Stuff Non-Chess Players Say

Book Club!!! Lol j/k. 

Because derailment is OP:

"Use your mana crystal!"

-said by my friend who is learning chess at my school chess club, jokingly.

What would Buffy do?

I prefer the book Lord of the Rings to the film. The film misses out on a lot of the internal action of the characters.

It is an easier read than Tolstoy's War and Peace.

If one day you do choose to read this masterpiece by JRR Tolkein, I shall tip my hat... er... helmet to you, as this book represents one of the finest peices of fantasy ever written. And given its level of difficulty, many today would not dare attempt reading it (sadly to say). And yes, the book does provide background info. You may even become a Tolkein junkie like me and learn a few more languages.

Ash nazg durbatulûk, ash nazg gimbatul,

ash nazg thrakatulûk agh burzum-ishi krimpatul.

That is to say:

One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,

One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them.

Pardon my geekness. 

I agree that the LOTR trilogy is a masterpience. However, it's not terribly difficult reading (ever tried reading a calculus textbook?) even compared to the Hobbit, which reads like it is for a younger audience but still feels wordier than the elegance of the trilogy.

It is DEFINITELY worth the time to read - although you may or may not want to read the more plodding Hobbit first for background.

Hahaha that's how I felt too 

It's funny how with nerd culture comes new languages... Lord of the Rings has several Elven languages (and I think some other languages as well), Star Trek has Klingon, and I think Star Wars has a few languages. You don't have to worry about me not pardoning your geekiness, as I have to say "I apologize for my geekiness in advance" on chess.com all the time.

Anyway, back on topic... non-chess players seem to think chess players are the geekiest people ever, especially as portrayed in movies. For example, in Independence Day (which would have been on my official list of worst movies ever if not for Will Smith being funny in it), the main nerdy character (referencing the attack by aliens on Earth) says "It's like chess." Supposedly this is a profound statement (actually, it's nothing like chess), but of course the nerdy character had to say it to prove he's nerdy. That's Hollywood for you. Of course, Hollywood is probably full of non-chessers.

Damn that was cool! As an English major, I'm pretty interested in "stuff" like this. I should read more than I do but maybe the time will come after my undergrad years. (Hopefully that's next semester!) lol. 

I agree that it is not a difficult read, for me or you and others like the present company. I was referring to society, as a whole, which lacks the reading skills neccessary to read works from Tolkein, or Melville, or Jules Vern. That is what I was trying to convey.

I've heard many times that on average Americans read at an 8th grade level. Yikes! Obviously that would geographically depend on where we're talking about. Not at a university, for example. This is usually referenced in the context of reading news online or newspapers, that news needs to be very straightforward for readership to understand it.

But I suppose those same people would have a difficult time picking up a more advanced read for a novel. 

from awesomechess1729: 'non-chess players seem to think chess players are the geekiest people ever, ' --- So true most of the time. I guess it depends on the location and what type of people are nearby. At one activity center, every time people see the chess board out I overhear comments like, 'Oh, they're playing chesssssssss, don't bother those guys, they're really smart and concentrating.' These are other people who play bridge, MahJong and cribbage. Yet if I set up a board in a sports bar people will walk by and mutter, 'Oh, chess,' with a real negative, drawn-out slur (no pun intended) of the word chess. They think it's nerdy cuz you're not playing cards like poker or cribbage or euchre or maybe rolling dice for a drink discount.

Now and then chess shows up in sit-coms and it's almost always the same. The young happy-go-lucky character (usually a child) is playing an older character and they make one move while discussing whatever topic is in the script, then . . . of course, it's 'And CheckMATE!' from the younger one, then everybody laughs. It's sooooooo cliche. I wonder if Fred Sanford ever beat a little neighbor kid and sent him home crying.

Add in the fact that you ask college students about WWII and you get why I have no respect off the bat for someone with a degree. Prove yourself, and then I'll have respect.

I heard this once: Interviewer: "What was one of the concentration camps of WWII?"

College Student: "uh...I don't know. Germany?"

Interviewer: "What was the name of the country's leader who ruled over the European Axis powers?"

College Student: "Stalin."

(And if that is more of the little know facts, here's a more obvious one)

Interviewer: "Name the country that first invaded Poland and is the main causes/forces in World War II."

College Student: "uhh...France?"

^^^

-.-
And then we wonder why the world is coming to an end.  Basic facts...basic facts...
I give up...
And @Dragon...the Lord of the Rings books is a great series. It provides background information and will help the entire movie make sense. But the problem is this...the movie deviates so much at times. (Like pet peeve: Saruman never died at the tower of Isengard. He died in the Shire.)

@ but: Don't spoil the book before she reads it.

Rote memorization for the sake of taking a test is not going to make students care about history, or any subject, I don't think. So maybe if that were changed somehow or adjusted to make individuals care about a subject... but that is a whole other subject... as it is now, especially for multiple choice based tests, I think it's a matter of memorizing terms. Not the ideas, which is the thing that matters most. Professors that can effectively integrate terms into that meaningful historical narrative, or whatever subject, is going to be more effective than focusing on making students memorize random terms with little emphasis on the context. Those terms, or so-called facts, are going to be forgotten the following semester and so forth, then they are of no use anymore. Phew, those are my thoughts on that!

JayBo, I love puns and I appreciate your pun there! 

              Tolkien is a trilogy.  I just bought Robert Jordan's "Wheel Of Time" series.  What do you call a story that has 15 books??

Good question! Maybe... a pentadecology? LOL IDK  

    hahahahahahaha  thanks,  I thought even a dozen-ology would still be 3 books off.

Dovestar, did you watch the movie (2008)? Looks like the 1959 one received better reviews. (I've neither read nor watched this journey...)

Thanks for the heads up! <3 Btw, could you commentate on a chess game with a Tolkien language?!

Random thought is random... <--- Yes, bask in this syntactical accomplishment.