Re: Too Much Information(?)

• From: chrisnolte
• Date: Thu, 14 Feb 2002 10:27:31 -0800
• Message-ID: <000U6O0CJ.001KIQFFN.12170551-quizbowl_at_...>

Trey wrote: This weekend, "Protocols of the
Elders of Zion" was not accepted because, in the words
of the moderator, "additional information was given
without giving ALL the additional information." 

I
edited that question, and I would say that was a poor
ruling by the moderator. 

The answer line had:
The _Protocols_ of (the Meetings of the Learned
Elders of) _Zion_. "Protocols of Zion" is acceptable,
but so is "Protocols of the Elders of Zion", which is
a common name by which the work is known. I took
that answer in my room at the Berkeley SCT.

The
general rule that titles must be exact is not
absolute--examples of acceptable abbreviated titles include ~The
Wealth of Nations~, ~Huckleberry Finn~, and ~Alice in
Wonderland~. It seems absurd to require an "exact" title of a
work that never existed in the first place--how can
there be a canonical title? And it's a translation--all
the more reason to be lenient.

As for the
other questions in this thread: I would definitely rule
against "The Lifeboat." That seems clear. The title of
the movie is simply "Lifeboat," and leading articles
must be correct if they are included in the
answer.

However, I would probably take "You Better Shop Around,"
particularly in a tossup situation where the player is
interrupting the question and completing a lyric. If it were a
bonus part, were the question clearly said "give the
title of these songs..." then I might not take it.