ass sports - Non-mainstream sports, such as rifling or curling.
Eric Mayefsky is your man for ass sports (questions).
to bagel - To score zero points on a bonus. Yummy bagel!
best player EVER! - Mock-praise applied to a player who answers a question
so bleedingly obvious that it should have been answered twenty words ago.
More generally, "best
X player ever" where X is the question's topic. Typically the
answering player is by no means an expert in field X. Example: Calling
Eric. S. the "best trash player EVER!"
boni - The fancy-pants plural of "bonus".
clock-killing neg - A deliberate neg at the end of the game when your team
is slightly ahead, ensuring victory by using up the last few seconds of
clock. Mayefsky's standard answer for these is "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying", which is long enough to
kill some time but falls short of being completely obnoxious.
defensive bonus - A bonus which you bagel (or do very poorly on) but which
the other team might have thirtied. (See "bagel" and "to thirty".)
dinosaur - An older player, especially a grad student, who seems to have been playing forever. It is not clear why, but most dinosaurs seem old and bitter.
Dollar values are doubled! - A jubilant cry indicating the doubling of
points on subsequent tossups after all the bonuses in a practice packet have been
read. This allows you to "thirty" a tossup (by powering it) and to "neg 10". Strictly speaking, dollar values are in fact doubled, from zero
dollars to zero times two dollars.
epsilon - An infinitesimal amount, awarded in jest for an almost-correct
answer (or sometimes, just because the moderator likes you or approves of
your t-shirt). Some silly moderators will use epsilon to break ties in practice. (Thus, a score of 200-plus-epsilon beats
a score of 200). Note that the sum of any finite number of epsilons is
epsilon.
Eric's razor - The theory, popularized by Eric Mayefsky, that the only
possible answer you can think of that seems to fit the question is the
right answer. Essentially the opposite of being burdened by knowledge,
the razor proves especially useful when playing intramural and
invitational-level packets as well as CBI.
Ford Foundation - To have a genuine, real-life connection with a trivia
answer, which should (but often doesn't!) allow you to get
the question right. Usage: "Dammit! My Dad used to work for the Ford Foundation!"
for one point - A phrase which precedes a bleedingly obvious clue.
1-pointers sometimes appear in trash packets, but they may
be jokingly added by smarmy moderators.
to get academicked - To get excited about an apparent trash question, only
to be broken-hearted when it turns out to have an academic answer.
to get trashed - To get your hopes up (and especially to neg with an
academic answer) on a question which turns out to be trash. This often
happens when a fascinating person you've never heard of turns out to be
from the Simpsons.
hell on earth - Playing the game of quiz bowl, according to dinosaur (q.v.) and stat-guru
Chris Sewell
I heard there was a tossup! - A statement made to get the game back on
track. Often used by people laboring under the incorrect assumption that
practice is about reading questions, rather than bantering and making
jokes.
Labe Incoln - A spoonerized 16th American president.
Noodle Planet - Heaven, or our favorite restaurant in LA, serving yummy
Asian food of all kinds, including the famous peanut smoothie. Be warned that Noodle Planet, like Heaven, is cash only.
ruggedize - To make a buzzer system more hardy, as by adding a plug and
socket for the power cord so that nincompoops who trip over it don't
destroy the whole unit. Sue Kayton ruggedized our Judges after three
units went down in one tournament.
Seth-y goodness - That ineffable positive quality which accompanies a
packet whose authors include Seth Teitler. Coined by Joon Pahk.
shame - A feeling of humiliation, which actually does not exist. As we
see whenever someone answers a question on Rainbow Brite or porn, there is
no shame, only points.
so hot! - What quiz bowl guys are, according to a certain Stanford reject
(q.v.)
space - Where they can't hear you neg.
Stanford reject - What a certain Berkeley player insists on repeatedly
reminding everyone she is. God bless the admissions department.
to thirty - To score 30 points on a bonus. Usage: "Yep, we thirtied it."
In general, to n a bonus is to score n points on it.
trash - A format in which the questions are all pop-culture and sports.
For some inexplicable reason, people seem to like this dreck.
travel in packs - What 30-20-10s do, according to Eric
Mayefsky. This alleged herd behavior has not been scientifically established.
to vulture - To buzz in before the end of the question when the other team
has already negged. This is likely to piss off your teammates, especially if you get it wrong. Vulturing may cause the
moderator to make a bird noise and perhaps even flap his wings. The
Berkeley team prefers the cooler-sounding synonym "to swoop."
wind-up - To theatrically move your arm in a big circle, before buzzing.
This might be fun to do on clock-killing negs (q.v.).
