What's Your Hobby?
| No. of Players: | 2+ |
| Type of Game: | spoken |
| What you need: | nothing |
Goal
To think of a phrase based on a person's initials.
How to play
The gamemaster makes a list of celebrity or historical names and uses it to question each player in turn using the following format: 'What's your hobby, ___ ___ ?' Players must think of a phrase that begins with the initials of the name used. So if the name is 'George Washington,' the response could be 'Grinding Watermelons' or 'Greeting Witches.' A player who cannot think of a suitable phrase in, say, five seconds, is out of the game. The last player left is the winner and becomes the gamemaster for the next game. Alternatively, players sit in a circle and question the player to their right; again, failing to respond quickly ejects a player from the game and the last player left is the winner.
Example
The four players agree on a maximum five second response time.
| Alaina: | What's your hobby, Henny Youngman? |
| Benny: | Heating Yolks. What's your hobby, Charles Dickens? |
| Charlee: | Cooking Dogs. What's your hobby, Big Bird? |
| Daniella: | Breeding Bees. What's your hobby, John F. Kennedy? |
| Alaina: | Jiggling Fleas Knees. What's your hobby, Madonna? |
| Benny: | Metallurgy. What's your hobby, G. W. F. Hegel? |
| Charlee: | Going With... um... Grabbing White Fungi... um... |
| Everyone: | Time's up, you're out! |
| Daniella: | Growing White Fungi Habitat. What's your hobby, George Clooney? |
| Alaina: | Greasing Cogs. What's your hobby, Slim Pickens? |
| Benny: | Saddling Ponies. |
And so on.
Did you know?
Meet Hubert Blaine Wolfeschlegelsteinhausenbergerdorff of Philadelphia, PA. Long name, but at least he has the typical number of initials to shorten his name, right? Nope! Because that's actually his abbreviated name! His full name reads as:
Adolph Blaine Charles David Earl Frederick Gerald Hubert Irvin John Kenneth Lloyd Martin Nero Oliver Paul Quincy Randolph Sherman Thomas Uncas Victor William Xerxes Yancy Zeus
Wolfeschlegelsteinhausenbergerdorffwelchevoralternwarengewissenhaftschaferswessenschafewarenwohlgepflegeundsorgfaltigkeitbeschutzenvonangreifendurchihrraubgierigfeindewelchevoralternzwolftausendjahresvorandieerscheinenvanderersteerdemenschderraumschiffgebrauchlichtalsseinursprungvonkraftgestartseinlangefahrthinzwischensternartigraumaufdersuchenachdiesternwelchegehabtbewohnbarplanetenkreisedrehensichundwohinderneurassevonverstandigmenschlichkeitkonntefortpflanzenundsicherfreuenanlebenslanglichfreudeundruhemitnichteinfurchtvorangreifenvonandererintelligentgeschopfsvonhinzwischensternartigraum.
That's right, Hubert has 27 names. But it could be worse. Because if he ever needs to initialize a document, all he needs to do is to write down every letter of the alphabet, in order, with an additional W tacked onto the end. Kinda weird, but that's what makes life so interesting!
Here's something else most people don't know. According to Guinness World Records, the shortest abbreviation is L.A. These familiar letters abbreviate the Spanish name of Los Angeles when it was originally founded as a pueblo: El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles de Porciúncula. This translates as "The Town of Our Lady the Queen of the Angels of Porziuncola." Abbreviating a 55-letter name to just 2 letters represents a reduction to just 3.64% of its original length. No doubt helpful for residents and visitors alike.
Guinness also lists the world's longest abbreviation: S.K.O.M.K.H.P.K.J.C.D.P.W.B. These are the 14 initials of the Syarikat Kerjasama Orang-orang Melayu Kerajaan Hilir Perak Kerana Jimat Cermat Dan Pinjam-meminjam Wang Berhad – which is the Malay name for the The Cooperative Company of the Lower State of Perak Governments Malay People for Money Savings and Loans Ltd. of West Malaysia.
Some place names are so long that they virtually beg for a shorter alternative. Take Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu. This is a hill located in New Zealand, and most of the locals shorten this mouthful to simply Taumata. This 85-letter word translates from the Māori language to "The summit where Tamatea, the man with the big knees, the slider, the climber of mountains, the land-swallower who travelled about, played his flute to his loved one." Fun fact: tennis player Martina Navratilova learned to pronounce this record-breaking word when she was 10 years old, which she actually put to use when she visited New Zealand many years later.
The longest one-word place name in Europe belongs to a large village on the Isle of Anglesey, Wales, UK. It's more popularly known in its abbreviated form as Llanfair PG. But visitors can see many signs (very long ones!) that hold the full name of Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch. Translating from the Welsh language, this word means "St. Mary's Church in the Hollow of White Hazel near the Rapid Whirlpool of the Church of St. Tysilio of the Red Cave."
