When I was a little tyke, I remember spending a lot of time at the car dealership. My dad had what many would consider an addiction to cars. He didn't have a lot of cars at once, he would simply trade each vehicle in after a short year or two. It seemed like we were always at the car dealer, and it was the most boring experience of a young girl's life. If only I'd known how to knit back then. Anyhoo, on one car-trading-in occasion, the dealer asked my dad a trivia question. Which three-letter word contained no vowels? The letter "y" didn't count as a consonant, and it was a word in English. Dad had a week to figure it out, and the guy would give him $100 if he got it right. My boredom was gone. My brain was buzzing the rest of the day. What was that word? Would dad have to read the entire dictionary to get the answer? I don't want to date myself too much, but we were literally decades from internet trivia assistance. How was he going to find that answer?!
Who would spend an entire week on trivia these days? Who would spend more than a few seconds? It's no longer a matter of who is clever and witty. It's now about who can get Wikipedia or IMDB to load faster. Daily trivia challenges are officially losing their fun factor. I'm certainly guilty of the Google quick fix. Fewer and further between exist the late night calls from friends and family, desperate for my specific music knowledge. I love helping someone win a bet over which rock star wore what outfit in which video!
But not this week.
Starting yesterday, I've decided that for one entire week, I won't Google the answer to my trivia challenges. I will look for it in tangible literature or phone a friend. So get ready for the call. I need all of your brains. I'm challenging you to do the same. In turn, I'll be your pop music lifeline. If you hum a bar, or describe a lyric, I can tell you which Men At Work song you're thinking of. So call me!
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