Lois & Clark Forums Forums General Discussion Fun with Polls The Lois Quiz

This is the companion poll to The Clark Quiz I posted earlier today in which I pose similar questions about Lois. Some of the questions are exactly the same, but I tried to come up with different scenarios since it seems kind of obvious where Lois's reaction would differ 180 degrees from Clark's.

Also, responding to some concerns about none of the choices expressing what you think Lois or Clark would do. One of my goals in posting these polls was to gather data that might give us a general picture of what we as a group would say is "in-character" for Lois or Clark. For example, in the other poll, the majority seem to agree that Clark would choose his ability to fly above his other abilities. This being the case, the number of options for each question does have to be limited. Because let's face it, there are an endless number of solutions to any given question. And if the options are endless, then we are right back where we started from. Really, a person's true personality is revealed by the choices they would make in a limited option situation. If the options were endless, no hard, self-defining decisions would have to be made, right?

Also, I do see how answers might change given the growth and change we see in Lois and Clark over the course of the show. An S1 Lois's answer might be different than an S4 Lois's. In general, assume what is logical given the context of the question. Also, I've been more specific about which Lois on some questions. And in the end, if neither helps you just pick your Lois and then maybe explain. Because that is very interesting, too - to see how we all view Lois and Clark's fundamental shifts in character.

Give it a go, and please, I loved reading about your reasonings in the Clark Quiz, so do so here as well.


Lynn

Trouble is, many of these are false dichotomies. Especially since Lois, given two unpalatable choices, will almost always find a third.

First, I am not a professional quiz or personality test writer, so if there are fundamental errors in the dichotomies, I did what seemed reasonable to me. In truth, some of the answer choices are not meant to be dichotomies at all but simply different options.

Second, don't think too hard about this. Obviously every question and subsequent answer option is fraught with a lot of "depends" and "Lois would find a way..." Just answer with your first reaction. Nothing deep is laying beneath the question and there is no ulterior objective or bait and switch intention. This is simply a "What would Lois do if given Choice A, B, and C..." kind of thing.

Lynn

Wow, this one was even harder than the last one!

The problem I had a lot of the time is that I'd have chosen something different if it had been available. I agree that the options do have to be limited to some degree, but what if the predominant answer in the fandom isn't on the list?

Personally, I think her reaction to the dress thing would be a lot more complex than you allow for. First she'd say it's a just punishment. Then she'd try to justify it by thinking about the store's inflated prices. Then she drives herself nuts feeling guilty about the whole thing. Finally, she angrily storms into the shop and returns the darned thing (telling them about the mistake in the process) because she can't stand to look at it anymore.

I think, like any of us, she spends her free time in a lot of different ways. Sometimes she reads, sometimes she watches TV, sometimes she watches movies, sometimes she works out, sometimes she writes... It depends on her mood and what kind of day she's had and what she's been doing lately and a bunch of other things. I don't think it's fair to try to pin it down to one thing if she does several things more or less equally as the mood strike her.

I'm not sure I entirely understand about the rapist story. How are the victims' lives ruined? Aren't their names usually withheld? Have they asked her not to print the story or indicated that they would be devastated if she did? If she doesn't print the story, will the guy go free? If there is no way to print the story without the victims' names being obvious, is there a way she can turn this guy into the cops without making a big splash? There's too much we don't know, and I can't help but feel that there's another, better answer out there.

As for personality traits, what about some more Clark-like things in the mix? Compassion? Drive for justice? What about charm? That's something a lot of her boyfriends seem to have had. Or boldness. Intelligence is certainly an important one, but I think there are some other good choices which didn't make the list.

The same goes for unattractive traits. I ended up choosing incompetence over sexism (tough call, really...) but I have a hard time seeing why laziness and naivete made it on the list instead of some other things. Control freak. Egotism. Cruelty. I can see her somewhat scoring someone for naivete, but I don't think it's something she'd find repulsive.

As for super powers, I thought we agreed she'd choose invisibility. That would have made things too easy, I guess, but what about some of Clark's other powers? X-ray vision, for example...

Teenage trouble... on the one hand, I like that you kept the list from Clark's quiz. On the other hand, I think if Lois was going to be caught doing anything, it would probably be something more like Breaking and Entering. Possibly something on a dare. I don't know. I'm also torn between some of these choices. That part, I guess, is a good thing. Actually, though, I don't remember what I ended up choosing, and that's maybe not so good...

