Botticelli General Questions

Thread Games
21

I don’t have a problem with that.

22

Yes. That comes under “If a middle name or initial is commonly used”.

23

But you went on to say, “Middle names or initials should not, however, be used for targets.” I disagree.

24

I’m sidin’ with EH on this one.

25

I cast my vote with EH and Prof. in the case where all 3 (or more) names are commonly used. I think “I am J” for Michael J Fox or Edward James Olmos is perfectly fair. On the other hand, I would frown on “I am J” for William Jefferson Clinton, since he’s usually referred to with just his first and last names.

26

The recent Pope puzzle got me thinking.

I threw out IQs for the 2 “J” popes I could think of for the given time span, John and John Paul I.

Would it be legit for someone to play John Paul (I or II) with ‘P’? I would say no. Paul wasn’t his last name or surname. But it’s not hyphenated like Jean-Paul. But it’s not like Paul is his middle name either, as popes choose their names, but usually pick only one.
Safest answer… Don’t as play Pope John Paul, it raises too many questions.

27

I’d host John Paul. I’d just be careful with the phrasing of the answers.

Heck, I’d host Ringo George.

28

I did that a couple times – I remember D H Lawrence as a ‘H’ was one of them – and y’all objected.

29

I don’t think I did, and I wouldn’t now.

30

I don’t recall, but now I’d accept it.

31

Bumping to keep up with the players.

32

Thanks, Prof. P.! I loves me some Botticelli.

33

Seasonal bump.

34

Well, howdy!

35

Bumping for new players.

36

:: steeples fingers ::

Excellent.

37

This last round brought up a few questions about the conventions of the group that I as a new player would like clarified. I don’t have a strong opinion one way or another on how to handle these and would be happy with whatever people decide, but I just want to make sure that there isn’t any confusion and ideally do it between rounds rather than in the middle of the round when even asking for clarification about a DQ could give things away.

  1. What constitutes an unusual name.
    I took the dividing line on this to be anything that would appear in a book of baby names in the case of first names, or as a natural sir names on earth in the case of last names. So Aisling, Balthazar, or Kaczynski would be uncommon but not usual while but Adric, Legolas, or Oakensheild would be unusual. Is this the way it was generally interpreted by the group or am I being way to strict?

  2. To what extent should semi-binary answers be handled (gender in particular)
    This came up with my “not female” answer. I interpreted the questions to be strictly binary and so a given question of “female” would elicit a response of Female if the subject was strictly female, and of “not female” otherwise, similar to the way if the question was “American” we would answer “not-American” rather than answer “European”. Now given the demographics of famous people “not female” nearly guaranteed to mean male in a way that doesn’t hold for “Non-American” and “European”. And by convention we break this rule when it comes to “First name begins with …” which is taken as “Which name begins with…” where the appropriate response might be “only name begins with” So perhaps we should similarly interpret “Female?” as meaning, “what is the gender” and so the response should be “Male”, “Female”, or a clarification (“Neither” “Both”,“fluid”)

Probably the best way to handle these would be when in doubt provide maximum clarification, such as I did when asked about was the show in which the Brigadier in Dr. Who appeared is contemporary and clarified that the character was strictly contemporary but the series spanned multiple eras.

  1. Speaking of European, Is the UK European? How about Russia? Also is India Asian?

  2. How are years handled
    Is an event happened in 1950 and I’m asked “After 1950”, how should I respond. My inclination would be to make a rule that says that a year refers to Jan 1st 12:01AM of that year. So that if the character was created July 27 1950, the answer to “Before1950” would be no, and the answer to 'After 1950" would be yes, and that between 1950 and 1975 would mean between January 1st 1950 and December 31st 1974.

Finally, what did people think of my summarizing the DQs in a separate list. Was it helpful or too cluttered?

38

Let me start by saying I’m almost exclusively a lurker in Botticelli. I enjoy trying to guess answers, but I don’t want to run an actual question - I know my time here is spotty, and it wouldn’t be fair. That being said,…

  1. You did fine. If there’s a question, a quick “YMMV” tells everyone “To me (or to it’s national origin) it’s common; it may not be any more or in your land.”
  2. I kinda like the ambiguous answer - punishes people for not asking specifically enough. Q - “Are they female?” A - “no” could mean they are male, non-binary, OR non-human (i.e. a robot). Q - “First name begins with C” A - “yes” does not exclude Cab Calloway.
  3. Technically, Russia can be in Europe or in Asia (I think the border is the Ural mountains). UK is definitely Europe. Yes, India is “Asian”.
  4. Again, I like the ambiguity if the question is asked poorly. “Before 1950” means during 1949 or earlier; “After 1950” means 1951 or later. If it’s 1950, then the question should have been “Born 1950 or later?” If you feel guilty about it, then throw more information.
  5. (to be honest) meh. I’m a little bit of a prick that way - let the individual read your answers and figure it out themselves.
39

My thoughts:

  1. Unusual names, to me, are those that are rarely come across, especially as regardings living in 21st Century USA. Names that aren’t Mike, Mary, Steve, Karen, Charles, Debby, etc. To me, Alaister is an unusual name. I’m the one who usually asks this one, so I’ll work on being less vague in the future.

  1. This is not much of an issue, really. We’ve had many more cases where the person was of neutral gender (robots) than any question about trans/fluid classifications. I’m willing to go with whatever’s decided.

  2. Yes, the UK is definitely European. Russia is in both Europe and Asia. India is in Asia. The Middle East is Asian.

  3. If asked “after 1950” and the person’s in 1950, then the answer is “No”. You can be a nice person and qualify that and give more information, but you aren’t obliged to.

  4. I think your summary was helpful, not cluttered, but I also think it really ought to be on the players to compile such a summary, and not the host. You do what you want, though.

  5. Names with “de” and “von” (for example): Is Ludwig van Beethoven a “V”? I’m assuming everyone would say he’s a “B”. I’m personally against using the identifying articles. Buck didn’t ask this, but I’ve been ruminating about it for awhile now.

40

I think I would go with excluding the von or de unless that person’s name is almost always pronounced with it. So Beetoven “B”, Joan of Arc “A”, but Leonardo da Vinci and Charles de Gaulle are both D’s. That is admittedly a bit ad hoc.