Lisa Q. Mathews, Mysteries

Trivial Pursuits

These days, every time we venture online–or open our email–we’re bombarded with information. True or false, all those details must be processed by our frazzled brains and sorted into a cerebral in-box system: Keep, Ignore, Discard. But what happens when SOME people’s brains refuse to let go?

My Irish American dad was the eldest of 5 kids, most of whom had large families, so I grew up with a lot of first cousins. Our summer reunions are big, noisy events, with males outnumbering females more than 3:1. We are all huge readers and, with very few exceptions, big talkers. Many of us are teachers, lawyers, or involved in artistic pursuits. On the drive home from the latest Gathering of the Clan, my hubby told me I had the Quinn Family gene.

I had no idea what he was referring to.

“Everyone in your family loves weird facts,” he said.

Huh. Well, I guess that’s true. It’s always a given that one of us has read some semi-obscure article, and another butts in with offers additional info from a different article or book or documentary, and…we’re off to the factoid races. It’s not a “topper” situation or anything. More like, a group share that leads to even more fascinating (to us) facts.

One of my earliest memories is of watching my cousin Kevin compete on the 60s quiz show G.E. College Bowl (hosted by Betty White’s spouse Allen Ludden). Even as a toddler, I think I felt a vicarious rush of adrenaline in the long pauses before questions were asked and answered. And if the answer was correct… kiddie dopamine!

By the time I reached college myself, I doubt I would have been a candidate for College Bowl, if the show had still existed.

 As a freshman, though, I joined a 24-hour trivia contest where teams gathered in dimy-lit dorm rooms and, against the clock, ran their answers through the snow to the radio station in the bowels of the campus center.

I am terrible at answering questions under pressure. I tend to rethink my initial answers (mistake), and I’m self-conscious about being wildly wrong, especially in public.  In this case, I also felt a bit intimidated as the only girl. My teammates gave rapid-fire (usually correct) responses to every kind of question under the sun.  Mythology, sports, geography, history, politics, economic theory, classic literature, art, music, cartoons—you name it. But in a final-tiebreaker situation, there was apparently one thing none of them could do: Book it to the station to hit the buzzer and belt out the entire theme song to the Mary Tyler Show. Yep, I’ve basked in that accomplishment for years. And yes, I still know the words.

In the early aughts, co-workers brought me to subject-dedicated trivia nights. Always fun, but sadly I was no expert on Seinfeld, Friends, or The Simpsons. I mostly filled out answer slips and ate a lot of pizza.

I’d pretty much retired from live trivia outside of family games until my hubby and I teamed up with friends as “The Inquizatorz” for Thursday trivia nights at a local brewery. It’s a great time, win or lose (winners get 25% off their tab).

PHOTO

At Crime Bake last year, I was a proud member of the victorious “Whatever Lola Wants” trivia team with Dru Ann Love, Kristopher Zgorski, Susan Oleksiw, and Maureen Kruskal.  (Lola happens to be the name of the Crime Bake lobster). I didn’t come up with every answer, but hey, if you need to know hometowns and states of various New England serial killers, I’m your gal!

Every once in a while, some random piece of info stored in my ridiculously-fact-packed brain makes it into my writing. You never know when a mystery might require a crazy detail to embellish—or solve—a crime. This morning I learned that a shrimp’s heart is located in its head. Hmm. I’m sure I can use that someday.

Readers, are you a trivia fan? And writers, do you unwittingly (or wittingly) save intriguing “info” tidbits to use in your manuscripts (any you’d like to share)?

LISA Q. MATHEWS is a regular contributor to Chicks on the Case and the author of the Irish B&B Mysteries, the Ladies Smythe & Westin series, short mystery fiction, and many kids’ books. Visit her website and sign up for her newsletter at lisaqmathews.com.

39 thoughts on “Trivial Pursuits”

  1. Hestia here

    I am definitely a trivia buff. Geography and history? Fuggedaboutit! But what I call useless trivia? I’m your backup gal.

    One of my fondest memories of my first husband (passed last month, may he RIP) involved trivia. I remember one night when we were with his extended family.

    After dinner we played this fairly new game called Trivial Pursuit. Guys versus gals. It was pretty tight, because it was a mixed generation group. We got to the end, and each team had to pick one question for the other to answer so get the winner declared.

    The men picked a history question. Crap!
    Whose face is on the Purple Heart?

    You can just imagine the looks on the women’s team! I blurted out “George Washington” without any consultation. The men were pissed I got it, especially never being in a war, and I was the youngest one besides my 2 year old son.

    Score!

    You never know when a piece of useless trivia will come in handy!

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  4. Love trivia. We used to play men vs. women in my family until the guys refused to play (read lose) anymore. My brain does store odd old tidbits. Later we would play at a local restaurant on Saturday nights and usually did well enough to come in second it we didn’t win. Yes, multigenerational mixed gender team, but I usually had the oddball answers! (Rarely ever in a science type category though!)

