Yoda-Style Questions

Anything that's on topic but doesn't fit elsewhere, including related events that might be of interest to quizbowl players.
Post Reply
User avatar
Halinaxus
Wakka
Posts: 106
Joined: Tue Aug 20, 2019 9:39 pm

Yoda-Style Questions

Post by Halinaxus »

Today at practice, I jokingly decided who would read after me by judging my teammates' Yoda impressions. Lucas Igl, who won, sat down and attempted to read the first tossup in Yoda-speak, but quickly realized that wasn't going to work. That got us thinking, has anyone out there written quiz bowl questions in object-subject-verb Yoda speak? They would obviously be very difficult to read and answer, but maybe if the difficulty's super low it'd be possible to get a reasonable level of conversion.

I did a cursory search of the archive but couldn't find anything. At some point I might try to write some myself, but that's going to have to get in line behind the other four projects I'm working on right now.

Edit: grammar
Reilly Melville
Chaska High School '22
Purdue University '26
User avatar
Stained Diviner
Auron
Posts: 5085
Joined: Sun Jun 13, 2004 6:08 am
Location: Chicagoland
Contact:

Re: Yoda-Style Questions

Post by Stained Diviner »

Nobody ever has or ever will.
David Reinstein
Head Writer and Editor for Scobol Solo, Masonics, and IESA; TD for Scobol Solo and Reinstein Varsity; IHSSBCA Board Member; IHSSBCA Chair (2004-2014); PACE President (2016-2018)
User avatar
Cheynem
Sin
Posts: 7219
Joined: Tue May 11, 2004 11:19 am
Location: Grand Rapids, Michigan

Re: Yoda-Style Questions

Post by Cheynem »

Halinaxus wrote: Wed May 18, 2022 5:27 pm At some point I might try to write some myself
Do or do not. There is no try.
Mike Cheyne
Formerly U of Minnesota

"You killed HSAPQ"--Matt Bollinger
User avatar
Halinaxus
Wakka
Posts: 106
Joined: Tue Aug 20, 2019 9:39 pm

Re: Yoda-Style Questions

Post by Halinaxus »

Stained Diviner wrote: Wed May 18, 2022 6:06 pm Nobody ever has or ever will.
Cheynem wrote: Wed May 18, 2022 6:18 pm Do or do not. There is no try.
OK, just for that:

Known as "the Knot," one of these items is for its large number of wires. Delays at airport security, another brand of these devices is known to cause. However, extremely durable, that product is, so use it over Zeecraft and Anderson (*) systems you should. Purchase these devices that "lock out" simultaneous use with the support of a charity run by Sheryl and Mike Cvijanovich, teams do. This product you hold when playing tossups, name for ten points.

Answer: Quiz bowl buzzer systems (accept “lockout systems” before it is mentioned; do not accept or prompt on “Knowledge Bowl buzzer strips”)

I had to write out the tossup first and then convert it to Yoda-speak sentence-by-sentence, but it wasn't that horrific a process.

Edit: formatting
Reilly Melville
Chaska High School '22
Purdue University '26
User avatar
Cheynem
Sin
Posts: 7219
Joined: Tue May 11, 2004 11:19 am
Location: Grand Rapids, Michigan

Re: Yoda-Style Questions

Post by Cheynem »

Truly wonderful, the mind of a child is.
Mike Cheyne
Formerly U of Minnesota

"You killed HSAPQ"--Matt Bollinger
Liarr
Lulu
Posts: 36
Joined: Sun Sep 20, 2020 6:54 pm

Re: Yoda-Style Questions

Post by Liarr »

