Hospis Hunt 2008—What And Where?

A common feature in treasure hunt questions is "What and where?" But for some strange reasons, I hardly ever use that feature in my hunt questions. It's not only because I don't see the need to use it, but also because I'm convinced that most people will have a tough time answering the question.

For some time now, I've realised the strange tendency of people, in general, not to give a direct answer when required to do so. They almost automatically give indirect answers. Many fresh university graduates have that tendency; and most women are like that too.

Here are some of the examples:

Q) Have you ironed my clothes?
A) The iron is still hot.

Q) How far is Likas from KK?
A) It takes 10 minutes to reach Likas from KK.

Q) Have you had dinner?
A) I'm still full.

It is almost a curse that many, many people don't really know how to give direct answers. Just tell me if you have ironed my clothes—yes or no. I didn't ask if the iron's still hot. Just tell me how far is it—5km, for example. I didn't ask how long would it take to reach Likas. Just tell me if you have eaten or not—a simple yes or no would do just fine. I didn't ask if you're full or not.

When and if I ever use that "what and where?" feature in my hunt questions, I am fairly certain that many of the teams would fail to answer correctly.

Y S Khong loves to use the "what and where?" in his hunt questions. Maybe it's just his style. But I think sometimes he uses it quite unnecessarily. 9 out of 30 of his hunt questions last Saturday had a "what and where?" in them.

What and where?

A quick googling will reveal that this picture is of Isis, a goddess in Ancient Egyptian mythology. Of course this picture was nowhere to be found within the question sector. However, there was a Butik Isis there. Now the question is how should we answer the question? Believe it or not, this became quite a big thing in the car during the hunt.

Margaret was of the opinion that the answer should be written like this:

Isis @ Butik Isis

Chai thought that wasn't a very good idea; he preferred it like this:

Butik Isis

Vincent thought it didn't really matter; he felt both are equally acceptable.

Then Margaret turned to me and asked for my opinion. I didn't think very long. In my opinion, the correct way to answer the question was Isis @ Butik Isis, thus agreeing with Margaret.

But first let's listen to Chai's justification for his preferred version of the answer. He said the word "Isis" did not appear on its own, such as in an isolated logo on the signboard. Therefore, he felt that to write "Isis" on its own would amount to making up your own signboard, or something to that effect. After all, most CoCs, during the briefing, would warn the hunters "to write the answers exactly as you see them on the board—including spelling errors, if any". Therefore, Chai suggested that the answer should be written as what's seen on the signboard, i.e. Butik Isis. Upon further reflection, he suggested that we might underline the word "Isis".

Margaret wasn't satisfied, and when she asked for my opinion, my verdict was Isis @ Butik Isis. I think Butik Isis on its own does not answer the question perfectly. It answers only the "where?", but not the "what?" portion. The picture is that of the goddess Isis. Therefore to answer the "what?", in my opinion, we must answer specifically—Isis to be exact. That picture has nothing to do with "Butik", and I think it's wrong to include the word "Butik" to answer "what?".

But "where" is that word "Isis" found? It is found at Butik Isis. That's why I think the answer should be Isis @ Butik Isis, because only then will it answer both "what?" and "where?" perfectly. Chai wasn't really happy with that, but perhaps because of the power of majority vote, I noticed that Margaret wrote the answer as Isis @ Butik Isis in the end.

That night, when the CoC revealed the answer, it was given as Isis @ Butik Isis. And I must admit that it was a big relief for me, as I can't imagine what would have happened to me if our answer was rejected.

Having said that, however, I suspect that the CoC would have accepted Butik Isis anyway, thus ignoring the purpose of the "what and where?"; in which case I'd raise the question, why bother with the "what?" in the first place? If he would have accepted Butik Isis, he could have just asked "Where?", and that would've been enough for the answer Butik Isis!