Tuesday, June 27, 2023

Noel



QI is a British TV quiz show. In this recently-uploaded episode from last Christmas, they took advantage of the word "noel" to ask questions in which the answer contained ...no "N." I guess finding words with no "L" was too easy. Christmas explains the red hats, even though your first thought would be dunce caps. Anyway, the first question asked for a yellow tropical fruit with no "N." That's easy -papaya! Or grapefruit, jackfruit, or starfruit. Their answer is guava, which isn't even yellow. There are other questions which may or may not stump you.

This shows the big difference between game shows in Britain and the US. Americans are quite hung up on technicalities because we are competitive, and our shows involve a lot of prize money. Game shows in Britain (and Japan) are all about the entertainment value, and the contestants are regulars or celebrities who don't need to win.  

6 comments:

Debra She Who Seeks said...

Those red conical hats are traditional gnomes' hats, Miss C. And I learned what "au pair" means -- fascinating tidbit of info!

Miss Cellania said...

"Au pair" might have meant equals at one time, but no longer. My daughter was an au pair in France, and she was always treated as a servant. So were the other au pairs in town.

xoxoxoBruce said...

I was always under the impression an au pair was hired help, a nanny.

Patty O'Heater said...

This is not really a game show in Britain. This is a comedy show. If you want game shows per se, there are plenty. A few good ones but sadly there are many bordering on the moronic. How low national TYV stations have sunk!

xoxoxoBruce said...

I'm not familiar with TYV and Google was no help. They came up with everything from a Danish acronym to a Brazilian singer. LoL

Anonymous said...

@xoxoxoBruce: I think "TYV" was a typo for "TV"...