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IQ Test fails “Obsequious”

So what's the meaning of the word "Obsequious' anyway?

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Last night’s National IQ Test on Channel Nine flunked out on one of its questions when it asked viewers to select the meaning of the word “Obsequious.”

Nine incorrectly gave the multiple choice answer to mean “Nasty” instead of “Submissive.”

The definition of the word according to Dictionary.com is:
1. characterized by or showing servile complaisance or deference; fawning: an obsequious bow.
2. servilely compliant or deferential: obsequious servants.
3. obedient; dutiful.

Confused viewers took to Twitter to correct Nine’s answer.

One reader also says the show misspelled “obsolete.”

59 Responses

  2. i did the test on the National IQ Test internet, assuming that they were the same questions on the television, and there was a maths question: 2+4×6.. i gave the answer 36 but it said it was wrong and that it was 26.. Wrong Channel Nine.. this was indeed an epic Fail!

  3. @Adrian (& others) – I def concur about the direction error. I commented about it last night on the preview article. I hadn’t picked up the Sudoku error as I nearly ran out of time and half-guessed “17” because the other numbers were so low.

    They also got the order of the pics for one of the spot-the-diff Q’s wrong. It was the (3rd?) one with Prince William. In the first pic he had a handkerchief in his jacket pocket but not the second. So, when one of the possibilities is given as “handkerchief” and you can’t see one in the pic, it kinda becomes obvious that it’s the difference!

    And, from the preview article: @MillerT1: “National IQ Test will definitely be at least the number 2 show tonight.” Yep, you were close. Really close.

  5. I was actually on the show last night. And you are all correct there were multiple errors.
    With the direction question, initially they showed the answer animation with the compass, which of course showed South. But their highlighted answer was incorrect. It was easier for them to cut the animation clip then to redo the graphics for the answer. Total Fail, esp when we had to re shoot that bit 3 times.
    What you guys didn’t have to put up with were the frequent computer gliches. there were atleast 6 occassions when the screen didn’t work and Eddie would read out a question and give you the answers but by the tim the screen whowed the questions time was up.

    It was a laugh to be on, but still a Fail.

  6. OK, ignoring the errors in some answers (more online than on TV), there was some blatant misinformation and pure garbage last night.
    Since when have optical illusions been an indicator of observation power? This doesn’t work at all on a TV screen, on paper you have a chance when you can overlay sections to work out the illusion, but a screen on the other side of the room it becomes pure guesswork.
    How were those number puzzles, Sudoku? They weren’t, pure and simple. They were missing number puzzles, not even normal magic squares which has the same rule as Sudoku of numbers being in the range of 1 to n2 (n-squared).
    Time for channel 9 to give up proving just how low their IQs are, we know already. If you can’t be bothered running the sample questions past a sample group first, forget it.
    What I loved most was the spelling in the 9 EPG (digital guide): “Tha National IQ Test”, that’s right, tha not the.
    Thankfully my wife and I watched this delayed and got through all of the questions in about 45 minutes and skipped most of the Eddie dribble.

  8. We tried to watch this but, after enduring the first set of memory questions that were nothing more than ads for channel 9 shows and then the Obsequious and Pretentious fiascos (yes, you can be conceited and Not pretentious), we turned off. The whole thing seemed to be one excruciating ad for ING 2.0.

  11. I’m with Adrian. The last road-turning question was definitely south, not north. They got that wrong. And I thought at the time when I did it that 12 would answer the sudoku-style question.

    Obsequious definitely does not mean nasty.

    The test was pathetic.

  12. A whole bunch of the questions were either wrong or badly written. One of the maths ones had the starting condition “Joe [or whoever] bought 18 shares for $750”, without specifying whether that was $750 each or $750 total. Depending on which you chose you would have ended up with completely different answers. Even if the professor who set the test couldn’t get all this stuff right, surely you’d think that they’d get a few people to proofread the test looking out for this sort of thing. Amazing.

  13. No-one seems to have commented on the meaning of pretentious. The dictionary definitions are:
    1. Claiming or demanding a position of distinction or merit, especially when unjustified.
    2. Making or marked by an extravagant outward show; ostentatious.

    A conceited person may be pretentious but it’s false logic to say that pretentious means conceited – many pretentious people are insecure.

  14. No one at Nine has an IQ so why are we surprised? Loved Josh Thomas’s comment on FB, if you’re wondering what your IQ is, if you’re watching the IQ TEst, you clearly don’t have one.

  15. They also got another question wrong, I think it was question 14, the last question where they were doing direction though the buildings, the view started of as north and the answer ended up as north when the correct answer should have been south….

    at the start we are facing north….
    we turn the directions of:

    Right
    Left
    Right
    Left
    Left
    Left

  22. And we’re surprised?… I’d no more expect channel 9 to be able to host a credible IQ test than I’d expect McDonalds to be able to host a garden party for the royal family.

  24. Did anyone actually expect anything resembling intelligence from Nine?

    They should be familiar enough with the word “obsolete” to spell it correctly.

  25. I also noticed that question 14 (3rd direction question) said the answer was North, and I have replayed it multiple times and keep getting South as my answer, and question 28 (3rd sudoku style question) that both A. 12 and D. 17 were correct answers, the show said 17.

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