Monday, February 22, 2016

Karma Don't Play Favorites

It is no secret that The Pony competes on the scholar bowl team. They are fairly competitive within the conference, and have more successes than not. Last Thursday, they finally had a home match, and I was there to root him on. Well. As much as one can root for a scholar in a team competition in a library.

The Pony's team played a school they had not yet seen this year, what with snow days wiping out two meets so far. The game was neck and neck, with US beating them by two or three questions right up until the fourth quarter. We had fallen behind by one question when the controversy occurred. One of US, not The Pony, gave the answer concerning a mathematician. He pronounced it as "Yooler."

"No," said the official question-reader, who happened to be from our school, as are all officials at all home meets. "That is incorrect. It is "Ooler."

Well. Heads swiveled. The team looked at each other. They turned to look at their coach. I looked at their coach. "Spell it." Said the question-answerer.

"E-u-l-e-r. Ooler. It says right here on the answers." Said the official question-reader.

"That's it. But our teacher always says it 'Yooler.'" Said others of the team of US.

"Count it how you think it should be counted," said the coach of US. Who also happens to be school principal.

"Um. Our teacher says 'Yooler,' too." Said the captain of THEM.

"Well. I'll count that as correct." Said the official question-reader.

That score put the teams at a tie, with only three questions (plus applicable bonuses) remaining in the match. Which was won by THEM, by one question.

Which just goes to show, I told a slightly-depressed Pony, that Karma looks out for those who do the right thing.

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Let the record show that after the match, the official question-reader looked it up online, and announced that the pronunciation is actually "Oiler."

16 comments:

  1. I'm sorry, the correct answer is Moops!

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    Replies
    1. That is just as logical!

      Good thing there were no bottles of YooHoo around to be flung.

      If the question-reader had asked me to autograph my picture, which I just happen to carry in the trunk...I would have written:

      "Your pronunciation could be finer; you've made all of us whiners."

      Delete
    2. You are not one to be one-upped Seinfeldingly.

      Delete
    3. Well...I like to think I have hand.

      Delete
  2. It's a bitter loss when the score is so close.

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    Replies
    1. Yes, but our own fault, and not the question-reader, who DID give us credit.

      Delete
  3. What IS an euler? How could I have lived for so long and never needed to use that word?

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    1. See below.

      This may come as a shock to you, but I did not have you pegged for a Mathlete.

      Delete
  4. Euler was a Swiss mathematician (among other things) who was the reason for me switching from Math major to English major in college. Advanced Calculus was my Waterloo. And, by the way, I always thought his name was pronounced "Yoo-ler", too. But I looked it up and the Google confirmed it as "Oi-ler". You learn something every day.

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    1. Thank you. You have saved me a copy-and-paste from Wikipedia!

      You deserve a slice of pie. Blueberry, perhaps. Blueberry, blackberry. Blackberry, boysenberry. Boysenberry, huckleberry. Huckleberry, raspberry. Raspberry, strawberry. Strawberry, cranberry. Peach.

      Delete
    2. Well, I'll have to drive upstate to pie country. Unless I'm sidetracked to The Hamptons. Hope you like stolen lobster in your scrambled eggs.

      Delete
  5. WTH is an oiler? Oohler, youler? Are you funning us?

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    1. I am not funning you. Val Thevictorian is the antithesis of funning.

      See above. No pie for you, though!

      Delete
  6. I see that I am out of my league here, I am no Mathlete. I do like math and use it all the time, very practical applications for me though, no theory.

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    Replies
    1. Well, then. You won't need to learn how to pronounce Yooler/Ooler/Oiler!

      Delete