I do have to say that I was totally stymied about what possibly could have caused “pontoon” to show up in Google Hot Trends all of a sudden. Summer’s coming, I guess. People need something to float around on and drink beer, blissfully ignoring every maritime rule. But why now? It was an Everyone But You Mystery. However, Google Trends also provides a handy list of related searches for all its hot list items. Typically, they are no help whatsoever, but today, it solved the mystery.

The trick today was figuring out the connection between pontoon and the Bayeux Tapestry. Simple, right? Everyone knows the connection of a 1000 year old embroidered piece of art and a floating party barge. Don’t they?

In the past, many of the hot terms have been related to things that show up on TV that day. The Today Show sparks at least one new, hot term each day. That show called something like  “You Can’t Sing and Don’t Know the Words and We’ll Mock You” also puts things (song names) into Hot Trends. American Idol puts terms in there too. It seems that many people have to see the lyrics of the songs the contestants sing on the show for some reason. As if hearing roughly the same sounding song over and over again isn’t exciting enough. Go figure.

In our case today, a TV show is responsible for the appearance of “Pontoon.” If not for this blog post, I never would have figured it out. This blog has a running commentary of all the “action” of the daytime version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. Today, Vic Ruben faced this question:

Pontoon is the British version of what American card game?

A: Gin rummy
B: Solitaire
C: Blackjack
D: Poker

After using all of his lifelines and 50:50s and pull-a-guess-from-thin-air and guess the host’s expression and whatever else they give you to make it easy for you to win $25k, he went with Blackjack (C…Final answer!) and was right.

He stopped at that point so that he didn’t lose any more but to torture him, they showed the question he would have gotten:

Over 200 feet long, the Bayeux tapestry is a famous work of art adorned with images depicting what?

A: The reign of Louis XIV
B: The Stations of the Cross
C: The storming of the Bastille
D: The Norman Conquest

He didn’t know the answer, so I guess that makes him smart for stopping (it’s D). Good for you, Vic.

Heidi Zimmerman was next and I couldn’t resist putting  her question here since she got it wrong. She’s out at the $500 mark. That’s bad for those that have never seen the show. It’s like getting “cat” wrong in the warm up round of a spelling bee. Her question:

On a football field, the 50-yard line is located how many feet from either team’s goal line?

A: 50
B: 100
C: 150
D: 300

She guessed A, and if she paid attention, and/or knew anything about football, would have picked C.

Two questions at the end of all this. First, why is there a blog dedicated to posting a transcript of this show that no one is watching during the day? I know people tell me that my blog is a waste of time (actually they don’t, everyone loves it, naturally), but what about this? Is it possible that the Internet can reach capacity? If so, here’s a place to start trimming the fat. Second question, why are people searching for “pontoon?” Do they not trust the producers of the show? Or, are they all sitting around hoping that Vic will call them and they just want to have the answer ready? Either way, sounds like there are a lot more people in front of me in line to get a life as they say…which is good.

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Posted on May 1st, 2008 by Jonathan - Everyone But You
Filed under: A Little Bit of Everything, Mystery, Television