Discussion on:

Geek Trivia: And called them by name(s)

While pronounced more or less the same, the correct Dutch words for thunder and lightning are 'donder' and 'bliksem', respectively.

Telekinesis is the ability to cause motion in other things by force of mind, a la Carrie in the Stephen King movie. I am at a loss as to what word to substitute though. I tend to think of the ability to fly as latent capability that all reindeer possess, and therefore fully within the realm of the natural.

I suppose one could consider using the term "levitation," but some definitions of that word included references to levitation being a form of telekinesis. Wow...Jay might actually be correct...go figure...

Psychokenesis

and the equivalent of telekentic is psychokenetic

Tho both generally refer to moving other (usually) inanimate things, not necessarily the Psycho/tele-kenetic individual him/her self

Didn't Mr. May, as a father, not a Montgomery Ward employee, pen the Rudolph story. My understanding was that he wrote it for his daughter who only knew her mother as sick and bed-ridden. He wanted her to know that despite her mother not being like all other mothers, she had her own special attributes. Just as Rudolph triumphed over being different, his wife was a loving mother in a different way.

It's probable that the character existed before the story, thus making both stories of Rudolph's origins true: Rudolph was initially a marketing icon, and subsequently got a story written about him for May's daughter.

They're not mutually exclusive, and while I've heard the story about May's daughter being the inspiration for the story once or twice, Jay's explanation seems to check out for the true origin of the character.

I was born during the Second World War. As a child. I heard the words Donner and Blitzen, somewhere. When I repeated them, I was told that they were "not nice" - apparently some reference to the German attack of the same mane.

Being Dutch all my life I think I can shine a light on this.
The correct words in modern Dutch are 'bliksem' for lighting, and 'donder' for thunder. But the trivia goes back in time well over a century. In old Dutch 'bliksem' was spelled 'blixem'. It is pronounced the same.

The old word 'dunder' however means 'thinner'. I have done a little research and I have found no references to the meaning of lightning EXCEPT for the dutch dialect spoken in the province of Groningen. In that dialect 'dunder' means 'lighting'.

The German attack that was referred to is the Blitz Krieg. The lightning fast conquer of the European continent by the Germans in 1939-1940. It was the first invasion with the use of military tanks which allowed the Germans to capture a country in days or weeks.

There is another reference to blitz from World War II, apart from blitzkrieg (although this version may well have been derived from blitzkrieg). In Britain, the Blitz (capitalised), refers to the German bombing of British cities, especially London and Coventry, in 1940 and 1941.

LaidLaws doesn't mention which country he grew up in, so we don't know which version his elders objected to.

I think the quibble about "The"...Mote In God's Eye instead of "Mote in God's Eye" is going a little too far. It's one thing to correct poor old Jay almost without end on everything he writes, but this particular gripe is senseless in that it makes no difference in so far as the meaning of the sentence; the idea the author was trying to convey. I think the writer's intentions are fully exposed, with or without the "The".

Agreed, "the" is not necessarily a large, nor terribly important word. But a title must be in its entirety to be accurate.

Imagine the movie "The Thing" just being "Thing"

...or the country song "The Dance" being "Dance"

...or the wrestler "The Rock" being just "Rock"

The word "the" may be subtle, but the author felt it important enough to include.

As per THE American Heritage Dictionary:
quibble. --v. To avoid acknowledging the truth or importance of something by raising trivial distinctions or objections. --n. 1.A petty distinction or irrelevant objection. 2. A pun

Sounds like we're a bunch of geeks making jokes!

However if you've ever noticed the way titles are listed the word "the" is often taken out when listing alphabetically. For example you won't find "THE War of the worlds" in any T section. You'll find it listed under W. Try searching for any movie, they will almost always be listed the same way (Fifth element, The)

People often forget if there is a "the" in the title so it's just easier to look by the first word they know is there. Plus, who wants a "T" section five times the size of any other.

As long as the use the ", the" at the end to give the title in its entirety, I won't quibble.

Just crusading for the recognition of this much overlooked word...ha ha.

It wouldn't be only five times bigger, it would be twenty-six times bigger unless the latin alphabet has shrunk to only five letters.

This time of year is the time we look back on 12 months of our lives. A lot of things have happened, varying from personal triumphs to the incomprehensible world scale disaster in Asia.

I just realized that it was only a year ago when we were told we would have to do without The Geek Trivia in 2004. Our collective storm of protests made the guys of the Techrepublic reconsider.
The Geek should go on eternally (you can retire earlier than that, Jay, but only if you give us a successor!) for it has put a smile on my face in times there was not much to smile about.

Let's hope 2005 will be a better year for the world. Happy new year, everyone.

Dutchy, any relation to the 80's Musical Youth song "Pass the Dutchie"?

Thought I might be reaching. I will get over the 80's one day, but not this year...lol

"Pass the dutchie on de left hand side...."
"Pass the dutchie on de left hand side...."

Just to take quibbling to its extreme the song was originally called Pass the Kouchie (sometimes spelt Cutchie)& I think it was by The Mighty Diamonds

A kutchie refers to a ceremonial pipe or in Jamaica often a splif (joint)

That's why Musical Youth changed it to Dutchie, a Jamaican cooking pot, a little more acceptable for Top of the Pops!

The name is "Olive" - you know, Olive, the other reindeer...