Any WAI entry that refers to actual place of birth is fine with me. If they were born in Glasgow, then I'm thinking Scotland, despite anyone else's politics, personal or historical definitions of boundaries, or where that person actually lived for the majority of their life.

I (naively) think that someday, if humans hope to survive as a race, countries won't matter at all.

The day will come when we all bow down to Zardoz!

It's one thing to add the place of birth but not to assign nationality because of it. I refuse to say that Kipling was Indian no matter where he was born. Nor will I say that my sister is Maltese because of where my parents were stationed at the time of her birth or that her youngest children are Kenyan. Place of birth doesn't necessarily determine nationality.

Anyway, a night's sleep has removed (some of) my tetchiness on the subject but like Pyonir I would like some consistency.

lol Flopsy, I wasn't aware I had disagreed with you.

No, well, maybe you didn't.

When the Duke of Wellington was referred to Irish, because he was born in Dublin, he allegedly replied that being born in a stable would not make him a horse.

If you start looking at place of birth the along with Kipling, Sir Cliff Richard, Spike Milligan, George Orwell and Vivien Leigh become Indian. Doc Neeson, Angus Young, John Paul Young, Jimmy Barnes, Naomi Watts and numerous other Aussie actors and musos become English. Nicole Kidman becomes American. Russell Crowe is both a Kiwi (by birth) and an Aussie (by naturalisation) and proudly so. Hugo Weaving is Nigerian. Keanu Reeves is Lebanese. Argh! It's all too confusing now! I'll bow out of this discussion

I'm not sure what I'm talking about now either Tizzabelle : )

Anyhoo, if the clue reads something along the lines of:

Indian-born British author, known for "Kim" and "Just So Stories"
are we wanting to remove the "born in India" part? I would think it 'more' correct (if there is such a thing lol) than leaving it out entirely.

And LOL at Dippo, I'd say that Duke was a bit of a snob ~
Besides, I didn't mean, in this particular case for instance, that "Irish-born" should be the ONLY clue as to who the person is when it is obvious they didn't "become famous" there. And yes I DO agree with the other posters that in cases like that, they should all be treated similarly in their presentation.

I have to say that I've been seeing much fewer of them in recent games, as opposed to when I first joined. I presume that's due to JMelston's good work on responding in here.

Also on the issue of consistency, I got this one in my set today:

"Sir John Paul Getty KBE"

Apologies for my colonial ignorance if I misstate anything, but my understanding is that "KBE" stands for "Knight of the British Empire", which is only one chivalric order into which an individual may be inducted. I have never seen a reference to the particular order of any other knighted individual in WMI. I don't mean to imply that the inclusion of "KBE" has any effect on the correctness of the answer, but if this designation is included for one answer, it should be included for all.

The thing is, not everyone who has "Sir" before their name is also entitled to the postnominal letters "KBE" (Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire). They could be a baronet, a knight bachelor, a KCMG or KCVO, amongst others. Some might even be "KCMG, KBE". While it would be good to aim for consistency it might be a bit much to ask JMelston to go through them all and research their correct postnominals, some of which might be lengthy.

That's sort of my point -- why should certain individuals be listed with complete postnomials and not others? I know that, to a certain extent, the database is cobbled together from a variety of sources, and that JMelston has done an excellent job in making the database more uniform. That's why inconsistencies like this stand out.

Edward Teller
Your answer: American nuclear physicist; 'Father of the H-bomb'

Teller was born, raised, educated and began scientific research in Hungary.
From Wikipedia:
Born January 15, 1908(1908-01-15) Budapest, Hungary (Austria-Hungary)

He moved to the USA in 1935 (Age: 27) then became a naturalized citizen of the USA in 1941 (Age: 33)

One of the greatest scientific minds of the 20th century can best be called Hungarian-American.

10. Austrian-Irish physicist; famous for his 'Cat'
Your answer: Erwin Schrodinger

His surname should read "Schrödinger" or as a substitute for the umlaut, "Schroedinger".

And here's another one that will go stale in a while.

British royalty; current head of the UK & Commonwealth
Your answer: Elizabeth II

Long may she reign.

William Quantrill
Your answer: Confederate guerrilla leader; killed 1865

Just Confederate? CSA (Confederated States of America) might be used. or better yet;
American Confederate Raider; disputed death 1865

Also, the word "guerrilla" is a modern one used for civil uprisings that are not recognized as all-out civil wars. I've never seen it used to talk about the US Civil War. Not that it can't be, but it is a strange rendering to my eyes.

