Damn whoever-you-ares!

Less than two minutes ago my phone started ringing and some fast-paced recorded female voice informed me that I had become a trial member of telephone trivia thing. It didn't even state which company it came from, which I thought was stupid and maybe even a violation of some Act (especially as I hadn't subscribed to anything). I listened to the voice babble on for a bit, telling me I would enjoy my experience, and it then proceeded to ask me the first question:

Who is Australia's current Prime Minister?

Press 1 for John Howard, or

Press 2 for Kevin Rudd.


I laughed and hung up. Not because the answer was blindingly obvious, but because, by definition, 'Trivia" is a noun referring to "matters or things that are very unimportant, inconsequential, or nonessential; trifles; trivialities" (Dictionary.com 2008).

I can't tell if the phone call was a subtle form of propaganda, or if the company was just really, really stupid.


Either way, I just don't have the time. I'm slowly getting better and refuse to use being sick as an excuse for laziness.



Edit: Lol, go Google.

http://whocallsme.com/Phone-Number.aspx/0285070444

Seems like a recent phenomenon.

5 comments:

Topher said...

eww dictionary.com. Why don't you just ask anyone walking down your street what the meaning is. If they happened to pull out a dictionary and then read it to you, that would be the same thing.

Dictonary.com just 'references' (read: plagiarises) other dictionary's for there meanings and just adds in a few words. I think the term they use is 'based on'.

Long story short, use a credible dictionary like Merriam-Webster or Oxford. The meanings they give you will be accurate and reliable, probably very similar but still at least give them the website hit, rather then this piece of crap.

If I was in a role to mark people and someone used dictionary.com as a source, I would mark them down.

You never answered there question, who is the current Prime Minister of Australia? 1 or 2?

littel-philow-cat said...

In which case, the Merriam-Webster dictionary defines 'trivia' as "unimportant matters : trivial facts or details; also singular in construction : a quizzing game involving obscure facts" (Merriam-Webster OnLine)

Likewise, the most relevant definition of 'obscure' is 3:

"relatively unknown: as a: remote, secluded [an obscure village] b: not prominent or famous [an obscure poet]" (Merriam-Webster OnLine)

As you can see, the question given to me fits neither of the above. If you don't know that Kevin Rudd is the current Prime Minister, you either (a) are in denial, (b) live in the past (or the future, however far), (c) live under a rock, (d) can't tell the difference (fair enough?), or (e) are planning a takeover (in which case, see to (a)).

For the record, I was effectively just asking 'anyone walking down [the] street.' XP. I'll try using the more 'credible' sources in future, though.

Maree said...

Wow, I think Chris was drinking red wine, or whatever else he uses to feel pretentious, when he wrote that comment...

littel-philow-cat said...

I tried parodying it, but no one does Chris like Chris does.

And please, MIND OUT OF THE GUTTER!

Topher said...

Haha yeah, I did kinda go over the top still I stand by dictionary is such a crappy reference, its not too hard to find a reliable dictionary.

I would be kind of worried if someone else could be a better impression of me than I could. It would obviously have its advantages, especially if they were better at stuff then I was or they liked doing stuff I hated doing. I could just lease them, send them on errands that I should be doing.

A couple of situations where it would come in handy;

I need to go visit relatives I don't like I would send in my leased version of my self and they would then put up with my relatives that I do not like.

I haven't studied for a test (as if I would ever do such a thing!) with a few coats of make up and other accessories (remember its all in the accessories - you need them to do a good impression) and my lessee will sit the test and do better than I would have.

Next time I feel like I should post something but really have nothing to say, I could mention it to them and they could rant about something totally irrelevant.