24 June 2023

That's not how they checked the map

Trivia night last Thursday.  My team is down eight points to the couple with the beautiful dog at the next table.  Final question coming.  Category: African geography.  Twenty points on the line.  They get it, they win (but we win if we're right and they're wrong).  Here it comes.

North Africa regions map

Put these Mediterranean countries in order from east to west: Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, and Tunisia.

We can do this!  Some quiet discussion ensues at both tables.  We turn in our cards.  It's over, though we don't know the result.  Time for petting the dog, along with idle conversation.  We know we're probably toast - we tell the other team how impressed we are with their knowledge of television legal dramas, the category in which we fell way behind.  We discuss the final question.  "We think we got it," we said.  "But I'll bet you did too, so you're winning."

Remember, I grew up in the 1980s.  I remembered Gorbachev and Tears for Fears, both of which were useful on the night.

"I wasn't sure at first," said the woman on the leading team.  "But I checked when I was in the bathroom just now, and we were right!"

"Oh, that's very cool," I said,  "that the bar has a map of Africa hanging in the women's bathroom!"

Cue laughter as I realized what I said, and what she meant, and how old I must have seemed.


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