# POLL: Dopers are a curious lot -- and have been since childhood **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 6, 2022, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-dopers-are-a-curious-lot-and-have-been-since-childhood/957324 "2022-01-06T14:42:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2022, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-dopers-are-a-curious-lot-and-have-been-since-childhood/957324/101 "2022-01-07T16:35:20Z")
> [@Slithy\_Tove](#): > > World Book was published in Chicago. They used Malvina Hoffman’s sculptures at the nearby Field Museum for the various races, now reconsidered: sub-Saharan African = Australian = Papuan = generic “negriods.” I will not link to the images of Hoffman’s sculptures, because some of the sculptures are not quite safe for work … but looking at those sculptures brought back a lot of memories. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2022, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-dopers-are-a-curious-lot-and-have-been-since-childhood/957324/102 "2022-01-07T17:59:54Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > Today we would call that a “depth-first search”. Yes, I was destined to be a computer scientist. I wrote many depth-first searches in my day. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2022, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-dopers-are-a-curious-lot-and-have-been-since-childhood/957324/103 "2022-01-07T18:06:27Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > Why quibble? Let’s ask The Man himself! @Voyager , did you backtrack? Of course I backtracked. I wrote the entries I visited in a steno notebook, and was able to go backwards when necessary. I never thought before that this was no doubt why I found graph search algorithms so intuitive. BTW I never tried to read the dictionary since my parents had a massive two volume dictionary from the 1930s, which the Daily News gave away or sold for cheap. Best part about that was the atlas which had the pre-WW II boundaries, including the Danzig corridor. A movie theater had a contest which gave free tickets for the person who made the most words from the movie title. I methodically went through the dictionary to construct the list for “The Ipcress File” (with Michael Caine.) I suspect I had twice as many words as the next person. Yes I was obsessive. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2022, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-dopers-are-a-curious-lot-and-have-been-since-childhood/957324/104 "2022-01-07T18:29:46Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > Of course I backtracked. I wrote the entries I visited in a steno notebook, and was able to go backwards when necessary. @Dr.Strangelove : So there! 🙂 ETA: I wrote a program once to solve [Kriss-Kross puzzles](http://a1950.phobos.apple.com/us/r1000/110/Purple/v4/03/59/f5/0359f5e7-b94d-a34d-e152-e5737ee73158/mzl.vbpsgkur.png) (also known as Skeleton Puzzles). So lots of backtracking. In FORTRAN. So all roll-your-own stacking. That how one really learns how it’s done! ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2022, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-dopers-are-a-curious-lot-and-have-been-since-childhood/957324/105 "2022-01-07T18:40:28Z")
Good grief, we had that one! I wonder if it’s still kicking around my grandma’s house somewhere. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2022, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-dopers-are-a-curious-lot-and-have-been-since-childhood/957324/106 "2022-01-07T18:44:48Z")
A lot of you will remember a big blue area among the smaller pink ones, representing French West Africa and Algeria. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2022, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-dopers-are-a-curious-lot-and-have-been-since-childhood/957324/107 "2022-01-07T19:18:05Z")
> [@Slithy\_Tove](#): > > A lot of you will remember a big blue area among the smaller pink ones, representing French West Africa and Algeria . [![](https://i.etsystatic.com/10890043/r/il/4ec6d9/1710228051/il_1140xN.1710228051_atxp.jpg) ](https://i.etsystatic.com/10890043/r/il/4ec6d9/1710228051/il_1140xN.1710228051_atxp.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![pullin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c57346/32.png) [@pullin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pullin)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2022, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-dopers-are-a-curious-lot-and-have-been-since-childhood/957324/108 "2022-01-07T19:37:21Z")
I read the World Book Encyclopedias for fun. I still have them (1969), from my parents’ house. I also still have most of the Mad Magazine issues from 1965 thru 1974. I was just rummaging thru the September 65 issue containing (among other things) A Mad Look at Garbage, and a satire of car enthusiast’s magazines called: “Load and Crash”. More nerd cred? In 1968 I had one of those Edmund Scientific all-band radios and a home-made 100 foot antenna that I built with my dad. It was horizontal, running over our house between two large trees. We installed large springs on each end to account for sway in windy conditions. It worked pretty well, as I listened to broadcasts from South America and Canada at night. Sadly, this did not “impress the babes” and I spent most of my time alone in my room. Probably not a rarity in this (SDMB) crowd. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2022, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-dopers-are-a-curious-lot-and-have-been-since-childhood/957324/109 "2022-01-07T20:08:49Z")
> [@pullin](#): > > Sadly, this did not “impress the babes” and I spent most of my time alone in my room.- I’m guessing some of the women here would have been impressed when we were girls I would have. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2022, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-dopers-are-a-curious-lot-and-have-been-since-childhood/957324/110 "2022-01-07T20:39:31Z")
Besides old encyclopedias, and old National Geographics going back to the 1920’s, I had access to a (not especially rare nor valuable) 1887 _Earth Sea and Sky_, thick with the wonders of the natural world. It impressed upon me with the danger of being snatched up by [eagles,](https://www.google.com/amp/s/cryptid-quest.tumblr.com/post/180149091779/cryptid-of-the-day-marie-delexs-eagle/amp) as had happened to Marie Delex. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2022, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-dopers-are-a-curious-lot-and-have-been-since-childhood/957324/111 "2022-01-07T22:08:52Z")
