"It's a little on-the-nose."
April 4, 2023 12:23 PM Subscribe
I got 15/18. Once I knew enough to see Alexandra's personal style in the fake answers I only got tripped up twice more. Some of the true facts are astonishing.
posted by Midnight Skulker at 12:37 PM on April 4, 2023 [4 favorites]
posted by Midnight Skulker at 12:37 PM on April 4, 2023 [4 favorites]
17 of 18, and that only because the bit with Nixon yelling at the dog while plotting the Watergate break-in was so delightful I had to do my best to will it into reality, even though I kind of knew Checkers was from Nixon's earlier years.
posted by Naberius at 12:40 PM on April 4, 2023 [10 favorites]
posted by Naberius at 12:40 PM on April 4, 2023 [10 favorites]
14/18. I got one wrong because I thought the person in question had another name (apparently she was one of many) and one because I thought it was literally drawn from a work of art about the event in question (forgetting that if it was fake, Petri would have been the one who wrote it). The other two, well, I have no excuse.
posted by dlugoczaj at 12:55 PM on April 4, 2023
posted by dlugoczaj at 12:55 PM on April 4, 2023
15/18. I have no excuse except that I am not American, and I can imagine Americans doing the weirdest things at all ages.
Good post!
posted by mumimor at 1:02 PM on April 4, 2023 [2 favorites]
Good post!
posted by mumimor at 1:02 PM on April 4, 2023 [2 favorites]
I missed one, which, if our timeline wasn’t terrible, would be real.
I do take exception to “Nothing ate Herbert Hoover,” as anaerobic bacteria did, if nothing else.
posted by GenjiandProust at 1:10 PM on April 4, 2023 [2 favorites]
I do take exception to “Nothing ate Herbert Hoover,” as anaerobic bacteria did, if nothing else.
posted by GenjiandProust at 1:10 PM on April 4, 2023 [2 favorites]
17/18 and only missed the one about Gore Vidal and William F. Buckley which I *knew* was fake but wanted so badly to be true that I voted for it in hopes of triggering a space/time wormhole and changing history.
posted by martin q blank at 1:12 PM on April 4, 2023 [9 favorites]
posted by martin q blank at 1:12 PM on April 4, 2023 [9 favorites]
17/18 because I let myself get faked out. Ah, welp.
posted by Quasirandom at 1:12 PM on April 4, 2023
posted by Quasirandom at 1:12 PM on April 4, 2023
16/18 - I missed the first two and then caught on that this was more of a humor piece than an actual quiz, so if anything seemed anachronistic and/or jokey, it was probably fake.
posted by wanderingmind at 1:15 PM on April 4, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by wanderingmind at 1:15 PM on April 4, 2023 [1 favorite]
From instructions to subjects of wartime photographs, 1862
Half of you should be looking past the camera to the right and the other half of you should be looking past the camera to the left and just one gentleman in the middle should be making intense, dead-eyed eye contact with the camera. … Look sad. No, sadder. No. Look at the camera, but look as though your soul is departing your body as the photograph is being taken. Say, “Everyone I love will soon be dead!” but don’t say it with your mouth. Say it with your eyes. … Do something weird with your hand. No, weirder. Maybe something Napoleon would do?
Of course that's fake, it's from instructions to subjects of rock band photographs, circa 1992.
posted by The Card Cheat at 1:28 PM on April 4, 2023 [6 favorites]
Half of you should be looking past the camera to the right and the other half of you should be looking past the camera to the left and just one gentleman in the middle should be making intense, dead-eyed eye contact with the camera. … Look sad. No, sadder. No. Look at the camera, but look as though your soul is departing your body as the photograph is being taken. Say, “Everyone I love will soon be dead!” but don’t say it with your mouth. Say it with your eyes. … Do something weird with your hand. No, weirder. Maybe something Napoleon would do?
Of course that's fake, it's from instructions to subjects of rock band photographs, circa 1992.
posted by The Card Cheat at 1:28 PM on April 4, 2023 [6 favorites]
Nothing ate Herbert Hoover
Voice of Producer: No. We’ve got “eaten by wolves”.posted by General Malaise at 1:28 PM on April 4, 2023 [6 favorites]
Tom Brokaw: What? Now, come on!
Voice of Producer: Just read it!
Tom Brokaw: Gerald Ford isn’t gonna be eaten by wolves!
Voice of Producer: Taft was.
Tom Brokaw: Really? Taft?
Voice of Producer: Uh.. yeah.
Tom Brokaw: Alright, alright.. [ graphic of Ford surrounded by a pair of wolves ] “Tragedy today, as former President Gerald Ford was eaten by wolves. He was delicious.” Now.. now, that’s just superfluous, you know?
Voice of Producer: It’s a former President, Tom. What do you say – he’s not delicious?
"You know the sensation you have upon biting into a cookie and discovering that there are raisins in it? Now multiply that feeling across all forms of expression!"