A poem, an author from this people wrote. “Song of the Flight”, it is often translated as. A collection of “ballads of the lords”, it is included in. Someone, an author imagines, who “in our basement, lived, and my parents, sacrificed”, in a 2012 poetry collection about her meth-addicted brother. [One of these people], When My Brother Was, that collection is titled. The title of a poem, these people inspired. “a tree, firmly rooted is and dances”, that poem repeats. “a river that goes curving, advances and retreats…arriving forever”, that poem ends with. “flower songs”, a poet from this empire wrote. A name meaning “hungry coyote”, he had. The 584-line structure of the poem “Sunstone” by Octavio Paz, this empire’s calendar inspired. For 10 points, wrote poems in Nahuatl, what empire’s ruler Nezahualcoyotl did?
Lia Rathburn
Eric Hamber Secondary School '16
Langara College '18
University of British Columbia '20, '23

"I've decided I'm going to retire from playing to card full-time." - Milan Fernandez
User avatar
Stained Diviner
Auron
Posts: 5085
Joined: Sun Jun 13, 2004 6:08 am
Location: Chicagoland
Contact:

Re: Yoda-Style Questions

Post by Stained Diviner »

Image
David Reinstein
Head Writer and Editor for Scobol Solo, Masonics, and IESA; TD for Scobol Solo and Reinstein Varsity; IHSSBCA Board Member; IHSSBCA Chair (2004-2014); PACE President (2016-2018)
User avatar
Cheynem
Sin
Posts: 7219
Joined: Tue May 11, 2004 11:19 am
Location: Grand Rapids, Michigan

Re: Yoda-Style Questions

Post by Cheynem »

Liarr wrote: Wed May 18, 2022 7:22 pm A poem, an author from this people wrote. “Song of the Flight”, it is often translated as. A collection of “ballads of the lords”, it is included in. Someone, an author imagines, who “in our basement, lived, and my parents, sacrificed”, in a 2012 poetry collection about her meth-addicted brother. [One of these people], When My Brother Was, that collection is titled. The title of a poem, these people inspired. “a tree, firmly rooted is and dances”, that poem repeats. “a river that goes curving, advances and retreats…arriving forever”, that poem ends with. “flower songs”, a poet from this empire wrote. A name meaning “hungry coyote”, he had. The 584-line structure of the poem “Sunstone” by Octavio Paz, this empire’s calendar inspired. For 10 points, wrote poems in Nahuatl, what empire’s ruler Nezahualcoyotl did?
Read these poems, have you? Page-turners they were not.
Mike Cheyne
Formerly U of Minnesota

"You killed HSAPQ"--Matt Bollinger
User avatar
eygotem
Wakka
Posts: 125
Joined: Sat May 18, 2019 12:57 pm
Location: Observable Universe

Re: Yoda-Style Questions

Post by eygotem »

An inactive form of this protein prefixed “met,” cytochrome-b5 (“B-five”) reductase reduces. A lowered affinity for the allosteric inhibitor 2,3-bisphosphoglycerate, the F form of this protein has. During fMRI (“F-M-R-I”) the relative distribution of two forms of this protein, BOLD-contrast (“bold contrast”) imaging maps. With pH in the (*) Bohr effect, this protein’s substrate affinity decreases. Aggregate into fibers, a glutamate-to-valine mutation allows this protein to, so that sickle-shaped, cells carrying it appear. To its substrate using four porphyrin (“POR-fer-in”) groups that contain iron, this protein binds. This oxygen-carrying protein found in red blood cells, for 10 points name.
June Yin (they/them)
Ladue 2021
WUSTL 2026(?)
User avatar
Cheynem
Sin
Posts: 7219
Joined: Tue May 11, 2004 11:19 am
Location: Grand Rapids, Michigan

Re: Yoda-Style Questions

Post by Cheynem »

eygotem wrote: Thu May 19, 2022 11:39 pm This oxygen-carrying protein found in red blood cells, for 10 points name.
Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter.
Mike Cheyne
Formerly U of Minnesota

"You killed HSAPQ"--Matt Bollinger
User avatar
jonpin
Auron
Posts: 2266
Joined: Wed Feb 04, 2004 6:45 pm
Location: BCA NJ / WUSTL MO / Hackensack NJ

Re: Yoda-Style Questions

Post by jonpin »

This is the kind of nonsense we lost when AHAN stopped being regularly available.

