# Worst performance by a WWTBAM audience ever **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 23, 2017, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-performance-by-a-wwtbam-audience-ever/789709 "2017-06-23T20:17:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2017, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-performance-by-a-wwtbam-audience-ever/789709/1 "2017-06-23T20:17:18Z")
From earlier this week. The question (paraphrased): “In an article in some publication, the author says that “because it facilitated long-distance romance and therefore genetic diversity”, this invention had a huge impact on recent human evolution.” The choices: A: The typewriter B: The bicycle C: Air conditioning D: The phonograph. Answers in the next post. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2017, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-performance-by-a-wwtbam-audience-ever/789709/2 "2017-06-23T20:19:51Z")
Difficult question, admittedly. The contestant thought so, too, and Asked the Audience. Their responses: Typewriter and phonograph totalled about 90%, air-conditioning at 9%, bicycle at 1%. The correct answer: The bicycle. I guessed right. But I’ve never seen such a low percent for the correct answer. So much for “wisdom of crowds”. ---
**Author:** ![cher3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@cher3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cher3)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2017, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-performance-by-a-wwtbam-audience-ever/789709/3 "2017-06-23T20:23:36Z")
I would think that people were thrown off by the phrase “long distance romance.” It suggests that the people in question are currently apart, not just that it takes travel for them to meet up. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2017, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-performance-by-a-wwtbam-audience-ever/789709/4 "2017-06-23T20:28:22Z")
_Where Would Tarzan Bone A Monkey_ ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2017, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-performance-by-a-wwtbam-audience-ever/789709/5 "2017-06-23T20:30:05Z")
Apparently “the author” has never heard of a horse. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2017, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-performance-by-a-wwtbam-audience-ever/789709/6 "2017-06-23T20:54:18Z")
Yeah, I have serious doubts about the author’s conclusions. How far can you go for romance on a bicycle? But taking his conclusions at face value, and given the 4 choices: There’s nothing romantic you can do with a typewriter that you can’t do written out in long-hand. AC and the phonograph are not distance-related; so by process of elimination it has to be bicycle. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2017, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-performance-by-a-wwtbam-audience-ever/789709/7 "2017-06-23T21:05:39Z")
Genetic diversity? How far were people riding on bikes? ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2017, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-performance-by-a-wwtbam-audience-ever/789709/8 "2017-06-23T21:19:43Z")
Stimulating the females, that’s going to lead to trouble. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2017, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-performance-by-a-wwtbam-audience-ever/789709/9 "2017-06-23T21:20:07Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Genetic diversity? How far were people riding on bikes? No longer will you have to marry your sister. Now you can marry your attractive cousins, behold! The bicycle! This questions is almost as bad as the one from Jeopardy where even good Mormon boy Ken Jennings thought that a “loose person” was a hoe, not a rake. What was the stage/dollar amount of the question? ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2017, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-performance-by-a-wwtbam-audience-ever/789709/10 "2017-06-23T21:20:11Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Genetic diversity? How far were people riding on bikes? Africa to Europe on a bicycle, apparently. 🙂 I guess the author’s line of thinking is that you ride your bike to the next village over, and you’re likely to find a mate that you’re not already related to. But as silenus points out, you can do that on a horse. So ok, the article was seriously flawed. But…_1%?!_? Coin-flips would have come up with a better response. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2017, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-performance-by-a-wwtbam-audience-ever/789709/11 "2017-06-23T22:30:25Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > _Where Would Tarzan Bone A Monkey_ Yeah, even though I’ve watched the show many times, the acronym looked utterly foreign and I had to look it up. ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_Door](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@Bill\_Door](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_Door)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2017, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-performance-by-a-wwtbam-audience-ever/789709/12 "2017-06-23T23:02:12Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Apparently “the author” has never heard of a horse. People always overestimate the distance a horse can travel in a day. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2017, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-performance-by-a-wwtbam-audience-ever/789709/13 "2017-06-23T23:06:17Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > Africa to Europe on a bicycle, apparently. Well, you can’t walk to Turkmenistan. ---
**Author:** ![Albert\_Rose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9de053/32.png) [@Albert\_Rose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Albert_Rose)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2017, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-performance-by-a-wwtbam-audience-ever/789709/14 "2017-06-23T23:31:05Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > _Where Would Tarzan Bone A Monkey_ I cracked up at this. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2017, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-performance-by-a-wwtbam-audience-ever/789709/15 "2017-06-23T23:38:26Z")
The author must have had the song _Bicycle Built For Two_ in mind. That’s how I arrived at the answer. Yeah, I know. I’m not like everyone else. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2017, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-performance-by-a-wwtbam-audience-ever/789709/16 "2017-06-23T23:44:05Z")
I guessed the right answer, by process of elimination, but why the hell couldn’t you spell out what WWTBAM stood for? I had to Google it. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2017, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-performance-by-a-wwtbam-audience-ever/789709/17 "2017-06-23T23:56:25Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > I guessed the right answer, by process of elimination, but why the hell couldn’t you spell out what WWTBAM stood for? I had to Google it. Or even just the word “Millionaire.” Most people would have known what show from just that one word. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2017, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-performance-by-a-wwtbam-audience-ever/789709/18 "2017-06-24T00:02:05Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Apparently “the author” has never heard of a horse. How many people in the mid 19th century do you think could afford to own a horse? ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2017, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-performance-by-a-wwtbam-audience-ever/789709/19 "2017-06-24T00:23:08Z")
Yeah a bicycle is a lot cheaper to own than a horse. You don’t have to feed a bicycle and you don’t need a stable or a field to keep it in. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2017, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-performance-by-a-wwtbam-audience-ever/789709/20 "2017-06-24T00:23:40Z")
That’s why they made livery stables, and why we have the term “Hobson’s Choice.” Or did you think rental transportation started with Hertz? The author is wrong. What really put the genetic mix on puree was the railroad. Well, that and the automobile, which took courting out of the parlor and into the back seat. As for horses: a good average would be 30 miles per day. Just how far are you planning on riding that 50 lb. bicycle over dirt roads with skinny tires in a day? And be in any shape to do any courting at the end of said day? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-performance-by-a-wwtbam-audience-ever/789709.md?page=2)