    I thought Harry Truman didn’t really have a middle name, just the initial, hmmm!

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  6. I am not a big trivia person but I love learning if. Does that make sense? Like, I never thought about Truman’s middle name but I loved learning that. Although now I want to know why he only had a middle initial. Maybe that’s why I don’t seek out trivia. Ir sends me down rabbit holes!

    I’ve never been a game person but I do remember a group TP night many nights ago when the game was hot.

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  7. This post brought back sweet memories! When I was stationed in England, the office would regularly do Quiz Night at our “local” (the Angel Inn Pub in Upton Scudamore). Such fun times!

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  8. I’m horrible at trivia. I’ve played Trivial Pursuit and have done some video games involving quizzes.

    But I was on my high school’s Academic Decathlon team and rocked Super Quiz–probably because we could study beforehand & I loved doing it as a team as opposed to being pressured as the sole participant.

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    1. You could have been on College Bowl, Jen!!!! I’ve occasionally played digital trivia (in a live setting) but to me it has a slightly different feel. And the board game Trivial Pursuit is HARD!!! (Esp.specific decade versions.) I always go through the cards if they’re sitting out on a bar or restaurant table, though.

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  9. Lisa – A high five for winning the tie with the Mary Tyler Moore theme song. 🎶🤗 Very impressive!!!!

    As to an intriguing tip in my book, it would have to be the one about making coffee using cat poop. It’s considered a delicacy and very expensive. Now you just don’t head to your kitty’s litter box to get the prime ingredient. You have to go to the jungle to harvest the right cat poop. Anyway, I’m sticking with Starbucks, decaf, black, and no cat poop .

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    1. The cat poop coffee is a definite nope-nope-nope meow from me, Debbie. UGH (shudder–literally just took my last sip of today’s coffee).

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  11. Definitely a trivia fan. My father and I played Trivial Pursuit for years – even had a running score. And yes, my brain stores completely random facts and trots them out at the drop of a hat. I will never be able to forget a shrimp’s heart is in its head now.

    My sister is another trivia buff. She was kicked out of a cruise ship trivia night because she was answering too many questions. But she and I are both no good under extreme pressure, like Jeopardy! We need time to reason through the answers.

    I don’t think I’ve used a random fact in a story line. Now you’ve challenged me!

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    1. Go for it, Liz! Laughing here about your sister being kicked out of cruise ship trivia, ha. That will for sure never happen to me. I’m one of those people who shout at the TV during Jeopardy!, but I’d choke during the real thing. (Did you ever notice how many mystery writers have competed on Jeopardy!?)

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  12. Big fan of trivia here, but it’s really not the same anymore, now that someone at a cocktail party can simply pull out their phone and look up the answer to some arcane question regarding Henry II or bowling. How I miss those days of people saying, “You know, the guy who was in that movie with that woman who looks kind of like Meryl Streep that took place in…was it Poland?” And then everyone trying to remember the name of the actor, which the leads to a discussion of other films about Poland and of Meryl Streep.

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    2. So true, Leslie. I should have brought that up in the post. I miss those discussions, too–especially people (including me) desperately trying to make the case for their (wrong) answer.

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  14. I love trivia! I’ve never been part of a team, but I was a regular winner of family Trivial Pursuit games. Which means people got tired of playing with me. Haha. That was a long time ago. Maybe I should play with the grandkids now.

    And thanks, Lisa, now I’ve got the Mary Tyler Moore theme stuck in my head. Who can take a nothing date, and suddenly make it all seem worth while . . .

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    1. Well, it’s you girl, and you should know it…La la la. As I remember, I tossed my ski cap in the air for that performance. (No tam o’shanter, sadly.) But you should definitely play with the grandkids. One of my worst categories? New Disney characters. All those fish…

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  15. I love trivia. I used to go over to my neighbor’s house every weekend and we would play for hours in the early 1980s. I know so many facts, especially about books, movies and movie stars. I knew who was on the Purple Heart and called it out before finishing your comment. Purple Heart. Lately, I have been watching Celebrity Jeopardy and do pretty good though not as well as though smart celebrities. My friends used to call me and ask me who or what and I usually knew and that was pre smart phones and computers like we have now. I used to read the Encyclopedia Britannica. Can you believe that? Kudos to your Mary Tyler Moore singing. I would not be able to do that.

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  16. Love this so much! You have had so many great experiences (and love the pics).

    Adore trivia. There was a phase during grad school where the friend group used to play ALL the time because the electronic trivia games were popping up in the bars. Now whenever we go to a restaurant that has one, my family will play along too.

    Also the fam has tried a variety of apps like Trivia Crack (which stopped working after a while, sadly) and some increasingly tougher ones that we use on car rides. 🙂

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