I did not read the entire thread, but, along with encyclopedias and dictionaries I assume many of you pored over maps as well? [Reltated thread](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-spend-time-just-looking-at-maps-as-a-kid-anyone-else-still-do-it-as-an-adult/818320) mmm ---
**Author:** ![Limmin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f04885/32.png) [@Limmin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Limmin)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2022, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-dopers-are-a-curious-lot-and-have-been-since-childhood/957324/112 "2022-01-07T22:12:46Z")
Yes indeed (post 99) ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2022, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-dopers-are-a-curious-lot-and-have-been-since-childhood/957324/113 "2022-01-07T22:17:25Z")
It’s interesting that I used to catch shit from fellow military members because of the vocabulary I used. “You’re just trying to act like you’re better than us” was the complaint I always got. No, that’s just the way I was taught to speak. ---
**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2022, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-dopers-are-a-curious-lot-and-have-been-since-childhood/957324/114 "2022-01-07T22:52:36Z")
We had [The Book Of Knowledge](https://www.biblio.com/book/book-knowledge-grolier-incorporated/d/1089313094), [The Golden Book Encyclopedia](https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/the-golden-book-encyclopedia-volume-1---aardvark-to-army/9093351/item/25043758/?gclid=CjwKCAiA5t-OBhByEiwAhR-hm2gPIC_uoOGeal50elSyMKkbBIyR5s0CPkWobMgXi2CKg6VtwdQAcxoCJvIQAvD_BwE#idiq=25043758&edition=8311166), and a c. 1939 edition of Britannica Junior (featuring a photo of the residence of then-German leader Adolf Hitler). We also had both [this edition](https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/the-american-college-dictionary_random-house-value-publishing/1396715/item/14001958/?gclid=CjwKCAiA5t-OBhByEiwAhR-hm11pUj1UMG7gc5O-5lzVFSiUUFvZ2sODPczZRVaQtll2bOS8EUyLcBoC2o8QAvD_BwE#idiq=14001958&edition=5414876) of The American College Dictionary and [the version my mother used as an undergrad.](https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=15386248781&cm_mmc=ggl-_-COM_Shopp_Rare_noclick30-_-product_id=bi%3A%2015386248781-_-keyword=&gclid=CjwKCAiA5t-OBhByEiwAhR-hm2WWnSkfWkvVErETYSmh0grGcIqQQ4W5IWhI58VMpRGMLIaFE4C9tRoC9ocQAvD_BwE). Each of these reference works were well-thumbed by me during my childhood. ---
**Author:** ![carnut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnut/32/3531_2.png) [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2022, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-dopers-are-a-curious-lot-and-have-been-since-childhood/957324/115 "2022-01-07T23:06:17Z")
We had the Book of Knowledge, Encyclopedia Americana, and a huge, fat dictionary. We also had, at our cabin, a slew of back issues of National Geographic and Popular Mechanics going back to the 1930. My parents were both readers and subscribed to Reader’s Digest, Time magazine, and Reader’s Digest Condensed Books. It was heaven. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2022, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-dopers-are-a-curious-lot-and-have-been-since-childhood/957324/116 "2022-01-07T23:06:34Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > The volume-at-a-time-from-the-grocery-store reference book that I remember from childhood is one I haven’t seen mentioned yet in this thread: the _Charlie Brown Dictionary_ . I remember we had at least a [volume](https://www.amazon.com/Charlie-Brown-Dictionary-Charles-Schulz/dp/B0044AS62Q) or two, then we got the whole thing in a [single volume](https://www.amazon.com/Charlie-Brown-Dictionary-Charles-Schulz/dp/0394830415). I seem to remember reading the single volume to help keep myself busy while waiting for Dad’s daily conference to finish so he could come back to the hotel. We were in the Key Bridge Marriott for about 10 days. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2022, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-dopers-are-a-curious-lot-and-have-been-since-childhood/957324/117 "2022-01-08T00:44:22Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > I did not read the entire thread, but, along with encyclopedias and dictionaries I assume many of you pored over maps as well? As a kid in the early 1970s, we had a giant atlas from 1943 that I spent hours flipping through. Two of the maps, each spread across two pages and measuring something like 36”x30”, were snap shots of occupied territory in Europe and Asia during sometime in 1943 showing Axis and Allied controlled areas. I wish I still had it. It would have been a fun project figuring out the exact range of dates that map reflected. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2022, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-dopers-are-a-curious-lot-and-have-been-since-childhood/957324/118 "2022-01-08T16:21:05Z")
How far were the Germans in Russia? Damn, my nerdiness is showing! ---
**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2022, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-dopers-are-a-curious-lot-and-have-been-since-childhood/957324/119 "2022-01-08T17:05:01Z")
Appropriately enough, World Book’s publisher, Field Enterprises Educational Corporation, was co-founded by Marshall Field III, whose namesake ancestor was the museum’s premier early benefactor. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2022, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-dopers-are-a-curious-lot-and-have-been-since-childhood/957324/120 "2022-01-08T17:30:14Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > In FORTRAN. So all roll-your-own stacking. That how one really learns how it’s done! Heh. When I was in grad school I taught PDP-11 assembler. One class when I was talking about the stack I got challenged to write a recursive factorial program. I did it in front of the class in maybe 10 minutes. One of my favorite teaching moments. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-dopers-are-a-curious-lot-and-have-been-since-childhood/957324.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-dopers-are-a-curious-lot-and-have-been-since-childhood/957324.md?page=7)