Saturday, February 18, 2023

Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose

Recent answers on Jeopardy! that I knew even though none of the contestants knew included:
  • Who is John Paul Jones?
  • Who is John Singer Sargent?
  • Who is Albert Schweitzer?
  • What is Oklahoma?
  • What is a shilling?
  • What is intestate? (Category: 2T and 3T Words; Clue: A person who dies without a will is said to have died this)
  • What is D? (Clue: The letter after C in the Roman numeral for 400)
  • Who is Eudora Welty? (Clue: Female author from Mississippi who wrote Delta Wedding)
  • What is a mogul?
  • What is Alabama? (Category: Same first and last letter; Clue: Auto races are held at Talladega in this state)
  • What is "Little pitchers have big ears"?

It borders on mind-boggling to me that any educated adult, let alone three of them on a televised quiz show, would not know that CD represents 400 in Roman numerals.

Moving right along....

It's almost ancient history now, but last Monday Mrs. RWP and I used a gift card one of the children gave us at Christmas to help us enjoy (by defraying the cost of) a very nice day-before-Valentine's Day meal at Olive Garden. We avoided the crowds expected the next day but still participated in the spirit of the day.

We began with their complimentary "endless soup, salad, and breadsticks" (we chose Zuppa Toscana) and chose different entrées. I ordered Eggplant Parmigiana, Mrs. RWP ordered Shrimp Scampi. As it turned out, each of us ate only half of our entrée. We took the rest home with us, and the next day Mrs. RWP ate the rest of my Eggplant Parmigiana and I finished off the Shrimp Scampi. Before we left Olive Garden, we shared a delicious slice of our favorite dessert, tiramisu, which I never heard of until Tom Hanks and Rob Reiner had a conversation about it in Sleepless In Seattle.

Our February weather here in north Georgia goes up and down like a yo-yo. It dropped to 26°F (-3.3°C) this morning but the high in a couple of days is predicted to be 78°F (25.5°C). According to Mrs. RWP, we're having pneumonia weather.

Yesterday morning we went out for breakfast to Wendy's. After I placed the order for one sausage-egg-and-cheese croissant, one sausage-egg-and-cheese biscuit, two orders of breakfast potatoes, and two senior coffees, the cashier said, "That comes to 1066" -- she didn't say "10 dollars and 66 cents", just "1066".

I said, "That is a famous year in history!"

"1066?" she asked, looking puzzled.

"Yes," I said. "1066 is the year the Norman Conquest began in England when William the Conqueror defeated King Harold at the Battle of Hastings."

So, friends, the title of this post is definitely true. The more things change, the more they remain the same. I suppose I will be running off at the mouth until my last breath.

I am a frustrated teacher, I think. It's not that I try to impress others with what I know, that's not it at all. Facts just sort of spill out on their own, unbidden. I enjoy sharing and am happy when people learn new things they didn't know before.

It goes without saying, of course, that what I know is miniscule, only a tiny fraction, compared to all the things there are that can be known.

There are a lot of things on Jeopardy! about which I know absolutely nothing.

P.S. - The impetus for today's post is that some people blog almost exclusively about the food they eat. I thought I woukd try that today. Surely no one cares what I eat.

7 comments:

  1. I knew all but two of the answers in your list. And if it is included in an interesting post I enjoy hearing about food.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks for your comment, Emma. It's worded in such a way that I cannot tell whether you find this particular post interesting, but I am hoping that you did!

    ReplyDelete
  3. My brain has absorbed Roman numerals as well as it has because of watching movies. All of them were made in MCM something so by a process of deduction I could have eventually remembered that C= 100 but I would have been too slow for jeopardy. I didnt remember D because it didn't appear in movie dates.
    I love tiramisu and am interested that it's your favourite. A cheap Valentines meal with tiramisu sounds like perfection. Very nice.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. kylie, If all of the movies you have seen were made in MCM then you haven't seen a movie in XXIV years, since MCMCXIX, in fact, because ovies made since then say MM.

      I was going to say more but I think I will save it for my next post.

      By the way, the Valentines meal was not cheap and I never meant to imply that it was, only that the cost was defrayed by the gift card. We still paid "through the nose" I believe the saying goes.

      Delete
    2. oh Bob, I never meant you were cheap or had a cheap meal. "Cheaper" would have been a better choice but "defrayed" is better

      Delete
  4. Not to worry, kylie. I wasn't offended.

    ReplyDelete

<b>Another boring post, or maybe not</b>

From April 1945 until Joe Biden's first/only (pick one) term as president ends a few months from now, 80 years will have elapsed. D...