Broadway. English royalty.
I eat chicken. That's what I do.
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Volante
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Re: Nightmare Categories

Post by Volante »

Pop Music (~1960s to present).
The best thing that Neil Armstrong ever did, was to let us all imagine we were him.
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Budphrey
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Re: Nightmare Categories

Post by Budphrey »

Woof wrote:
SkeeBallRaif wrote:
Budphrey wrote:I find that literature is a surprising weak point for me, especially novels since 1900 (except those by a certain Indiana native).
Ha, non-Vonnegut literature isn't my favorite either :D
What??? He wasn't referring to Theodore Dreiser??? :shock:
I was expecting some smart-aleck to guess Booth Tarkington. 8-)
Poo-tee-weet? So it goes.
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nserven
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Re: Nightmare Categories

Post by nserven »

Opera, ballet, royalty, popes, opera, saints, opera, mythology, Bible. Oh, and opera.
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Spaceman Spiff
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Re: Nightmare Categories

Post by Spaceman Spiff »

mennoknight wrote:Opera. Broadway. English royalty.
Or an opera about English royalty (the one question I missed in my first game; unfortunately, a DD question.)

(Which, BTW, was done by the Metropolitan Opera this past year... at Lincoln Center, right off Broadway... :roll: )
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econgator
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Re: Nightmare Categories

Post by econgator »

Opera
pretty much any music post-1983
Grammy/Emmy/Oscar winners
most anything on Hollywood
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LucarioSnooperVixey
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Re: Nightmare Categories

Post by LucarioSnooperVixey »

TV, Celebrities, Baseball, Football, Basketball, Governors, Senators, Business, Brand Names, Economics, 60's, 70's, and 90's Music, Legal Terms, In the News, Quotes, Verbs, Adjectives, Common Sayings, Familial Phrases.

Although I have been constantly improving.
Douglas Squasoni
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DBear
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Re: Nightmare Categories

Post by DBear »

Hollywood, Broadway, music after 1995, fashion,
QuizGeek75
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Re: Nightmare Categories

Post by QuizGeek75 »

Anything related to science, sports, the Bible, and other categories that I just don't really care about.
Just a person who loves game shows.
Euphonium

Re: Nightmare Categories

Post by Euphonium »

Mythology, television, pop music categories that aren't rock-heavy
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twelvefootboy
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Re: Nightmare Categories

Post by twelvefootboy »

MAAGNARS ANAGRAMS
I don't even attempt them. Not worth the neurons and nothing to learn from the experience. I suppose the math problems that show up now and then are equally obtuse but at least they test knowledge at some level.

I don't care for any of the wordplay categories since they are generally not educational. This includes "Before and After" which seems to be popular with the writers and the TD writers here.

I assumed this thread was resurrected to complain about the "GULFS" category which had a high degree of difficulty it seems. It seems to have been a misjudgment by the writers.

Of course anything pop culture related is a dead end, but I'm glad they include them for the sake of the viewership that just yearns for a couple of hits per game.
Disclaimer - repeated exposure to author's musings may cause befuddlement.
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alietr
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Re: Nightmare Categories

Post by alietr »

LucarioSnooperVixey wrote: Sat Dec 29, 2018 12:39 am TV, Celebrities, Baseball, Football, Basketball, Governors, Senators, Business, Brand Names, Economics, 60's, 70's, and 90's Music, Legal Terms, In the News, Quotes, Verbs, Adjectives, Common Sayings, Familial Phrases.

Although I have been constantly improving.
From what you've been reporting about your scores, there isn't much room for improvement.
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JayK33
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Re: Nightmare Categories

Post by JayK33 »

Categories about poetry, modern politics, are among my weaknesses. The latter as evident by one of my recent TD moments.
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RJRouge
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Re: Nightmare Categories

Post by RJRouge »

Basically any bit of pop culture that is very current outside of cartoons, comics, and Broadway.
Fashion/designers
Sports
Colleges and Universities
College sports is death.
Generally anything that involves recognizing faces. So many celebrities are so generically "attractive."
If my first LL season is to be believed, classical music and theatre, which I SWEAR I know better than business/econ despite my percentage saying otherwise.
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