Killed the Pope - Revision history

Matt Weiner: /* History */

2026-06-19T06:08:39Z

History

Kevin Wang at 14:41, 4 April 2026

2026-04-04T14:41:32Z

Kevin Wang at 22:27, 3 April 2026

2026-04-03T22:27:40Z

Fred Morlan: it's still used

2026-03-31T18:30:29Z

it's still used

Matt Weiner at 00:19, 2 October 2025

2025-10-02T00:19:42Z

Matt Weiner at 10:01, 1 October 2025

2025-10-01T10:01:06Z

Matt Weiner: Created page with "Facetiously claiming that a tournament '''"killed the Pope"''' or another celebrity is likely no longer used lingo in which a difficult tournament (often ACF Nationals) is..."

2025-10-01T10:00:19Z

Created page with "Facetiously claiming that a tournament '''"killed the Pope"''' or another celebrity is likely no longer used lingo in which a difficult tournament (often ACF Nationals) is..."

New page

Facetiously claiming that a tournament '''"killed the Pope"''' or another celebrity is likely no longer used lingo in which a difficult tournament (often [[ACF Nationals]]) is said to have been responsible for a widely covered death that took place at the same time.

This meme may have started in 1994, when [[1994 ACF Nationals|ACF Nationals]] was held on the day that Kurt Cobain's body was discovered. It experienced a revival and acquired its name in 2005, when a [[2005 ACF Nationals|very difficult ACF Nationals]] coincided with the death of Pope John Paul II. In 2009, [[2009 ACF Nationals|ACF Nationals]] was said to have killed Bea Arthur, who was the subject of a tossup in the tournament (the last ACF Nationals to included a pop culture distribution) that was read at almost the exact moment of her death.

{{c|Quizbowl lingo}}

← Older revision		Revision as of 06:08, 19 June 2026
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	It experienced a revival and acquired its name in 2005, when a [[2005 ACF Nationals\|very difficult ACF Nationals]] coincided with the death of Pope John Paul II. In 2009, [[2009 ACF Nationals\|ACF Nationals]] was said to have killed Bea Arthur, who was the subject of a tossup in the tournament (the last ACF Nationals to include a pop culture distribution) that was read at almost the exact moment of her death. [[2025 ACF Nationals]] was not considered unusually difficult but was accused of killing Pope Francis, who died the day after and was mentioned several times.<ref>[https://www.qbreader.org/db/tossup/?_id=6822bfc71f87396179872ca8 packet 3, tossup 4]</ref><ref>[https://www.qbreader.org/db/bonus/?_id=6822bfc91f87396179872ef7 packet 17, bonus 1]</ref>		It experienced a revival and acquired its name in 2005, when a [[2005 ACF Nationals\|very difficult ACF Nationals]] coincided with the death of Pope John Paul II. In 2009, [[2009 ACF Nationals\|ACF Nationals]] was said to have killed Bea Arthur, who was the subject of a tossup in the tournament (the last ACF Nationals to include a pop culture distribution) that was read at almost the exact moment of her death. [[2025 ACF Nationals]] was not considered unusually difficult but was accused of killing Pope Francis, who died the day after and was mentioned several times.<ref>[https://www.qbreader.org/db/tossup/?_id=6822bfc71f87396179872ca8 packet 3, tossup 4]</ref><ref>[https://www.qbreader.org/db/bonus/?_id=6822bfc91f87396179872ef7 packet 17, bonus 1]</ref>
		+
		+	The final day of the 1986 College Bowl [[NCT]] was held on the same day as the Chernobyl disaster and thus killed somewhere between 30 and 4000 people, though this would not have been known while the tournament was taking place.

	{{Refs}}		{{Refs}}

@@ Line 6: / Line 6: @@
 This meme may have started in 1994, when [[1994 ACF Nationals|ACF Nationals]] was held on the day that Kurt Cobain's body was discovered.
-It experienced a revival and acquired its name in 2005, when a [[2005 ACF Nationals|very difficult ACF Nationals]] coincided with the death of Pope John Paul II. In 2009, [[2009 ACF Nationals|ACF Nationals]] was said to have killed Bea Arthur, who was the subject of a tossup in the tournament (the last ACF Nationals to include a pop culture distribution) that was read at almost the exact moment of her death. [[2025 ACF Nationals]] was not considered unusually difficult but was accused of killing Pope Francis, who died the day after.<ref>[https://www.qbreader.org/db/tossup/?_id=6822bfc71f87396179872ca8 packet 3, tossup 4]</ref><ref>[https://www.qbreader.org/db/bonus/?_id=6822bfc91f87396179872ef7 packet 17, bonus 1]</ref>
+It experienced a revival and acquired its name in 2005, when a [[2005 ACF Nationals|very difficult ACF Nationals]] coincided with the death of Pope John Paul II. In 2009, [[2009 ACF Nationals|ACF Nationals]] was said to have killed Bea Arthur, who was the subject of a tossup in the tournament (the last ACF Nationals to include a pop culture distribution) that was read at almost the exact moment of her death. [[2025 ACF Nationals]] was not considered unusually difficult but was accused of killing Pope Francis, who died the day after and was mentioned several times.<ref>[https://www.qbreader.org/db/tossup/?_id=6822bfc71f87396179872ca8 packet 3, tossup 4]</ref><ref>[https://www.qbreader.org/db/bonus/?_id=6822bfc91f87396179872ef7 packet 17, bonus 1]</ref>
 {{Refs}}

