Pop Quiz

Massacred Insect
1 min readNov 7, 2018
Encounter at Farpoint — about 48 minutes in

A Chinese restaurant not too far from our place. It’s my wife’s birthday. We’re having a pop quiz.

Me: “What’s the full name of the Enterprise’s first officer?”

One boy: “Picard!”

Me: “No. Besides, that’s not his full name.”

Other boy: “William Riker.”

Me: “Correct.”

Several rounds later (the winner of the previous round becomes the quizmaster of the next).

Me: “What’s William Riker’s military rank?”

One boy: “First officer!”

Me: “No. That’s — something else.”

One boy: “What is it then?”

Other boy: “Commander!”

Me: “Correct.”

One boy: “What’s first officer then?”

Me: “Uhh…”

Many rounds later (one of the boys insists on quizzing us about Greek and Roman gods and goddesses, like I insist on quizzing them about Will Riker).

Me: “What’s the nickname given to William Riker — “

One boy: “Imzadi!”

Me: “No. You didn’t let me finish. I was going to say — by Picard?”

Other boy: “Number One!”

Me: “Correct.”

Funny thing, correctness.

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