yay I made it through to the other side ma!

Player	POG $
$709899	dc-ohio
$543655	eyebooger
$370199	425kid
$192343	pwnsall
$182699	master3004
$166399	derwipok
$125000	TheJubilantMale
$122899	TheGunslinger
$120756	Nicholasp27
$113255	Aaronk56's Son
$113255	True North
$110843	Jeremy517
$87000	marknfw
$65200	Steve Yzerman fan
$57699	Brian O'Nolan
$57699	kcaw
$57699	Montecore
$57699	TehVader
$57699	Thingyman
$55556	chuckleslovakian
$23843	FCBLComish
$23843	lilrascal
$21700	lenC
$21700	soma84
$21700	suited fours
$21700	Viggorous
$2143	aaronk56
$2143	accobra_kid
$2143	ArcticKnight
$2143	biggerboat
$2143	catfan17
$2143	D1iabol1cal
$2143	fightnwin
$2143	fnord_too
$2143	jedi
$2143	King_of_NYC
$2143	loosekanen
$2143	NeverObliviate
$2143	pmarrsouth
$2143	rtspurs
$2143	Weatherguy
$2143	Willi
$2143	xander biscuits
$0	_dave_
$0	27ninjabunnies
$0	Aicirt
$0	BenjaminAO
$0	dw2006
$0	Gamer Dude
$0	ibavly
$0	iraisetoomuch
$0	KrazyKris
$0	MFFNIke
$0	MirZolzayn
$0	Mor_Tilt4mePls
$0	Nofear3838
$0	Stork..
$0	TehBankertin
$0	toedder
$0	vruuuuk
$0	wesrwood
$0	zdye724

Our surviving mobster lottery participants:

aaronk56
ArcticKnight
Brian O'Nolan
dc-ohio
KrazyKris
NeverObliviate
pwnsall
TehVader
True North
xander biscuits

... will be joined by these three lucky losers:

Stork..
BenjaminAO
TheJubilantMale

Lottery Question: Language

Name as many of the top 100 most frequently used words in the English language as you can — see below for the exact definition I'm using. Please submit your list with one word per line. You will receive one lottery ticket for every correct submission, provided they are all correct; if you submit even one incorrect word you will receive zero tickets.

As always, the entrant with the most correct submissions will also get a 25% pre-lotto shot.

definition: The list I am using has compiled words from a variety of printed sources, and is drawn from modern sources — roughly, the past 25 years. It is a compilation of American English; British usage is slightly different, though not very much so at the top of the list.

Please list only the dictionary heading you would see if you looked a word up in a dictionary. In other words, if you think both idiot and idiots should be on the list, you would list only the singular form, idiot; on the other hand, idiotic, which is a different part of speech, would still get its own listing. Similarly, different forms of a verb don't make the list, so just submit the infinitive, so for example instead of cheat, cheats, and cheated, you would list only cheat.

You have (something like) 24 hours to submit your answers. Please don't cheat.

submitted

Impossible not to research this one!

Every post gives more info

Wonder how many times atak edited the question post

Anyone who reads this post will be banned from the drawing on grounds of unlawful research.

Pretty confident unlawful isn't in the top 100.

Lottery Question: Language

Name as many of the top 100 most frequently used words in the English language as you can.

The master list of the top 100:

the
be
and
of
a
in
to
have
to
it
I
that
for
you
he
with
on
do
say
this
they
at
but
we
his
from
that
not
n't
by
she
or
as
what
go
their
can
who
get
if
would
her
all
my
make
about
know
will
as
up
one
time
there
year
so
think
when
which
them
some
me
people
take
out
into
just
see
him
your
come
could
now
than
like
other
how
then
its
our
two
more
these
want
way
look
first
also
new
because
day
more
use
no
man
find
here
thing
give
many
well

I didn't penalize people for listing the wrong form of the word, or even multiple forms of the same word, but I counted such submissions only once. The most common example was "an", which is considered the same as "a"; the other one that appeared in entries was multiple forms of the verb to be.

wat

Results:

Player	Tickets	Pre-draw %	Lottery %	Wrong/DNS
aaronk56	10		8.26%
ArcticKnight	19		15.7%
BenjaminAO	0		0%	DNS
Brian O'Nolan	15		12.4%
dc-ohio	20		16.53%
KrazyKris	13		10.74%
NeverObliviate	0		0%	DNS
pwnsall	0		0%	DNS
Stork..	0		0%	DNS
TehVader	0		0%	Where (169)
TheJubilantMale	8		6.61%
True North	0		0%	Us (113)
xander biscuits	36	25%	29.75%

Hmm. Something odd happened when I stripped spaces out. I doubt it had an effect, but let me check.

Edit: No, actually that's how it's listed in the database I used, which is the Corpus of Contemporary American English. I assume they mean the "n't" forms of to be. Nobody listed any, so there's no effect on us.

Time for the lottery. First, the pre-draw, in which xander biscuits has a 25% shot, a shot that he

hmm, feel like i didn't get long to do that

but maybe it was a while

too busy making jokes

Question 1: Music

My sources inform me that a handegg game was featured prominently on television this weekend. As with most such games, this one featured several hours of large men standing around panting, punctuated by a minute or two total of game play. Hundreds of millions of people tuned in to watch, which doesn't seem to much sense until you realize that this annual "game" is actually the kickoff (!) of the spring television advertising season.

One of the ads that premiered during the game featured Justin Timberlake, whom I am informed (as with the game, I deny direct knowledge) is a popular singer. Timberlake appeared as a child on the revival of The Mickey Mouse Club, which you'd think would have ended any budding career right there, but in fact he went on to achieve fame with a very successful boy band, a phrase that apparently isn't a contradiction in terms.

With which of these boy bands is Justin Timberlake associated?

A. Backstreet Boys
B. The Jackson 5
C. New Kids on the Block
D. NSYNC

It was about a day and a half, which admittedly is less time than I sometimes allow. I'm trying to keep to something approximating 24 hours, or at least under 48 most of the time.

May have missed on Question 1. Not mad at all.

Dammit. I went by my memory of the commonest words Sporcle quiz I've played ~50 times. "Us" was on that list, I'm assuming this must be a newer one.

I had the exact same strat

How many would you have got right if you hadn't have incorrected?

Also yay! I'm the one

First time

I think I counted 54.

Lucky for me then

Question 1: Music

With which of these boy bands is Justin Timberlake associated?

A. Backstreet Boys

accobra_kid
fnord_too
iraisetoomuch
Nofear3838
Willi

B. The Jackson 5

C. New Kids on the Block

D. NSYNC

27ninjabunnies
425kid
aaronk56
Aaronk56's Son
Aicirt
ArcticKnight
Brian O'Nolan
chuckleslovakian
D1iabol1cal
dc-ohio
derwipok
eyebooger
fightnwin
Gamer Dude
ibavly
jedi
Jeremy517
kcaw
King_of_NYC
KrazyKris
lilrascal
loosekanen
marknfw
master3004
Montecore
Mor_Tilt4mePls
NeverObliviate
Nicholasp27
pmarrsouth
pwnsall
rtd353
rtspurs
soma84
TehVader
TheGunslinger
TheJubilantMale
Thingyman
toedder
True North
vruuuuk
Weatherguy
wesrwood

I'm tempted to say of this question "Who knew?" Except that it turns out the answer is "almost everyone". The answer is D, NSYNC, as most you should be a little ashamed to know.

xander biscuits was among those who knew their boy bands.

You submitted 55 correct answers (after removal of the duplicative "an").

Note that we have an addition to the player list; welcome, rtd353.