About the pregnancy... That's a very tough call, and I think it's really a question we need to know more about. Who's the father? How did it happen? What's her current status with the father? Are they in a relationship? Does he know about the baby? If so, how did he react? I went with adoption on this one, but I really felt like I was making the choice blindly.

The desert island question is interesting, but some of the things you mention wouldn't last very long. I'm a bit confused about how the subscription would get there, but I was willing to let that one go in the spirit of the question. Same with how she'd watch the video tapes. A time limit would have helped here, to some degree (For the rest of her life? Just a year? Something in between?). If it's going to be more than a few years, I can't see her chosing the DP subscription. Then again, the notebook (which is what I chose) would probably be used up in that time, too. <shrug> I don't know. Interesting question, anyway.

I kind of like the high school question. I probably should have thought my answer (I went with president) through a little better. In a way, this is the same question as "what trait would she find most attractive?" I probably should have gone with valadictorian, but then again, I had this nagging feeling that that would mean she was dating herself...

No idea what to say about reincarnation. Joan of Arc was a military leader and, in a sense, a child prodegy, but she was also extremely devout (and, I can't help but thinking, schizophrenic...). Cleopatra (my ultimate choice) was known for her beauty, but also her ability as the leader of her country. Add in the tragic romance angle, and I can see Lois picking her. Unfortunately, though, I don't know as much as I should about Queen Elizabeth or Elanor Roosevelt. I'm not quite sure why Audry Hepburn is on the list, but that may well be because I don't know enough about her, either. Maybe I should have done some better research before answering this one...

New Krypton... She didn't see the marriage to Zara as real, and she knew that Clark didn't, either. I can see her considering herself married to Clark, but chaffing all the time a New Krypton, its customs, Clark's marriage, and her official status as a "concubine." Of course, I have a feeling that it wouldn't be that long before she and Clark brought about some large scale social changes on that rock. Actually, I'm still all for Clark taking the throne just long enough to establish a democracy and help guide them through the changes.

I really can't see Lois going on a blind date with anyone Cat picked, but I'd have chosen something in between if it had been offered. I ended up with the buisiness suit, but what I really would have said was something closer to the "knock-out" dress but not quite as overt or important. Something tasteful and elegant, but which didn't call too much attention to her looks and which she didn't consider as something to save for a "big date."

The next few questions are cool and interesting, but I don't have much else to add.

I wasn't quite sure what to make of the last one. I think, again, it depends on a bunch of factors. I almost picked the cafe in Paris, but then I realized that, while I think she'd enjoy that, I don't think she'd consider it especially romantic. It's something she'd want to do as part of a romantic day, but it's not something she'd single out as a romantic activity. The islands are more sexy than romantic, I think. The gondola is a good choice, but not really the best. Same with the Empire State Building (although, wouldn't that be the top of the Lexcorp Towers? Hmm...). So, I ended up with the fire, which is cozy, intimate, a little sexy, private (unlike the other choices), and, basically, romantic. It's also something that's more likely to come up in those books she reads, which I think is a point in its favor.

So, that's all I've got. Thanks for putting it together, Lynn. It's a great idea and I'm really enjoying it, even if we don't agree on everything.

BTW, anyone else having fun imagining L&C sitting at the computer screen taking these tests?

Paul

I know, and let me say what I should have said before. You put a lot of work into these, and they were a lot of fun, if occasionally frustrating.


But . . . but what if you really really really don't think Lois would do either? Huh? Huh? This is important!

Lynn, these have been great fun! I have no idea why I'm still up at 2:30 am taking htem, but you're keeping me entertained nonetheless Great job putting these together!

As for choices not being offered, I think that's kind of the point. If the "obvious" choice were listed, we'd all pick that and learn nothing from the experience. Sure, when given two unpleasant options, Lois will try to find something else. But if the quiz said "Which would Lois do? a) Crappy Option 1; b) Crappy Option 2; c) Less Crappy Option 3" we'd all pick c and that wouldn't be nearly so interesting

I'll come back tomorrow to discuss answers, since I really should be sleeping...

Kaylle

Ditto. I'm coming up on 5 in the morning after finishing my final philosophy paper, but no, I can't sleep until I see what else is going on around here.

JD

Once again, lots of fun to try to do the quiz. Couldn't answer a couple though and so.... Happy as a clam with the forced choice approach when the question is frivolous but less so when it's a more serious question.

