1eyedjack Posted February 29, 2012 Report Share Posted February 29, 2012 Most of the time I find that the start of the conversation consists of an attempt to dispel the other party's stereotypical view of the profile of a normal bridge player as an aristocratic retired colonel or his wife. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S2000magic Posted February 29, 2012 Report Share Posted February 29, 2012 You missed algebraic topology, which is my favorite branch of mathematics.An algebraic topologist is a combination of the topologist and algebraic geometer - don't let them anywhere in your home, ever!Ouch! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S2000magic Posted February 29, 2012 Report Share Posted February 29, 2012 Most of the time I find that the start of the conversation consists of an attempt to dispel the other party's stereotypical view of the profile of a normal bridge player as an aristocratic retired colonel or his wife.I'd forgotten about this, but you bring up a good point. I've found that giving them examples of famous people who are (or were) bridge players helps: Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, Martina Navratilova, John Wayne, Chico Marx, Omar Sharif. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gwnn Posted February 29, 2012 Report Share Posted February 29, 2012 I usually try to explain cardplay, i.e. you need to draw inferences at various points in the play from your opps' actions, the need to reassess these inferences when new information becomes available and how experts try to mislead each other with more and more sophisticated ploys (of course, this also applies to bidding somewhat). 10% of the time it works, the rest of the time they run away. Oh well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
y66 Posted March 1, 2012 Report Share Posted March 1, 2012 Was just thinking about "the kids" vs the Blue Team* (The Bridge Bum, Chapter 1) in the context of tonight's JEC match. That was an amazing account of a once in a lifetime encounter at the bridge table and as exciting as anything I've ever read about a bridge or sports event. That story won't help anyone understand how to play bridge. But it might help them understand how people get hooked on the game. * Edit: 3 members from the Blue Team + Omar Sharif. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kenberg Posted March 3, 2012 Report Share Posted March 3, 2012 OK, a topologist is someone who thinks about things such as whether a donut is the same as a football, that's easy enough. But what does an algebraic geometer do? Or a category theorist? Fair enough. But the context was a comparison with someone asking about bridge. I am not claiming I could explain squeezes to my neighbor. Not before he walks away anyway. And a topologist is someone who doesn't know his ... from a hole in the ground. (Trust me folks, topologists find this amusing.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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