Should We Use the Term "Trash"?

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Cheynem
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Should We Use the Term "Trash"?

Post by Cheynem »

Using the term "trash" to describe popular culture questions and tournaments is a very common and familiar practice in quizbowl. I have recently heard a number of people claim that using the word "trash" in this way can be offensive and turn off new players--they argue (and they should feel free to post here, because I can't do their arguments justice) that new players who are told they do well at "trash" or got a "trash" buzz will be confused and offended, as well as argue that even older, more established players may not like the implication that their best categories or buzzes are in "trash," a word does that not have a very positive connotation in society.

I see these arguments, and I understand them. One thing that I think quizbowl should do is avoid using "trash" like we expect everyone will know what it means. In formal contexts, like tournament distributions or announcements, I would try and avoid using the word--as I think most tournaments do nowadays. Similarly, we shouldn't refer to someone's buzz as "trash" or a question as "trash" in contexts where there are players who have no idea what the word means, unless we're willing to explain the meaning of the term (just as we wouldn't use other confusing pieces of quizbowl lingo in similar contexts).

However, I personally find explaining the meaning incredibly easy--"Trash simply means questions on pop culture--it doesn't mean it's bad or anything, most quizbowlers love trash questions." After hearing such an explanation, I would hope most people would understand that they weren't being denigrated and would no longer take offense (obviously I am sure some do anyway). For this reason, I think an informal use of the term is okay and not particularly offensive. I think, personally, speaking as someone who has a degree in popular culture studies and greatly enjoys "trash" tournaments, that the phrase "trash tournament" is just so much more evocative and fun than "popular culture tournament." I can't really say why--part of the reason, though, is that I think all subcultures and groups have their own lingo and slang. A lot of times, in fact, subculture slang takes words that may have negative connotations in society or in "regular" language, and makes such words their own. I don't see anything different in quizbowl.

What do other people think? How should we use the term "trash," if at all?
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Mike Bentley
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Re: Should We Use the Term "Trash"?

Post by Mike Bentley »

I think someone else may have already had this idea, but one option is to use "pop" for "trash". "Pop tournament" is about as easy to say as "trash tournament" and conveys about as much information to an outsider but doesn't have negative connotations.
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Re: Should We Use the Term "Trash"?

Post by AKKOLADE »

It's fine in casual conversations between people in the know, but shouldn't be used for outward facing promotion.
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Gene Harrogate
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Re: Should We Use the Term "Trash"?

Post by Gene Harrogate »

I have never been bothered by the use of the word trash. But I also don't think there's a good reason to ignore criticisms like
More than one woman commented that she didn't like how areas she was good in constituted "trash," and others felt that "trash" was gendered in a way that did not suit their interests.
in this thread. Even if it's just a small minority that feel excluded, why bother hanging on to it?
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Re: Should We Use the Term "Trash"?

Post by weebyjeebys »

I am in opposition to the term trash due to the fact that it perpetuates an "insider knowledge" perspective of quizbowl on the whole.

If someone being introduced to quizbowl is strongest in popular culture, and their field of knowledge is already being mostly excluded from the events that the community considers the most important of any given year, and then that field of knowledge is being referred to in an immediately derogatory manner, it does create a sense that their strengths are considered less valuable. The ways in which this has been brought up in relation to engendered perspectives on knowledge has already been addressed by Alex and Henry.

My personal preference is that there is a way in which popular culture events can be seen with the same kind of rigour and competitive value as the premier academic events of the year, and I think the term trash does not help with that either. However, as opposed to my first point, I won't pretend this is a big deal to the greater community or anything.
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Re: Should We Use the Term "Trash"?

Post by Alkres »

Nothing offensive about the term "TRASH", at least as it's used in the QB community. I've seen/read it somewhere that it's actually an acronym for Testing Recall About Strange Happenings. Pop culture stuff gets thrown in with "trash" because the two have become kind of like a catch all segment of QB questions that people don't know where else to place.
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Re: Should We Use the Term "Trash"?

Post by Mike Bentley »

Alkres wrote: Mon Apr 26, 2021 12:15 pm Nothing offensive about the term "TRASH", at least as it's used in the QB community. I've seen/read it somewhere that it's actually an acronym for Testing Recall About Strange Happenings. Pop culture stuff gets thrown in with "trash" because the two have become kind of like a catch all segment of QB questions that people don't know where else to place.
TRASH, a now-defunct organization that once was the pop culture equivalent of ACF, did stand for Testing Recall About Strange Happenings. But that was different than the generic term "trash" which I believe predated the organization.

I have an unverified theory that the term "trash" stems at least partly from Gen X attitudes towards popular culture. This was an era when low-culture was increasingly being reclaimed, but still not to the level of the poptimist mode of the present day. Ironically liking bad movies, bad music and other "trash" was probably at its height. "Trash," then, was both a term of derision but also more seriously a statement that "we know a lot of this is 'bad' and we're celebrating it anyway."
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Re: Should We Use the Term "Trash"?

Post by Stained Diviner »

To be fair to my generation, if you look back on TV shows, pop music, and video games from the 1980s, a lot of them were bad. Movies, as always, were a mixed bag.
It also may have been influenced by David Letterman's shtick.
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Re: Should We Use the Term "Trash"?

Post by Corry »

This thread came to mind when I was reading this New Yorker article from today, on Learned League.
Questions that seek to expand the canon can be met with derision, Anupama Srirangan, who plays LearnedLeague and has appeared on “Jeopardy!,” told me. A question about the Kardashians, for instance, might get labelled a “trash” question on a message board or social media, the implication being that players are glad they don’t know the answer to it.
Should we get rid of the term "trash"? I'd vote yes. There's no upside to using the term among 'insiders,' and only downside when using it among 'outsiders.'
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