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 Post subject: Looking for input on U.S. president live trivia question
PostPosted: Fri Mar 28, 2014 5:42 pm 
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Lord or Lady Postsalot

Joined: Thu Jan 14, 2010 5:30 pm
Posts: 554
COOGS and I were playing live trivia yesterday with two other NTN/BT players. Here was the question: before Barack Obama, name the two most recent Democratic presidents elected to a second term.

Clinton of course was an easy choice, but then we started debating what it means to be elected to a second term in the situation of LBJ who into office via death of a president, then won an election in his own right. My understanding was that in this situation, LBJ finished out JFK's term, then was elected to his own first term (buttressed by recalling news stories back in 1968 about LBJ declining to run for a "second term"). As Truman had the same situation, we skipped over him as well and went back to FDR.

Originally we were credited with our answer, which would have given us a tie for first place (and half of the not-inconsiderable pot). But then the team tied with us started arguing with the host that LBJ should count. The host finally gave in and gave them the point for LBJ--the usual way of handling an ambiguous question or any question with more than one correct answer. When I vociferously objected, the other team started waving cell phones around claiming there was Internet stuff backing up their position--and we ended up relegated to second place.

Thoughts?

Brooke/AARDVK


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 Post subject: Re: Looking for input on U.S. president live trivia question
PostPosted: Fri Mar 28, 2014 6:03 pm 
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Lord or Lady Postsalot

Joined: Wed Jan 13, 2010 6:40 pm
Posts: 633
Obviously exact wording is needed to be sure but as stated I'm afraid technically I agree with them at first blush. LBJ was elected to his second term, just not his first (partial) term, serving in the 44th and 45th terms.

Now if they had said RE-elected you'd technically be right. But if "elected to second term" is verbatim I have to favor their case, FWIW (not much!).

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 Post subject: Re: Looking for input on U.S. president live trivia question
PostPosted: Fri Mar 28, 2014 6:06 pm 
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Himself Fodder

Joined: Wed Mar 10, 2010 3:20 pm
Posts: 2291
This is why I rarely play live trivia, crappily written questions and DJ's with little clue.

As asked, I believe LBJ is correct. Doesn't say anything about having to be elected to two terms.


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 Post subject: Re: Looking for input on U.S. president live trivia question
PostPosted: Fri Mar 28, 2014 6:40 pm 
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Sir or Dame Postsalot

Joined: Sun May 08, 2011 9:39 am
Posts: 294
Elected to a second term implies they were elected to a first term. Johnson and Truman filled in and completed the term of the President they respectively replaced.

It's interesting they pulled out cell phones and made claims of being supported. I believe only the host should have access to a cell phone for officiating and anybody else should be disqualified. Too many live events are ruined by cell phone cheats.


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 Post subject: Re: Looking for input on U.S. president live trivia question
PostPosted: Fri Mar 28, 2014 6:42 pm 
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Himself Fodder

Joined: Wed Mar 10, 2010 3:20 pm
Posts: 2291
Jim wrote:
Elected to a second term implies they were elected to a first term.

Nope. Elected to two terms states would imply this. Elected to a second term does not.

Quote:
It's interesting they pulled out cell phones and made claims of being supported. I believe only the host should have access to a cell phone for officiating and anybody else should be disqualified. Too many live events are ruined by cell phone cheats.

Agreed.


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 Post subject: Re: Looking for input on U.S. president live trivia question
PostPosted: Fri Mar 28, 2014 9:22 pm 
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King or Queen Postsalot

Joined: Sun Jan 17, 2010 12:05 pm
Posts: 1513
-BO- wrote:
This is why I rarely play live trivia, crappily written questions and DJ's with little clue.


One of my teammates was playing live trivia last month, and the halftime question was:

Name any five of Foreigner's seven top 10 hits.

The DJ said that "Say You Will" (peak: #6) and "I Don't Want To Live Without You" (peak: #5) were not correct answers.

His source must have cut off after the year 1985. Including those two, Foreigner has a total of nine top 10 hits.


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 Post subject: Re: Looking for input on U.S. president live trivia question
PostPosted: Sat Mar 29, 2014 9:00 am 
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King or Queen Postsalot
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Joined: Sun Jan 10, 2010 8:59 pm
Posts: 2218
Rhino wrote:
Obviously exact wording is needed to be sure but as stated I'm afraid technically I agree with them at first blush. LBJ was elected to his second term, just not his first (partial) term, serving in the 44th and 45th terms.

Now if they had said RE-elected you'd technically be right. But if "elected to second term" is verbatim I have to favor their case, FWIW (not much!).


I'm going to have to agree with both RHINO and BO on this. Whether a president is elected or succeeds another person into office, however much time he spends as president is a term in office--otherwise, any VP that succeeds a dead/resigned president would be considered to have no term in office at all, which is clearly counter-factual. If he gets elected in his own right later, then by definition he is starting a new, second term. Because of this, historians routinely refer to "Truman's second term" or "Johnson's second term."

But RHINO is also right that if they used the constructions "re-elected" or "second full term," then your team, and only your team, had the correct answer.

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"He may seem like Mr. Rogers but a dark spirit lies beneath."


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 Post subject: Re: Looking for input on U.S. president live trivia question
PostPosted: Tue Apr 01, 2014 5:11 pm 
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Lord or Lady Postsalot

Joined: Thu Jan 14, 2010 5:30 pm
Posts: 554
Thanks everyone for the input. As there are differing opinions, the host's decision to allow credit for both answers was not clear error.

Re: the host, his style of reading trivia questions caught the ear of a Houston Press reporter last year; here's the reporter's description of what we call "Vern-speak":

http://blogs.houstonpress.com/hairballs ... t_host.php

Brooke/AARDVK


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