Talk:Charades

Seeking Charades categories
im looking for the categories used in charade games —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 59.144.88.169 (talk • contribs) 10:44, 11 November 2006 (UTC)
 * See Category:Categories. There isn't a formalized list anywhere. The game can use any categories you like. — Llywelyn II   00:27, 26 September 2016 (UTC)

"Charades" is also the name of a musical group
Yes, "Charades" is a game. But also, "The Charades" was the name of a doo-wop music group.ChicagoLarry 20:47, 4 June 2007 (UTC)
 * Added to the dab. — Llywelyn II   00:27, 26 September 2016 (UTC)

Two Teams?
(in England) I've played charades with many people, and it's never been in teams. one person starts, then whoever gets the answer goes next, etc. Tom 213.40.135.65 12:49, 9 August 2007 (UTC)
 * So? — Llywelyn II   00:27, 26 September 2016 (UTC)

I don't think "Evan Metayer" did invent this game - and the team version played in the olden days was different.
What's all this about it being invented by a teacher named Evan Metayer? I can find nobody of that name on the internet except an American teenager on myspace... I think that 'fact' is just a total fabrication. Charades has been going for hundreds of years, e.g. it gets played in the book Vanity Fair (written in 1847). I came to Wikipedia looking for more information on Charades because the version people play now, where just one person acts out the title of a film, book or TV program, and remains totally silent, seems to just be based on the TV programs and is quite different from the way I played as a child.

Then, it was played in teams, and you had to think up several different 'scenes' or 'situations' which you all acted in, to convey each syllable of a long word, then one final scene containing the whole word. You were allowed to speak, and could dress up a bit too - each team had maybe ten minutes to plan what they were going to do before 'performing'. I have an old book, 'The Perfect Christmas', published in London in 1932, and in the section on party games, it describes exactly this version of the game, with examples like Art-i-choke, Cow-ard-ice, and Tutenkhamen (which was divided into the words Toot, Tank, Ah and Men, and finished with a scene where one person laid on a table, wrapped in a sheet like a mummy, and the others dressed as ancient Egyptians).

I don't particularly want to edit the page myself but I do think it's quite inaccurate. Keswari (talk) 21:53, 16 September 2009 (UTC)Keswari
 * Since it has been several months without a proper citation, I am taking out the reference to the inventor. 96.49.98.57 (talk) 00:08, 15 March 2010 (UTC)

Rewrite?
I propose to rewrite significantly the current article on the game of Charades. While the current article covers the basics and many details, and while it shows a lot of effort, I think it can be improved.

With that said, I admit I don't know exactly how to use Wikipedia as a contributor rather than as a mere consumer, so I hope you'll forgive my ignorance. I hope merely to improve this article on Charades. Heck, I don't even know whether anyone will ever read this or respond. I hope I'm not wasting anyone's time, including mine.

Again, I propose to rewrite the article a lot. In my admittedly parochial opinion, the article as it now stands is incomplete. It's not wrong in any significant way, just lacking in detail.

One crucial element of the game of Charades that I think is missing from the current article is all the various conventions regarding how many words are in the answer, which syllables are in focus, and so on. I thought these conventions were a fundamental starting point, and I know I've seen these conventions used in movies and on TV shows, so I know it's not just me.

That's just one example. I wrote an article on Charades on my own website at http://barelybad.com/charades.htm, and it is that information that would inform my revision to this Wikipedia page. I would include on thi Wiki page, for example, such conventions as "Sounds like" (tugging the earlobe).

As a better example, the most classic example of pantomiming having anything to do with the game of Charades is touching an index finger to one's nose and the other at the person who made a right guess, yet there is NO MENTION whatsoever of this. It indisputably the single most well-known gesture in the game -- so well-known that it has been adopted millions of times a year by people who don't even know its origin, so I'm pretty sure it should be included in the article.

Should I just go ahead and rewrite the whole thing (including all the useful information in the current article, of course) and submit it as a fait accompli, or is there a more efficient way to accomplish what I want without offending anyone.

What I want is to include what I regard as the more classic, recognizable, and perhaps even old-fashioned conventions of Charades that are missing from the current article. As a newbie I'm open to any advice. WalteregoWik (talk) 04:43, 9 July 2011 (UTC)
 * ✅ "On-the-nose" is not restricted to charades, but that should be included while spelling out of letters is both mundane/obvious and completely banned in most forms of the game. Removed. History section expanded from the EB entries. The rules and common gestures need sourcing from someone's guide to party games, though. — Llywelyn II   09:33, 2 October 2016 (UTC)

Sources for future article expansion
Although could we please leave out the bizarre forearm-equals-syllable bit? Even sourced, it's just pointless. Why can't these deviants just raise their fingers like normal humans? — Llywelyn II   11:09, 2 October 2016 (UTC)
 * Charades in Encyclopedia of Play in Today's Society

in funny TV commercial
Please see. Jidanni (talk) 23:54, 28 November 2016 (UTC)

Animal
Shark 2601:2C6:80:26C0:D92F:5E57:1F11:EBA (talk) 06:23, 23 June 2022 (UTC)