Lateral thinking - Revision history

Kevin Wang at 13:42, 13 March 2023

2023-03-13T13:42:39Z

Kevin Wang at 19:37, 12 March 2023

2023-03-12T19:37:29Z

Kevin Wang at 18:44, 12 March 2023

2023-03-12T18:44:06Z

fix>QBWikiBot at 23:25, 24 January 2010

2010-01-24T23:25:01Z

New page

'''Lateral thinking''' is the practice of answering quizbowl questions by pulling out seemingly non-clue words from the question and combining them with knowledge about the target difficulty of the tournament or pet topics of the writer. For example, a question mentioning "women," "writing," and parts of a house may be on Virginia Woolf's ''A Room of One's Own,'' even if no actual clues about that book are recognizable. Conscious attempts to reward lateral thinking, and questions which inadvertently do so, are both hallmarks of [[bad quizbowl]]. References to the phrase "lateral thinking" or sarcastic after-tossup compliments such as "you ''figured it out''" are common reactions to correct answers divined in this way rather than through actual knowledge.

The phrase gained currency in quizbowl when [[Richard Dunlap]] used it in a [http://hsquizbowl.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=22466&sid=2f9d1a454273a3008e71c26460939c4b#22466 horribly ill-conceived and anachronistic attempt] to defend [[College Bowl]] in 2005.

Lateral thinking is an extreme and degenerate form of the [[Yaphe Method]], and can itself be further extended and simplified into the [[Westbrook Method]].

Note that using lateral thinking clues very close to the end of a question in order to improve [[accessibility]] is not necessarily bad; using such clues early in the question (or for its entirety) is the problem.

[[Category: Playing strategies]]
[[Category:Original QBWiki Page]]

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-'''Lateral thinking''' is the practice of answering quizbowl questions by pulling out seemingly non-clue words from the question and combining them with knowledge about the target difficulty of the tournament or pet topics of the writer. For example, a question mentioning "women," "writing," and parts of a house might lead a player to think about Virginia Woolf's ''A Room of One's Own,'' even if they are unable to identify any actual clues. Conscious attempts to reward lateral thinking, and questions which inadvertently do so, are both hallmarks of [[bad quizbowl]]. References to the phrase "lateral thinking" or sarcastic after-tossup compliments such as "you ''figured it out''" are common reactions to correct answers divined in this way rather than through actual knowledge.
+<onlyinclude>
-The phrase gained currency in quizbowl when [[Richard Dunlap]] used it in a [http://hsquizbowl.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=22466&sid=2f9d1a454273a3008e71c26460939c4b#22466 horribly ill-conceived and anachronistic attempt]  to defend [[College Bowl]] in 2005.
+The phrase gained currency in quizbowl when [[Richard Dunlap]] used it in a [http://hsquizbowl.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=22466&sid=2f9d1a454273a3008e71c26460939c4b#22466 horribly ill-conceived and anachronistic attempt]  to defend [[College Bowl]] in 2005. The gradual improvement of question quality since then has rendered this particular definition largely obsolete and the term is now commonly used in a manner more closely aligned with its conventional meaning.</onlyinclude>
 Lateral thinking is an extreme and degenerate form of the [[Yaphe Method]], and can itself be further extended and simplified into the [[Westbrook Method]].

← Older revision		Revision as of 18:44, 12 March 2023
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−	'''Lateral thinking''' is the practice of answering quizbowl questions by pulling out seemingly non-clue words from the question and combining them with knowledge about the target difficulty of the tournament or pet topics of the writer. For example, a question mentioning "women," "writing," and parts of a house ~~may be on~~ Virginia Woolf's ''A Room of One's Own,'' even if no actual clues ~~about that book are recognizable~~. Conscious attempts to reward lateral thinking, and questions which inadvertently do so, are both hallmarks of [[bad quizbowl]]. References to the phrase "lateral thinking" or sarcastic after-tossup compliments such as "you ''figured it out''" are common reactions to correct answers divined in this way rather than through actual knowledge.	+	'''Lateral thinking''' is the practice of answering quizbowl questions by pulling out seemingly non-clue words from the question and combining them with knowledge about the target difficulty of the tournament or pet topics of the writer. For example, a question mentioning "women," "writing," and parts of a house might lead a player to think about Virginia Woolf's ''A Room of One's Own,'' even if they are unable to identify any actual clues. Conscious attempts to reward lateral thinking, and questions which inadvertently do so, are both hallmarks of [[bad quizbowl]]. References to the phrase "lateral thinking" or sarcastic after-tossup compliments such as "you ''figured it out''" are common reactions to correct answers divined in this way rather than through actual knowledge.

	The phrase gained currency in quizbowl when [[Richard Dunlap]] used it in a [http://hsquizbowl.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=22466&sid=2f9d1a454273a3008e71c26460939c4b#22466 horribly ill-conceived and anachronistic attempt] to defend [[College Bowl]] in 2005.		The phrase gained currency in quizbowl when [[Richard Dunlap]] used it in a [http://hsquizbowl.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=22466&sid=2f9d1a454273a3008e71c26460939c4b#22466 horribly ill-conceived and anachronistic attempt] to defend [[College Bowl]] in 2005.

@@ Line 2: / Line 2: @@
 "'''Lateral thinking'''" is a phrase originally used to criticize questions which could be answered by pulling out seemingly non-clue words and combining them with [[canon|knowledge about the target difficulty]] of the tournament (or even pet topics of the specific writer). Questions which consciously reward "lateral thinking", and those which inadvertently do so, were both hallmarks of "[[bad quizbowl]]."
-The phrase gained currency in quizbowl when [[Richard Dunlap]] used it in a [http://hsquizbowl.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=22466&sid=2f9d1a454273a3008e71c26460939c4b#22466 horribly ill-conceived and anachronistic attempt]  to defend [[College Bowl]] in 2005. The gradual improvement of question quality since then has rendered this particular definition largely obsolete and the term is now commonly used in a manner more closely aligned with its conventional meaning.</onlyinclude>
+The phrase gained currency in quizbowl when [[Richard Dunlap]] used it in a [http://hsquizbowl.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=22466&sid=2f9d1a454273a3008e71c26460939c4b#22466 horribly ill-conceived and anachronistic attempt] to defend [[College Bowl]] in 2005. The gradual improvement of question quality since then has rendered this particular definition largely obsolete and the term is now commonly used in a manner more closely aligned with its conventional meaning.</onlyinclude>
-==Example==
+References to the phrase "lateral thinking" or sarcastic after-tossup compliments such as "you ''figured it out''" are common reactions to correct answers divined in this way rather than through actual knowledge.
-References to the phrase "lateral thinking" or sarcastic after-tossup compliments such as "you ''figured it out''" are common reactions to correct answers divined in this way rather than through actual knowledge.
+Note that using lateral thinking clues very close to the end of a question in order to improve [[accessibility]] is not necessarily bad; using such clues early in the question (or for its entirety) is the problem.
 Lateral thinking is an extreme and degenerate form of the [[Yaphe Method]], and can itself be further extended and simplified into the [[Westbrook Method]].
-Note that using lateral thinking clues very close to the end of a question in order to improve [[accessibility]] is not necessarily bad; using such clues early in the question (or for its entirety) is the problem.
+==Example==
 [[Category: Playing strategies]]
 [[Category:Original QBWiki Page]]