Each person can decide for themselves what my (and their) opinion of that is.
Jon Pinyan
Coach, Bergen County Academies (NJ); former player for BCA (2000-03) and WUSTL (2003-07)
HSQB forum mod, PACE member
Stat director for: NSC '13-'15, '17; ACF '14, '17, '19; NHBB '13-'15; NASAT '11

"A [...] wizard who controls the weather" - Jerry Vinokurov
User avatar
Atlashill
Wakka
Posts: 144
Joined: Sun Mar 16, 2014 4:52 pm
Location: Sedalia, MO

Re: Yoda-Style Questions

Post by Atlashill »

*raises hand sheepishly*

There was a bonus I wrote in Yoda-speak for a housewrite tournament, in the days before pyramidal quizbowl became prevalent in the Missouri high school circuit. It was only because the bonus pertained to Yoda. (Prior to 20/20 gaining prevalence, we used four-part bonus, each five points, and only in the second and fourth quarters.) To my memory, it went:
Atlashill, attempting to recall a bonus from 18 years ago, wrote:Speak like Yoda, moderator will. Questions about Yoda, answer you shall.

1. Voice Yoda in "Star Wars" this man did. (Frank Oz)
2. This "lovable furry monster" from "Sesame Street", Oz also voiced. (Grover)
3. This 1980 movie starring Dan Ackroyd and John Belushi, as corrections officer Oz appeared. (Blues Brothers)
4. This recent [2004] movie starring Matthew Broderick, Nicole Kidman and Christopher Walken set in suburban Connecticut, Oz directed. (Stepford Wives)
Kyle Hill—Liberty (Mo.) '03—Truman State '07
Moderator for hire based in Sedalia, Mo.
User avatar
Cheynem
Sin
Posts: 7219
Joined: Tue May 11, 2004 11:19 am
Location: Grand Rapids, Michigan

Re: Yoda-Style Questions

Post by Cheynem »

Atlashill wrote: Fri May 20, 2022 10:11 am *raises hand sheepishly*
Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering. I sense much fear in you.
Mike Cheyne
Formerly U of Minnesota

"You killed HSAPQ"--Matt Bollinger
User avatar
Auks Ran Ova
Forums Staff: Chief Administrator
Posts: 4295
Joined: Sun Apr 30, 2006 10:28 pm
Location: Minneapolis
Contact:

Re: Yoda-Style Questions

Post by Auks Ran Ova »

jonpin wrote: Fri May 20, 2022 10:04 am This is the kind of nonsense we lost when AHAN stopped being regularly available.
AHAN, much like COVID-19, has been consistently available since March 2020!

Anyway, in addition to the obvious concerns about gimmickiness and readability/parseability, another reason you're unlikely to see lots of these questions is that they lose internal pyramidality, since a fairly unique strength of SVO word order is that it makes it easy to construct sentences with a clear indicator of the answer being sought at the beginning and the most buzzable stuff at the end. This concern has come up when people have contemplated questions in non-English languages in the past!

Or, in short, the greatest teacher, failure is.
Rob Carson
University of Minnesota '11, MCTC '??, BHSU forever
Member, ACF
Member emeritus, PACE
Writer and Editor, NAQT
User avatar
Halinaxus
Wakka
Posts: 106
Joined: Tue Aug 20, 2019 9:39 pm

Re: Yoda-Style Questions

Post by Halinaxus »

I ended up writing 10 Yoda tossups for my entry in this spring's Purdue Housewrite Catastrophe.
Reilly Melville
Chaska High School '22
Purdue University '26
User avatar
Cheynem
Sin
Posts: 7219
Joined: Tue May 11, 2004 11:19 am
Location: Grand Rapids, Michigan

Re: Yoda-Style Questions

Post by Cheynem »

Once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny. Consume you, it will.
Mike Cheyne
Formerly U of Minnesota

"You killed HSAPQ"--Matt Bollinger
Post Reply