"Million $ Password" update.

[byrd62]

[quote name=\'TwoInchQuad\' post=\'172100\' date=\'Dec 14 2007, 02:42 PM\']
[quote name=\'chris319\' post=\'172092\' date=\'Dec 14 2007, 12:06 PM\']
Password debuted in 1961. I would hope they have the flaws worked out by now (if they play it without a word authority, it WILL be flawed).
[/quote]

Were you privy to the discussions about getting rid of the "doc in the box"...?  Or was it just a budget thing?

-Kevin
[/quote]

Lest we forget, P+ and SP had no "doc in the box", unless you count producer Robert Sherman as the equivalent of such, and each of those versions had a decent run.

[Clay Zambo]

[quote name=\'chris319\' post=\'172092\' date=\'Dec 14 2007, 02:06 PM\']
(if they play it without a word authority, it WILL be flawed).
[/quote]

Fear not.  There's an authority in the house. He wasn't introduced, but he's a snazzy dresser. He was there for my run-through day, and even had a tricky call when a clue giver said "a lot--oh, damn, that's two words" and, after a "stopdown," the authority ruled that the clue would have been valid since "allot" is one word.  Of course, the clue giver blew it by admitting he'd intended it as two words.

[chris319]

The decision not to use a word authority was made before I got there. Bobby Sherman didn't think one was needed and Ira Skutch (who was not associated with the show) didn't think it was such a good idea not to have one. Ira was right, of course.

The hardest part of the word authority's job is going to be deciding whether a clue is one word or more than one word. "Webpage" -- one word or two? Just because you saw it written as one word somewhere on the Internet doesn't mean it's "officially" one word for the purposes of playing Password. The solution is to pick a lexicon and decide that it's going to be the final authority. IOW, if the authoritative lexicon is the Merriam-Webster dictionary, if it doesn't appear as one word or appears as two or more words in Merriam-Webster you call it wrong. The word authority made a good call in the above instance. During a P+ rehearsal I was in the booth acting as surrogate judge when the password was "return". The contestant said "come back", then caught herself thinking it was two words. I tried to explain that as a noun, "comeback" is one word, but my explanation fell on the deaf ears of the amateur experts.

Why, here's "comeback" right here in Merriam-Webster's:

http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/comeback

[Robert Hutchinson]

This may not be terribly likely to happen on the upcoming "version of Million Dollar Password", but an even better reason to have a word authority IMO is so you don't end up zapping someone who used a perfectly valid word that the zapper just didn't know. (I'm thinking of the Password Plus "pellucid" moment here.)

[chris319]

I'm thinking of the Password Plus "pellucid" moment here.

I think that was after my time. Please elaborate -- and who was the emcee at the time?

[mrchips]

[quote name=\'chris319\' post=\'172126\' date=\'Dec 14 2007, 05:59 PM\']The solution is to pick a lexicon and decide that it's going to be the final authority. IOW, if the authoritative lexicon is the Merriam-Webster dictionary, if it doesn't appear as one word or appears as two or more words in Merriam-Webster you call it wrong.[/quote]
So theoretically someone too clever by half could give "pitchblende" for chord. The rule permits abuse, but not without risk. Cool.

[chris319]

"pitchblende" would have been a good million-dollar word ('cept now we've spoilt it).

[Clay Zambo]

[quote name=\'mrchips\' post=\'172157\' date=\'Dec 15 2007, 10:15 AM\']
So theoretically someone too clever by half could give "pitchblende" for chord. The rule permits abuse, but not without risk. Cool.
[/quote]

Well, you could give the clue.  Would you get the intended response?  Doubtful.  If I thought for a long time--and they'd let you do exactly that; last I heard there wasn't any time limit on endgame responses--I might have come up with "radium" or maybe "uranium"--but no way would I have come up with "chord."

With that password, I'd've way sooner tried "extensiooooooon..."

[Robert Hutchinson]

[quote name=\'chris319\' post=\'172149\' date=\'Dec 15 2007, 12:29 AM\']I think that was after my time. Please elaborate -- and who was the emcee at the time?[/quote]
Oh, gosh--it was in a clip somewhere, but I have no idea where.

Pretty sure the emcee was Tom Kennedy. The password was, I believe, CLEAR (or a synonym of same). The contestant gave a clue of "pellucid", and the buzzer was sounded on the grounds that "pellucid" is not a word. The male celebrity (I forget who) on the other team had a little fun with it, mocking the other side for making up words.

The word played out, with the other team guessing "clear", but before a guess at the puzzle was made, the contestant insisted that "pellucid" was a word. Someone asked her what it meant, and with a wonderful look on her face, she said, "It means 'clear'."

Tom and/or the producers asked for a spelling from her (!!), she provided it, and oopsie, there it was in the dictionary. They eventually threw out the proceedings on that word, with no guess, and moved on to the next word in the puzzle.

[chris319]

Well, you see, a real word authority would have known the word "pellucid" and they would have avoided all that rigamarole.

http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/pellucid

[dale_grass]

[quote name=\'chris319\' post=\'172172\' date=\'Dec 15 2007, 05:26 PM\']
... they would have avoided all that rigamarole.
[/quote]

NOW who's making up words?

[Unrealtor]

[quote name=\'dale_grass\' post=\'172175\' date=\'Dec 15 2007, 05:59 PM\']
[quote name=\'chris319\' post=\'172172\' date=\'Dec 15 2007, 05:26 PM\']
... they would have avoided all that rigamarole.
[/quote]

NOW who's making up words?
[/quote]

It's real. http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/rigamarole (Although I'd never heard of the original spelling of the word it's supposedly an alternate form of.)

[Joe Mello]

Having a definitive word source is a good idea, but don't we still need a judge?  To use a previous example, allot is a legal word, but if the Password is "several" do you say no because the giver more likely said"a lot"? (reactions nonwithstanding)

[Robert Hutchinson]

[quote name=\'Joe Mello\' post=\'172187\' date=\'Dec 15 2007, 10:20 PM\']Having a definitive word source is a good idea, but don't we still need a judge?  To use a previous example, allot is a legal word, but if the Password is "several" do you say no because the giver more likely said"a lot"? (reactions nonwithstanding)[/quote]
I don't see how that wouldn't fall under the purview of the word authority. You simply tell them not to hit the buzzer when a player gives a single, non-hyphenated word that isn't a form of the password, regardless of context or homonyms. You could possibly argue for a judge to rule on hand gestures and buzzer-beaters, but I'd think you could find a word authority capable of making those calls without too much trouble.

[trainman]

[quote name=\'Unrealtor\' post=\'172177\' date=\'Dec 15 2007, 04:13 PM\']
[quote name=\'dale_grass\' post=\'172175\' date=\'Dec 15 2007, 05:59 PM\']
[quote name=\'chris319\' post=\'172172\' date=\'Dec 15 2007, 05:26 PM\']
... they would have avoided all that rigamarole.
[/quote]

NOW who's making up words?
[/quote]

It's real. http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/rigamarole (Although I'd never heard of the original spelling of the word it's supposedly an alternate form of.)
[/quote]

http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/whoosh