The Chase

[Caribeing]

One of today's contestants was studying marine biology at University sounds impressive but no good unless you have general knowledge as well. Lately most contestants have gone out in the first round time they all got a bit of general knowledge!

[lankeela]

I thought tonight's lot were some of the worst for very easy general knowledge questions. They didn't even think about them - just passed quickly.

[ummmm]

Some people are better under pressure than others.

[zebo]

Even on Mastermind the person leading after the specialist questions that they've swatted up for weeks often does very badly on the general knowledge questions.
If I hear one more snowflake on Pointless say Oh, 1992 is before my time, I'll throw something at the TV, 1066 was before mine but I know a bit about it

[ummmm]

But do you know all about modern music from 1066?

[zebo]

Probably more than I know about pop music in 2016!

[theprof]

Hmm, I know what you mean but the problem is how do you evaluate if you're any good at general knowledge? How does anyone test your ability? Is it that you have to be good at pub quizzes or the like? Is it based on experience or age?

I've worked with academics who are world experts in their fields but they are unbelievably stupid when it comes to general knowledge. On the other hand, I once had a refuse collector who was an expert on a particular UK Butterfly Subfamily and the guy had no academic qualifications whatsoever.

You can't really rigorously test a person's general knowledge adequately because the questions can be biased no matter how neutral they are intended to be.