The Volokh Conspiracy
[Puzzleblogger Kevan Choset, March 17, 2006 at 11:03am] Trackbacks
People In Common:

What do these people have in common (besides their names starting with the letter 'J')?

  • J.R. Ewing, Jon Stewart, Julia Duffy, James Buchanan.

SteveK (www):
They all become someone else if their first name is replaced with "Patrick".
3.17.2006 11:28am
legemterre (mail):
Born on St. Pats?
3.17.2006 11:28am
legemterre (mail):
Oh yes, SteveK's makes sense. At least they've all been in my kitchen, via television of course.
3.17.2006 11:29am
BobH (mail):
All bald as billiard balls (except Ewing, Duffy, and Buchanan all wore wigs to hide the fact).
3.17.2006 11:54am
John Armstrong (mail):
Bob: Jon Stewart is bald, but doesn't wear a wig to hide it? Funny, but that looks like hair on The Daily Show.
3.17.2006 12:07pm
Mike BUSL07 (mail):
Didn't Patrick Duffy play J.R. Ewing... and Does Patrick Ewing have some connection to.... ________ ? Hmmm... Yeah, I suck at puzzles.
3.17.2006 12:15pm
MarkW (mail):
Didn't Patrick Duffy play J.R. Ewing

I believe he played Bobby Ewing.
3.17.2006 12:20pm
Dave Friedman (mail) (www):
They're all people I had never heard of, until the Oscars came around, at which point I had heard of Jon Stewart.
3.17.2006 12:45pm
Walk It:
I believe he played Bobby Ewing.

Married to Pamela Ewing, played by the estimable Victorial Principal.

Incidentally, Patrick Duffy named his son, Padriac.
3.17.2006 12:46pm
Joshua (www):
Their first names all start with J.

Oh, and none of them have ever been in my kitchen either.
3.17.2006 1:14pm
JohnEMack (mail):
Joshua has it right. Any given set of objects has an infinite number of things in common. So questions like Puzzlebloggers must rely on the subjective deterimination of what the most interesting or clever thing the objects have in common. All of which is a better argument against the SAT's than discrimination.
3.17.2006 4:06pm
Normie:
fathers named Patrick
3.17.2006 6:29pm
JLR (mail) (www):
I think SteveK was right from the get go -- replace their first names with Patrick, and you get another famous person.

More specifically:

(1) J.R. Ewing --> Patrick Ewing (former NY Knicks center)

(2) Jon Stewart --> Patrick Stewart (actor)

(3) Julia Duffy --> Patrick Duffy (actor)

(4) James Buchanan --> Patrick Buchanan (politician and commentator)

For what it's worth, three of the four original names are not the people's real/original names.

(1) J.R. Ewing's "real name" is John Ross Ewing Jr. (Plus, he's a fictional character played by Larry Hagman.)

(2) Jon Stewart's birth name is Jonathan Stewart Liebowitz.

(3) Julia Duffy's birth name is Julia Hinds.

President James Buchanan's real name is, in fact, James Buchanan.

BUT....

If Mr. Choset had chosen Woodrow Wilson instead of James Buchanan, then the second dimension of "not the people's real/original names" would be complete.

Woodrow Wilson --> Patrick Wilson (Broadway/film/TV actor)

President Woodrow Wilson's birth name was Thomas Woodrow Wilson.
3.17.2006 6:37pm
Mary Katherine Day-Petrano (mail):
JLR, what are you a trivia buff? How do you just know all of that? A very interesting theory, but on the other hand perhaps the trick is in its simplicity. Something like they all come from Texas, or they are all Republicans. The hardest trick of all, is one that is overly simple.
3.17.2006 10:23pm
JLR (mail) (www):
Ms. Day-Petrano,

I guess you could call me a trivia buff, yes. I prefer to think of myself as a repository of useless information.

Plus, Friday was St. Patrick's Day. So I figure the trivia question is in some way connected to St. Patrick's Day. (Hence, my theory that the name "Patrick" is a key to the answer.)
3.18.2006 10:01am

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