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-Facetiously claiming that a tournament '''"killed the Pope"''' or another celebrity is lingo in which a difficult tournament (often [[ACF Nationals]]) is said to have been responsible for a widely covered death that took place at the same time.
+<onlyinclude>Facetiously claiming that a tournament '''"killed the Pope"''' or another celebrity is lingo in which a difficult tournament (often [[ACF Nationals]]) is said to have been responsible for a widely covered death that took place at the same time. The origin of the term was [[2005 ACF Nationals]], which was a very hard set whose date coincided with the death of Pope John Paul II.
-This meme may have started in 1994, when [[1994 ACF Nationals|ACF Nationals]] was held on the day that Kurt Cobain's body was discovered. It experienced a revival and acquired its name in 2005, when a [[2005 ACF Nationals|very difficult ACF Nationals]] coincided with the death of Pope John Paul II. In 2009, [[2009 ACF Nationals|ACF Nationals]] was said to have killed Bea Arthur, who was the subject of a tossup in the tournament (the last ACF Nationals to include a pop culture distribution) that was read at almost the exact moment of her death.
+This phrase is also commonly used as the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snowclone snowclone] "X killed Y" to mention the proximity of a public figure's death to a tournament that may or may not even be hard. Because of the nature of quiz bowl, almost all of the people whose death warrants mention in this format are academics and historical figures who are much, much less famous than the pope.</onlyinclude>
-[[2025 ACF Nationals]] was not considered unusually difficult but was accused of killing Pope Francis.
+==History==
 {{c|Quizbowl lingo}}

← Older revision		Revision as of 18:30, 31 March 2026
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−	Facetiously claiming that a tournament '''"killed the Pope"''' or another celebrity is ~~likely no longer used~~ lingo in which a difficult tournament (often [[ACF Nationals]]) is said to have been responsible for a widely covered death that took place at the same time.	+	Facetiously claiming that a tournament '''"killed the Pope"''' or another celebrity is lingo in which a difficult tournament (often [[ACF Nationals]]) is said to have been responsible for a widely covered death that took place at the same time.

	This meme may have started in 1994, when [[1994 ACF Nationals\|ACF Nationals]] was held on the day that Kurt Cobain's body was discovered. It experienced a revival and acquired its name in 2005, when a [[2005 ACF Nationals\|very difficult ACF Nationals]] coincided with the death of Pope John Paul II. In 2009, [[2009 ACF Nationals\|ACF Nationals]] was said to have killed Bea Arthur, who was the subject of a tossup in the tournament (the last ACF Nationals to include a pop culture distribution) that was read at almost the exact moment of her death.		This meme may have started in 1994, when [[1994 ACF Nationals\|ACF Nationals]] was held on the day that Kurt Cobain's body was discovered. It experienced a revival and acquired its name in 2005, when a [[2005 ACF Nationals\|very difficult ACF Nationals]] coincided with the death of Pope John Paul II. In 2009, [[2009 ACF Nationals\|ACF Nationals]] was said to have killed Bea Arthur, who was the subject of a tossup in the tournament (the last ACF Nationals to include a pop culture distribution) that was read at almost the exact moment of her death.

← Older revision		Revision as of 00:19, 2 October 2025
Line 2:		Line 2:

	This meme may have started in 1994, when [[1994 ACF Nationals\|ACF Nationals]] was held on the day that Kurt Cobain's body was discovered. It experienced a revival and acquired its name in 2005, when a [[2005 ACF Nationals\|very difficult ACF Nationals]] coincided with the death of Pope John Paul II. In 2009, [[2009 ACF Nationals\|ACF Nationals]] was said to have killed Bea Arthur, who was the subject of a tossup in the tournament (the last ACF Nationals to include a pop culture distribution) that was read at almost the exact moment of her death.		This meme may have started in 1994, when [[1994 ACF Nationals\|ACF Nationals]] was held on the day that Kurt Cobain's body was discovered. It experienced a revival and acquired its name in 2005, when a [[2005 ACF Nationals\|very difficult ACF Nationals]] coincided with the death of Pope John Paul II. In 2009, [[2009 ACF Nationals\|ACF Nationals]] was said to have killed Bea Arthur, who was the subject of a tossup in the tournament (the last ACF Nationals to include a pop culture distribution) that was read at almost the exact moment of her death.
		+
		+	[[2025 ACF Nationals]] was not considered unusually difficult but was accused of killing Pope Francis.

	{{c\|Quizbowl lingo}}		{{c\|Quizbowl lingo}}