Truly a twisted mind
posted by solotoro at 1:31 PM on April 4, 2023 [1 favorite]
Truly a twisted mind
posted by solotoro at 1:31 PM on April 4, 2023 [1 favorite]
15/18. I don't find Petri particularly funny, perhaps because her comedic style is "a little on-the-nose."
posted by slogger at 1:41 PM on April 4, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by slogger at 1:41 PM on April 4, 2023 [1 favorite]
Hmmm...That WaPo page doesn’t seem to be able to register my voting taps on my iPad. ☹️
posted by Thorzdad at 1:51 PM on April 4, 2023
posted by Thorzdad at 1:51 PM on April 4, 2023
Nixon's speech about the moon landing is incredibly specific. Armstrong and Aldrin are alive, but trapped on the moon and Collins is not mentioned so he made it back? Or did they just have a lot of different disaster speeches?
posted by justkevin at 2:18 PM on April 4, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by justkevin at 2:18 PM on April 4, 2023 [2 favorites]
15/18. Yeah, I got tripped up by 'what about Michael Collins' and the delight that was Vidal v. Buckley. I also got wrapped up in the Bogart impression my mind was doing for Philip Marlowe so if you'll excuse me, I've got some noir to watch.
posted by ApathyGirl at 2:56 PM on April 4, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by ApathyGirl at 2:56 PM on April 4, 2023 [1 favorite]
Yeah, the Apollo 11 speech was in case the lander couldn't lift off from the lunar surface and rendezvous with the ship in orbit, which was enough of a serious concern that they had a speech ready for it. In that case, Collins would have come home alone and Armstrong and Aldrin would have been stranded on the moon waiting to run out of air.
Thankfully, that did not happen.
posted by Naberius at 3:04 PM on April 4, 2023 [3 favorites]
Thankfully, that did not happen.
posted by Naberius at 3:04 PM on April 4, 2023 [3 favorites]
The Walt Whitman one was tough.
posted by TedW at 3:29 PM on April 4, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by TedW at 3:29 PM on April 4, 2023 [1 favorite]
17/18
The Paul Revere one got me but then I'm not American.
posted by Hairy Lobster at 4:16 PM on April 4, 2023
The Paul Revere one got me but then I'm not American.
posted by Hairy Lobster at 4:16 PM on April 4, 2023
Carl Sandburg needed to calm down about Chicago.
I strenuously disagree.
posted by BrashTech at 4:33 PM on April 4, 2023 [4 favorites]
I strenuously disagree.
posted by BrashTech at 4:33 PM on April 4, 2023 [4 favorites]
16/18. Thanks for posting!
posted by UhOhChongo! at 6:16 PM on April 4, 2023
posted by UhOhChongo! at 6:16 PM on April 4, 2023
15/18, 6/9 on the first half and 9/9 after I zero'd in on her style like Midnight Skulker. Off for some Brandy and Camphor.
posted by Grumpy old geek at 6:21 PM on April 4, 2023
posted by Grumpy old geek at 6:21 PM on April 4, 2023
17/18. I argue it wasn't on the nose enough because I fell for that one hook, line, and sinker.
posted by ob1quixote at 6:23 PM on April 4, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by ob1quixote at 6:23 PM on April 4, 2023 [1 favorite]
17 of 18, and that only because the bit with Nixon yelling at the dog while plotting the Watergate break-in was so delightful I had to do my best to will it into reality, even though I kind of knew Checkers was from Nixon's earlier years.
I for one can’t believe that the very serious 1999 historical drama Dick led me so terribly astray on this point.
posted by naoko at 6:58 PM on April 4, 2023 [1 favorite]
I for one can’t believe that the very serious 1999 historical drama Dick led me so terribly astray on this point.
posted by naoko at 6:58 PM on April 4, 2023 [1 favorite]
14/18…bit iffy for an archivist, as we sometimes have to date texts by style and vocabulary when the format isn’t very forthcoming, plus be generalists when it comes to history, AND be able to do critical reading - a sort of educated guess on authenticity based on experience with a wide range of material in the absence of any provenance info . (although today my boss asked what era I thought a font - or more properly, a typeface - was, based on style (“40s, 50s, or 60s?”, which was fun.)
must read more Carl Sandburg!
posted by mollymillions at 8:35 PM on April 4, 2023
must read more Carl Sandburg!
posted by mollymillions at 8:35 PM on April 4, 2023
What was the joke about Paul Revere? That went over my head
posted by eustatic at 5:46 AM on April 5, 2023
posted by eustatic at 5:46 AM on April 5, 2023
Nixon's speech about the moon landing
To give the appropriate credit that was Safire's speech written for Nixon.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 6:15 AM on April 5, 2023 [2 favorites]
To give the appropriate credit that was Safire's speech written for Nixon.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 6:15 AM on April 5, 2023 [2 favorites]
I got 9/18 by randomly clicking on real or fake, without actually reading any of them.
posted by Chuffy at 3:39 PM on April 5, 2023
posted by Chuffy at 3:39 PM on April 5, 2023
I got 9/18 by randomly clicking on real or fake, without actually reading any of them.
you have to admit, that's a bit average.
posted by mollweide at 4:14 PM on April 5, 2023
you have to admit, that's a bit average.
posted by mollweide at 4:14 PM on April 5, 2023
Carl Sandburg needed to calm down about Chicago.
I strenuously disagree.
Spare-Ribber for the Universe.
Maker of Meat-on-a-Bone.
Home of the Pigsicle.
Give me your tired, your poor, your coleslaw.
posted by non canadian guy at 11:41 AM on April 6, 2023
I strenuously disagree.
Spare-Ribber for the Universe.
Maker of Meat-on-a-Bone.
Home of the Pigsicle.
Give me your tired, your poor, your coleslaw.
posted by non canadian guy at 11:41 AM on April 6, 2023
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posted by epj at 12:32 PM on April 4, 2023 [8 favorites]