MetaChat - UK English question about fairground games!

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12 August 2011

UK English question about fairground games! Your Britannic Majesties,

Do you guys have whack-a-mole machines?→[More:]

And and and: would British readers know what an author meant by describing a process of trying to solve a problem as "a never-ending game of whack-a-mole"?

*curtsey*

Yankee Doodle mdonley

post by: mdonley at: 13:46 | 5 comments

I haven't been to a fair in a while, but I don't recall seeing whack-a-mole. I know what it is because I probably know more about American culture than the average Brit, so I can't really say if other people would know what it is.

posted by Senyar 12 August | 14:02

Yup, I definitely remember hitting those things.

I'm only about 60% certain they were called 'whack-a-mole's, 'cause I have an increasingly loose distinction between things I learned in real life and things I learned reading the internets.

posted by chrismear 12 August | 15:08

Across the pond they are called rap-a-vole machines.

posted by Splunge 12 August | 15:16

OK, thanks all. :)

posted by mdonley 13 August | 04:08

They're called whac-a-mole here too. They were invented in 1976, and it's a trademark. I expect Splunge is pulling your leg. Variations on the machine are called whac-an-x, where x is whatever it is you're whacking.

If you used that phrase, British readers would have no problem understanding you.

posted by nthdegx 13 August | 19:55

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