So, we were watching some ridiculous Millionaire spin-off game show last night, to bide the time until Lost. The question had something to do with whether or not there was a numerical value for works of fiction in the Dewey decimal system. Everyone but me seemed to think there wasn't, because libraries always have a separate fiction section organized just by author's name. I insisted that there actually is a number for fiction, it's just not used very often, because it's easier to sort the fiction separately. Then the contestant, and all the fifth graders, revealed their guesses, and they all agreed with everyone else but me, and the host confirmed that they were all right and I was wrong.
But we looked it up online, and not only was I right about there being a fiction section of the Dewey decimal system, but my explanation of why it wasn't used very often was almost word for word the same as the explanation we found online. Color me vindicated.
(Especially when, five minutes later, Jon made some kind of comment about Ivory soap floating, and I told him it floats because of air bubbles. Then he laughed at me, and looked THAT up online to prove me wrong. Except that I was right. Again. When did I become such a repository for useless knowledge?)
EDIT: Okay, I looked the question up online, and it turns out that the show wasn't wrong after all. They just phrased the question as a double negative, and, to be fair, we weren't really paying all that much attention, and we discussed the topic in general terms, rather than exactly the way the show was asking the question. So, I was still right, and my friends were all still wrong, but the TV was right as well. Gotta give credit where credit is due.
4 comments:
Dude, some of my coworkers were just telling me about that show today.
I was done with the right answer for Dewey decimal too. We are geniuses.
I would have never known that the Dewey decimal system was applied to fiction too but I never gave it a thought until I read this post ;p
Maybe it's just because my mum used to be a librarian, but why WOULDN'T fiction have a place in the Dewey Decimal System? Or maybe I'm reading your post wrong.
All the major categories, History, Biography, etc. have numbers...FICT is just as much of a category as HIST or BIO...
Because you're your Dad's daughter....
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