tHis iS mY bLog

Wednesday, August 01, 2007 Y

this is a game of passing message.. a simple game that everyone plays in their younger days..

Pass It Down is a game in which each successive participant secretly whispers to the next a phrase or sentence whispered to them by the preceding participant.

Cumulative errors from mishearing often result in the sentence heard by the last player differing greatly and amusingly from the one uttered by the first.

It is most often played by children as a party game or in the playground. It is often invoked as a metaphor for cumulative error, especially the inaccuracies of rumours..

How to play?

As many players as possible line up such that they can whisper to their immediate neighbours but not hear any players further away. The player at the beginning of the line thinks of a phrase, and whispers it as quietly as possible to her/his neighbour.

The neighbour then passes on the message to the next player to the best of his or her ability. The passing continues in this fashion until it reaches the player at the end of the line, who calls out the message he or she received.

If the game has been 'successful', the final message will bear little or no resemblance to the original, because of the cumulative effect of mistakes along the line.

Deliberately changing the phrase is often considered cheating, but if the starting phrase is poorly chosen, there may be disappointingly little natural change.

The game has no winner: the entertainment comes from comparing the original and final messages. Intermediate messages may also be compared; some messages will be unrecognizable after only a few steps

As well as providing amusement, the game can have educational value. It shows how easily information can become corrupted by indirect communication. The game has been used in schools to simulate the spread of gossip and its harmful effects

In the final chapter of the fourth book of the Clue book series Mystery at the Masked Ball, "Mr. Boddy Passes On,"

Mr. Boddy and the guests (excluding Mrs. White), play an odd game of telephone around the dinner table, starting when Mr. Green whispers to an identified guest, "Wouldn't Mr. Boddy really be mad if we all left and went into town? Pass it on!" It goes around the table:

Unidentified Guest:(to Mrs. Peacock) Wouldn't Mr. Boddy really be glad if we all jumped up and down? Pass it on!

Mrs. Peacock:(to Mr. Boddy) Wouldn't you really be glad if we all rolled about on the ground?

Mr. Boddy:(to undentified female guest) I'm still sad because I sold my old hound.

Unidentified Female Guest: (to Professor Plum) Mr. Boddy's still sad because someone stole his old hound.

Professor Plum:(to Mr. Green) Mr. Boddy's afraid someone's going to steal his gold clown.

Mr. Green: (to unidentified guest) Mr. Boddy's afraid someone's going to steal his solid gold crown.

This is smth to be learnt...

when someone tells you A-Z using this tone, he/she might left out A-H, and tells you I-Z.. or even worse.. tells you A-D in another tone, den missed out E-L, and cont to tell you M-Z with P and Y missing..

10:07 PM -
hearts