You might actually enjoy studying this category!SkeeBallRaif wrote:Old Movies.
Nightmare Categories
Moderators: alietr, trainman, econgator, dhkendall
- Magna
- Hooked on Jeopardy
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Re: Nightmare Categories
- dhkendall
- Pursuing the Dream
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Re: Nightmare Categories
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.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.
"Jeopardy! is two parts luck and one part luck" - Me
"The way to win on Jeopardy is to be a rabidly curious, information-omnivorous person your entire life." - Ken Jennings
Follow my progress game by game since 2012
"The way to win on Jeopardy is to be a rabidly curious, information-omnivorous person your entire life." - Ken Jennings
Follow my progress game by game since 2012
- Woof
- Swimming in the Jeopardy! Pool
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Re: Nightmare Categories
What??? He wasn't referring to Theodore Dreiser???SkeeBallRaif wrote:Ha, non-Vonnegut literature isn't my favorite eitherBudphrey wrote:I find that literature is a surprising weak point for me, especially novels since 1900 (except those by a certain Indiana native).
- dhkendall
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Re: Nightmare Categories
Here they bedhkendall wrote: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.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.
"Jeopardy! is two parts luck and one part luck" - Me
"The way to win on Jeopardy is to be a rabidly curious, information-omnivorous person your entire life." - Ken Jennings
Follow my progress game by game since 2012
"The way to win on Jeopardy is to be a rabidly curious, information-omnivorous person your entire life." - Ken Jennings
Follow my progress game by game since 2012
- whoisalexjacob
- 2015 TOC'er
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- Joined: Fri Jul 15, 2011 12:19 am
Re: Nightmare Categories
THE BIBLE.
- fowlerism
- Swimming in the Jeopardy! Pool
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Re: Nightmare Categories
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.
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.
- mennoknight
- Watches Jeopardy! Way Too Much
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- Volante
- Harbinger of the Doomed Lemur
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Re: Nightmare Categories
Pop Music (~1960s to present).
The best thing that Neil Armstrong ever did, was to let us all imagine we were him.
Latest movies (1-10): Ruby Gillman: Teenage Kraken (6), Black Sunday /1960/ (6), Marcel the Shell with Shoes On (7), The Decline of the American Empire (7)
Latest movies (1-10): Ruby Gillman: Teenage Kraken (6), Black Sunday /1960/ (6), Marcel the Shell with Shoes On (7), The Decline of the American Empire (7)
- Budphrey
- Jeopardy! Champion
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Re: Nightmare Categories
I was expecting some smart-aleck to guess Booth Tarkington.Woof wrote:What??? He wasn't referring to Theodore Dreiser???SkeeBallRaif wrote:Ha, non-Vonnegut literature isn't my favorite eitherBudphrey wrote:I find that literature is a surprising weak point for me, especially novels since 1900 (except those by a certain Indiana native).
Poo-tee-weet? So it goes.
- nserven
- At the Clam Shack
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Re: Nightmare Categories
Opera, ballet, royalty, popes, opera, saints, opera, mythology, Bible. Oh, and opera.
- Spaceman Spiff
- One-and-done J! Champ (and proud of it!)
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Re: Nightmare Categories
Or an opera about English royalty (the one question I missed in my first game; unfortunately, a DD question.)mennoknight wrote:Opera. Broadway. English royalty.
(Which, BTW, was done by the Metropolitan Opera this past year... at Lincoln Center, right off Broadway... )
- econgator
- Let's Go Mets!
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Re: Nightmare Categories
Opera
pretty much any music post-1983
Grammy/Emmy/Oscar winners
most anything on Hollywood
pretty much any music post-1983
Grammy/Emmy/Oscar winners
most anything on Hollywood
- LucarioSnooperVixey
- Carrying Letters and Lemons
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Re: Nightmare Categories
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.
Although I have been constantly improving.
Douglas Squasoni
- DBear
- Denier of Pop Culture
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Re: Nightmare Categories
Hollywood, Broadway, music after 1995, fashion,
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- Loyal Jeopardista
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Re: Nightmare Categories
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.
Re: Nightmare Categories
Mythology, television, pop music categories that aren't rock-heavy
- twelvefootboy
- Watches Jeopardy! Way Too Much
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Re: Nightmare Categories
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.
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.
- alietr
- Site Admin
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Re: Nightmare Categories
From what you've been reporting about your scores, there isn't much room for improvement.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.
- JayK33
- Just a Fan
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- Location: Canada
Re: Nightmare Categories
Categories about poetry, modern politics, are among my weaknesses. The latter as evident by one of my recent TD moments.
- RJRouge
- Watches Jeopardy! Way Too Much
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Re: Nightmare Categories
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.
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.