Over the last coupe of weeks I have been enjoying a rousing game of Nazi Word Association.
What is Nazi Word Association?
It is a game I made up – based on the game Word Association. I made that one up too – many years ago – although I understand that others play similar games.
When you grow up an only child – which I did – you have to find ways to entertain yourself. I invented the game Word Association to help fill those lonely hours. The game can be played alone, or with others. Alcohol can make it more entertaining.
Here is how it works. Choose any two things – preferably things that are very different from each other. Then, using a process of word association, find a link between them.
For example, let’s find a link between the song “Suzie Q” and the “Queen Elizabeth.” Here goes:
Suzie Q
1) Creedence Clearwater Revival (band that covered Suzie Q)
2) Born on the Bayou (another song by Creedence)
3) Louisiana (bayou is a major geographical feature of Louisiana)
4) Deepwater Horizon (oil rig off the coast of Louisiana)
5) British Petroleum (company that leases Deepwater Horizon)
6) Great Britain (home country for British Petroleum)
7) Queen Elizabeth (Queen of Great Britain)
I am sure that there are faster ways to get from Suzie Q to Queen Elizabeth – there are many possible paths and some paths probably have fewer links. In my version of the game, however, I value pathways including unusual or creative connections. Convoluted pathways with interesting associations are preferred over short pathways with mundane associations.
So – that is Word Association – but what pray tell is Nazi Word Association?
Essentially, it is the same game – except the goal is to take any random thing and find a pathway back to Nazi or Hitler. This variation of the game was inspired in a conversation with Fakename2 over on my Paris Hilton thread – a thread in which she managed to bring up Nazis and Godwin’s Law. It set me to thinking – what is the maximum number of links required to connect any word or thing back to Nazi?
I don’t have an exact answer – but I am convinced it is in the range of “not very many.”
Believe me, I have had quite a bit of time to study the issue over the past 10 days. During that time I drove my family to Florida and back (about 18 hours each way) and stood for many hours in roller coaster lines – so I had lots of times to play little mental games to entertain myself.
Paris Hilton was the original inspiration for the game, but she is way too easy. Germany invaded France and occupied Paris in WWII. Let’s try some others instead.
How about Miley Cyrus and Nazi? Here is one possible path:
Miley Cyrus
1) Hannah Montana (character played by Cyrus)
2) Hannah Arndt (author, sharing a first name with Hannah Montana)
3) Adolph Eichmann (subject of a famous book by Arndt)
4) Nazi
Four links – including one that I would label interesting (Hannah M. to Hannah A). Not bad. We could even skip the Eichmann link since Arndt wrote many books about Nazis.
Here is a favorite: Let’s try George W. Bush to Nazi. I realize some readers will want to make the jump in one link – but I am not going to allow that. Let’s also try for a pathway with some fun links rather than just looking for the shortest path. Here is one pathway (the point system will be discussed below):
George W. Bush
1) Bush league (shared name AND a description of the Bush administration – 1 point)
2) Baseball (game from which the term “Bush League” originally arose – 2 points)
3) Baseball Bat (item used in the game of baseball – 2 points)
4) Ash (a type of wood used to make baseball bats – 2 points)
5) Hickory (another type of wood – 2 points)
6) Old Hickory (shared word – nickname of Andrew Jackson – 1 point)
7) Andrew Jackson (President and general with the nickname “Old Hickory” – 2 points)
8 ) War of 1812 (War in which Jackson was a general – 2 points)
9) 1812 Overture (classical music – though not referring to the war of 1812 – 1 point)
10) Tchaikovsky (Russian composer of the 1812 overture – 2 points)
11) Shostakovich (another Russian Composer – 2 points)
12) Shostakovich Symphony #7 (obviously composed by Shostakovich – 2 points)
13) Nazi (The Nazi invasion of Russia is the theme of the 7th symphony – 0 points)
Yeah – there are many shorter pathways available. For example, we could skip directly from Bush to Jackson based on their status as former Presidents – but doing so would have skipped some fun links. Likewise, we could have gone from 1812 Overture to Napoleon to Hitler based on their shared status as would-be world conquerors and failed invaders of Russia – but again that skips some creative stuff.
I have tried hard to come up with some type of scoring system for all of this. If we just go with the shortest pathway that would be easy – but I prefer longer pathways with creative and interesting links. Here is one possible scoring system:
Mundane link: 2 points
Moderately creative link: 1 point
Wacko creative link: 0 points
To get a final score, simply add up the point values and divide by the number of links – with the lowest score being the best. Obviously, the scoring system is entirely subjective – but hey – it’s my game!
The score for the above Bush to Nazi pathway is 1.61. It shouldn’t be hard to beat. Go for it.
Let’s do one more example. In the interests of political fairness, let’s do Barak Obama to Nazi.
Barak Obama
1) Kenya (country where some claim Obama was born – 2 points)
2) South Africa (another country in Africa – 2 points)
3) Desmond Tutu (South African political figure – 1 point)
4) Bishop (position Tutu held in the church – 2 points)
5) Chess (game featuring a bishop as a playing piece – 2 points)
6) The Seventh Seal (movie in which chess is an important plot element – 0 points)
7) Ingmar Bergman (Swedish director of the movie – 2 points)
8 ) Ingrid Bergman (Swedish actress with curiously similar name – 2 points)
9) Casablanca (film in which Ingrid Bergman starred – 2 points)
10) Nazi (Nazis are integral to the plot in Casablanca – 1 point)
Final score: 1.6
I suspect that will be easy to beat – go for it.
Again, there are lots of shorter paths available. For example, we could have jumped directly from Obama to Tutu based on both being winners of the Nobel Prize. Or, could have gone from Kenya to Morocco to Casablanca and been done with it – but that wouldn’t have been as much fun – at least to me.
For those of you looking for a deeper political message in this post, there isn’t one. It is merely the product of having too much “thinking time” on my hands.
But, do play along and enjoy the game.
Here is a challenge to get the ball rolling:
William Shakespeare to Nazi
I can do it in 3 links. Have fun!
The Hippie Professor 