I've heard it used in that context, and "guerrilla" is only modern if you consider the Peninsular War vs Napoleon's forces modern. That is when the Shorter Oxford Dictionary says it came to be used in both French and English meaning "an irregular war carried out by small bodies of men acting independently". First use for that meaning is given as 1809, and I think it describes Quantrill's operations perfectly.

I suggested Raider for two reasons: 1) it's shorter and I was asking for a lengthening in other parts of the bio; 2) His company was called Quantrill's Raiders.

I think Raider is a good choice - he was in many senses a guerrilla and that's not inaccurate, but as mehaul says, they called themselves Quantrill's Raiders, so that might be best. They certainly did not operate as regular troops, and I wouldn't argue with "guerrilla', either.

Pirates, Guerrillas, Rangers, Snipers, Buccaneers, Plunderers, Commandoes, Raiders...

JMElston, what term is used for Francis Marion, the Swamp Fox,'s men? Belay that request. Here's the applicable exerpts from Wiki:
Due to his irregular methods of warfare, he is considered one of the fathers of modern guerrilla warfare, and is credited in the lineage of the United States Army Rangers. He is known as the Swamp Fox...
Marion showed himself to be a singularly able leader of irregular militiamen. Unlike the Continental troops, Marion's Men, as they were known, served without pay, supplied their own horses, arms and often their food.

Yet another contemporary USA militia outfit, Jayhawkers. From Wiki:
Jayhawkers is a term that came to prominence just before the American Civil War in Bleeding Kansas, where it was adopted by militant bands affiliated with the free-state cause. These bands, known as "Jayhawkers", were guerrilla fighters who often clashed with pro-slavery "Border Ruffians". After the Civil War, the word "Jayhawker" became synonymous with the people of Kansas. Today the term is a nickname for a native-born Kansan.

From the Quantrill's Raiders Wiki entry:
Quantrill's Raiders were a loosely organized force of pro-Confederate Partisan rangers, "bushwhackers", who fought in the American Civil War under the leadership of William Clarke Quantrill. The name "Quantrill's Raiders" seems to have been attached to them long after the war, when the veterans would hold reunions.

Border Ruffians? Ah, bushwhackers! Sounds too Australian to me. Irregular militia men is more about their background than activities. Rangers is a term more from the Union side. Raiders is good, implies a group while guerrilla tends to imply one, two or three man units.

Erich Korngold came up again in my WAI yesterday. I am always surprised to see him tagged simply as American. He was a well-established and prolific composer and arranger long before he first came to the US in his late 30s. He later became an American citizen.

Okay, could be a valid point. Perhaps we should do away with the nationality thing altogether and just focus on the achievement/notoriety aspect in the description? It would certainly make it more of a knowledge-based challenge that way rather than having guesses based merely on a surname that might be typical of a certain area of the world lol

Then again, were there any other composers listed amongst the choices? If not, then the nationality issue is moot.

Noooo - don't take away the references to nationalities - that is often the only way of working out which of these totally unfamiliar names could possibly be from that country. The descriptions of achievements are so brief and generic that they pretty much all sound the same author, actor, musician, etc. My scores would plummet, and I don't do that well as it is.

I wouldn't want the nationalities removed. There have been many entries where it has posed a problem, but something is usually worked out. In this case "Austro-Hungarian born American composer" sounds wordy, but in my opinion would suffice.

I think if we were to do away with the nationalities, the choices for each question would become repeated. As far as I know, the wrong answers for each question in this game are randomly generated, and with the nationalities removed you would probably end up with more than one 'composer' answer, with no way to distinguish which one is the real one.

And another one that is already stale.

"15. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo
Your answer: Filipino female professor of economics; politician; current President".

The words "current President" should be replaced with "President from 2001 until 2010".

15. Irish 19th century woman; past life of Colorado housewife Virginia Tighe
Your answer: Bridey Murphy

Bridey Murphy = (Irish 19th century woman; past life of Colorado housewife Virginia Tighe)

Can't say that I like the answer's wording on two counts. Firstly, it suggests that Bridey Murphy was a real person but no such person has ever been identified. Secondly, most experts are agreed that, even if past lives really do exist, Tighe's 'recollections' are more likely to be derived from childhood memories rather than from someone else's previous existence.

Ferdinand von Muller
Your answer: German-Australian physician; geographer; botanist

Isn't his name spelled "Mueller"?

Buddy1, yes. I figure someone has written it in as Müller, and the umlaut was not recognized, or they neglected to put it in ignorantly. It should be changed.