(Des Devlin):
It's hard to overstate the effect The 47th Word Hour Bonus had on the trivia community. To say it's now team meeting shorthand for "scarily bad concept" is easy. To notice the ruling that NO credit would be given for identifying sources-- you know, the actual TRIVIA part?-- makes the package even more annoying. To question how in just the first two lines, they counted a sung "oh," "ice cream," and "V.I.P." as single words (or possibly not), shows how impossible the concept was to start with. To point out that the bonus was partly responsible for driving Phasers on Stun away mid-contest gives a clearer picture of its dark powers. To observe that it manages to include TWO Barry Manilow songs, TWO "Sesame Street" songs, and TWO Willie Nelson songs shows how even the narrowest bonus can be made even NARROWER. My team, Five Is Right Out, had an actual paperback copy of George Orwell's "1984" in our HANDS..... and STILL experienced difficulty making sure we located the 47th word.

(Toby Elliott):
Incidentally, the original concept was to take famous songs that everybody should probably know (like "The Star Spangled Banner", or even "I love Trash" or "Copacabana"), give the title and ask people to give us the 15th (or 18th, or whatever was interesting) word. Somehow, this became the literature bonus from hell. We learned a couple useful lessons. Firstly, even good initial concepts can be warped beyond use if allowed to run unchecked, and, most importantly, never allow somebody to say they'll give you the bonus on the morning of the contest. If we'd had a choice, this would never have seen the light of day.

It is the rare Hour Bonus that can produce uncontrollable tics and "survivor's guilt" in its readers. With all due remorse, and a deep foreboding of terror, we give you.........

47th Word

The following is a list of the opening lines of books, songs, and poems.

Your job is to figure out what the source of the line is, and to provide us with the 47th word of that source, be it book, song, or poem. If you come across a hyphenated word in a book or poem (such as by-product), treat it as 2 words. Contractions (won't, can't) are one word. YOU WILL NOT RECEIVE CREDIT FOR THE SOURCE WITHOUT THE CORRECT 47th WORD!! You need not even provide us with the name of the source, just the 47th word will be sufficient. GOOD LUCK!!

Now I'm the king of the swingers, oh, the jungle V.I.P.
I sit in the dusk. I am all alone. Enter a child and an ice-cream cone.
I'm lying alone with my head on the phone, thinking of you 'til it hurts
The King asked the Queen, and the Quen asked the Dairymaid
I'm your average, ordinary kind of woman
This is a story about something that happened long ago when your grandfather was a child
This is my favorite book in all the world, though I have never read it
We slept in what had once been the gymnasium
It is a sin to write this
Giddyup! Giddyup! Well, I'm a long, tall Texan
On the first part of the journey
Arrested on charges of unemployment he was sittin' in the witness stand
Once when I was six years old I saw a maginificent picture in a book
Now they're making movies in old black and white - happy endings where nobody fights
I know you, I walked with you once upon a dream
Someone must have been telling lies about Joseph K.
Cowboys ain't easy to love, and they're hard to hold
Gee but it's great to be back home
Look for the bare necessities
It was a pleasure to burn
Here is Edward Bear, coming downstairs now
I hardly suppose I know anybody who wouldn't rather be a success than a failure
It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen
The house stood on a slight rise just on the edge of the village. It stood on its own and looked out over a broad spread of West Country farmland
He came into the world in the middle of the thicket
Christmas won't be Christmas without any presents
Her name was Lola, she was a showgirl
On the road again. Just can't wait to get on the road again
I've got two eyes, one, two
The best remedy for a bruised heart is not, as so many people seem to think, repose upon a manly bosom
When wilt Thou save the people? O God of mercy, when?
Behold the way our fine-feathered friend his virtue doth parade
If you want to marry me, here's what you'll have to do
I love trash
To all the girls I've loved before
When I was very young and the urge to be someplace else was on me, I was assured by mature people that maturity would cure this urge
They didn't say anything about this in the books, I thought
The drought had now lasted for ten million years, and the reign of the terrible lizards had long since ended
It was morning, and the new sun sparkled gold across the ripples of a gentle sea
The Night Max wore his wolf suit
Marriages. Wimsey-Vane.
I've been alive forever, and I wrote the very first song
There once was a velveteen rabbit, and in the beginning he was really splendid
Lorsque j'avais six ans j'as vu, une fois, une magnifique image
The telephone bell was ringing wildly, but without result, since there was no one in the room but the corpse
London. Michaelmas Term lately over, and the Lord Chancellor sitting in Lincoln Inn Hall
Under certain circumstances there are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea