Crazy - The New Normal Trivia Quiz

Answer: delirious

Delirious can be defined as affected with delirium. Delirium can be defined as a more or less temporary disorder of the mental faculties, as in fevers (dictionary.com).

Fever reminds me of Dr. Johnny Fever from the TV show "WKRP in Cincinnati". In episode 22 of season 2 Johnny was explaining his criminal background to Mr. Carlson.

Mr. Carlson: "A record? Have you got a record?"

Johnny: "No. ... Not in this country. It was nothing! It was a ... minor misunderstanding one night with 145 Mexican cops. I thought they were soldiers. I said, 'Show me some badges.' The guy said, 'Badges? Ah, we don't need no stinking badges!'"

And this was of course an homage to the 1948 movie classic "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre" starring Humphrey Bogart and the 1974 Mel Brooks classic "Blazing Saddles".

I think all these cross references are making me delirious.

Answer: idoliser

Idoliser means someone who idolises. Idolise means to regard with blind devotion.

In the classic 1948 movie "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre", Humphrey Bogart's character Dobbs is obsessed with gold to the point of idolization, making him an idoliser. At one point in the movie he asks some Mexican bandits: "If you're the police where are your badges?"

To which one replies: "Badges? We ain't got no badges. We don't need no badges! I don't have to show you any stinkin' badges!"

This is the second time in a movie that dialogue along these lines was used, the first being in the 1927 version of the movie. The 1948 Bogart version is the one that has been most often misquoted, most notably in "Blazing Saddles" (1974) when the line was paraphrased along the lines of my introduction. Hedley Lamarr says to the chief Mexican Bandit: "Be ready to attack Rock Ridge at noon tomorrow. Here's your badge."

To which the bandit replies: "Badges? We don't need no stinking badges!"

Seems to be a theme forming here or maybe not, remember we have entered into a realm of dementedness.

Answer: soldier

One of my favorite movies is the 2002 Mel Gibson movie "We Were Soldiers". It tells the true story of Lieutenant General (Ret.) Hal Moore's experiences as commander of the US 7th Cavalry during the Battle of Ia Drang in Vietnam in November 1965. He was a colonel at the time and the legacy of Custer's Last Stand hung heavy on him and his troops as they fought a desperate battle after being ambushed. Historian and philosopher Edmund Burke said, "Those who don't know history are destined to repeat it." Perhaps Moore knew this because his command was not wiped out and he won a tactical victory. The question remains though, did the US military learn the correct lessons from this battle or did they forget what Sun Tzu wrote long ago in "The Art of War"? History says they learned the wrong lessons and ignored Sun Tzu's advice.

Well that certainly seemed like a non sequitur from the previous interesting information. Only seems fitting in a world gone crazy doesn't it?

Answer: oilers

The Edmonton Oilers were an unstoppable force during the last half of the 1980s when Gretkzy and company ruled the ice. They won four Stanley Cups - 1984, 1985, 1987, 1988 and then a fifth in 1990 after Gretzky had been traded to the Los Angeles Kings. But it did not start out so great. In 1983, they were swept in the finals by the New York Islanders. I guess the philosophy, "whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger" applied to them.

Okay now we are way out in left field. From badges to soldiers to hockey. Not sure about you but I am feeling a little lost. Can we find our way back?

Answer: roils

Roils is a homophone of royals which always reminds me of the British Royal family. A homophone is a word that sounds the same as another word even if the spelling is different. If the spelling is the same then it is a homograph or homonym, and if the spelling is different, as is the case here, then it is also called a heterograph. I hope that is all clear as mud or have I roiled things up for you?

We are cooking now. How many different places can we go in one quiz? I say we find out.

Answer: soil

A synonym for soil is dust. "Dust to Dust" is the 2012 memoir of Iraq War veteran Benjamin Busch. Busch may be better known as an actor on such shows as HBO's "The Wire" where he played Officer Anthony Colicchio or the HBO mini-series "Generation Kill" where he played Major Todd Eckloff. His memoir covers his childhood in rural New York, his entry into and training as a Marine and his two deployments to Iraq as a Marine officer. The book is more than the typical memoir and delves into some of the philosophical issues of combat and loss. According to the "New York Times Book Review": "Dust to Dust is not a typical contemporary war memoir. . . . It partakes of the pastoral strain associated with World War I trench-poets like Edmund Blunden and Edward Thomas."

Well it seems we have returned to the subject of soldiers. Just when you think you know where you are going because of where you have been you end up right back where you were before. Seems a little nuts wouldn't you say?

Answer: loris

The loris is a type of lemur. The loris is a nocturnal animal that inhabits tropical and woodland forests in India, Sri Lanka and parts of Southeast Asia. One particular loris, the slow loris, is believed to be the gatekeeper of heaven and that each person has a slow loris waiting for them when they die. This belief is chiefly held on the island of Borneo. There are many other native beliefs and superstitions that surround this animal.

Ah, there we go another totally different tangent. Isn't it interesting how going off topic can begin to feel normal, like perhaps crazy becoming the new normal? I think I am beginning to worry myself with all of this.

Answer: sailor

Sailor is a generic term that can be applied to any person who travels by boat on water, it is not just used for members of the navy. The one person you would not want to call a sailor though would be a US Marine. Although they are technically part of the US Navy they consider themselves to be their own force. It is interesting though that Marine units use US Navy Corpsmen as their medics and do not have their own medics.

Back to the military again. Seems to be a rather common theme. But when does the world seem more crazy than during times of war or in actual combat?

Answer: tailors

The word tailor always reminds me of the 1974 John Le Carré novel "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy". The book features George Smiley and is the first in the "Karla Trilogy". The other two are "The Honourable Schoolboy" (1977) and "Smiley's People" (1979). The title comes from the code names given to certain British intelligence officers, all suspected of being a Soviet mole. The names come from the English children's rhyme:
Tinker, Tailor,
Soldier, Sailor,
Rich Man, Poor Man,
Beggar Man, Thief.

No world seems more crazy to me than the world of espionage. Who can you trust? Who is fooling who? Not a world I would want to live in.

Answer: moralist

A moralist is one who enforces morality, whatever that morality may be. Normally a moralist would be one who enforces or seeks to promote a society's beliefs about right and wrong. This led to the term to being applied to censors in the past. A moralist may be driven by what society sees as right and wrong or by his own conscience.

So in a world gone mad where crazy is the new normal, would a moralist then be the one enforcing the craziness? Okay, such questions just make my head hurt.