Past life - curious as to why you left Nellie Bly off the list?

What are the "Ivory Tower" epsiodes"?

Why just the 2 choices for career and children? Why not include the career and children choice? So need to know who's doing the "forcing" in that question - surely not Clark ? (Am conjuring up the possibility of poor Lois morphing into Lynnette )

And a totally OT comment but the question about the romance novel and the book tour reminded me of Sandi McDermin's terrific "My Life as A Blonde." One of the best fanfics ever!

Thanks for setting both quizzes, Lynn - i do know how long it takes to do them

c

That was much tougher than the Clark quiz!! And proof for that is that the votes are much more dispersed (is this the right word?).

It was a great idea, Lynn! It's really interesting to look at the results and gives you something to think about.

If you come up with more tests, I'd like to take them

See ya,
AnnaBtG.

Actually, Carol, I did think of Nellie Bly (GMTA!) but figured it would be so obviously the choice that it wouldn't reveal much. I actually kind of fell into that trap with the alternate career question by offering Private Investigator as a choice - that is such a clear cut option for a former journalist who just loves to dig into trouble. I should have guessed it would be an easy pick. In all of the answer options I tried to offer non-clear-cut choices.

Which leads me to totally reinforce what Kaylle has said about the choices I've offered by way of answers:

For example, I think everyone would agree that Lois would choose neither option in the Kids/Career question - she'd find a way to make both of them work. But what if she *had* to choose one or the other? My answer was that she'd choose her career (despite Clark's desire for a family) which reveals what is really most important to her. If the "have both" was an option, everyone would choose it and we'd know only that Lois is willing to juggle career and family.

Granted, there are options that are more clearly what Lois might have done that were not on the list of answers, as Paul has pointed out. Part of that is because perhaps I didn't think of the obvious choice and part of that is because I assumed a certain set of parameters surrounding the question that others might not assume. There are infinite number of permutations (read: the Cat's blind date outfit question) and therefore an equal number of solutions. In the end, I gave what I figured were generally viable options and assumed that Lois's choice would be made in a vacuum that didn't permit thinking outside the box - that which she does so well.

Paul - your description of how Lois would most likely work her way through the options on the $100 undercharge question is wonderful, and IMO very correct. I can totally see her going through that thought process. I guess in order to answer the question, it's a matter of where you think she'd stop, not so much as how she got to her final action. Clearly you think she'd work through all of the answers and in the end do the right thing. Perhaps others figure she wouldn't get past the first "clerk is incompetent" phase.

I would love to hear the ideas you all have of what you think Lois would do in lieu of the options offered. Kind of like posting a fanfic challenge - What would Lois do if...here are some possible answers but what do you really thing she'd do?

As for the Deserted Island question - I deliberately gave her a limited quantity of the options (only a one year subscription, only 500 pages worth of blank paper, etc.), and I'm sorry I wasn't clearer - yes, she would have a TV to view the episodes of The Ivory Tower (which is the soap opera she watched in the pilot episode) and the issues of the DP would be magically delivered by carrier pigeon or something (hey, Clark can fly so I'm giving myself some magic options!). And too, I'm sorry that I didn't specify a time frame - if Lois were deserted on an island with no hope for rescue, which would she choose? There are pros and cons for each option, of course.

Part of my question vagueness is that the question field limits the number of characters so I had to keep my questions very basic. I had more detail about the rapist/victims question but couldn't include it. Maybe this isn't the best forum for this type of thing, but it works well for gathering and displaying the collected data.

Thanks to all of you for taking these - hope to hear from more of you. And please, anyone who has the time and inclination, I'd be willing to ponder more questions if another poll was posted...

Lynn

I think this is missing the point of the quiz. The whole idea is to think about what Lois would do if *forced* to choose between less than ideal options. If the answers were easy, there'd be no reason to bother taking the quiz.

So to me, "Who is doing the forcing?" is just as irrelevant as "But who is making her give up one of her five senses??" <bg>

Lynn, this one was definitely harder for me than the Clark quiz, which either means you chose harder questions or I don't "know" Lois as well as I "know" Clark! But very fun, definitely! What a neat idea; thanks for taking the time to make these up. A lot of effort and brainpower went into them and I appreciate that!

Kathy

I also enjoyed taking this quiz. I also agree that it was harder to choose answers for this one than for Clark's but I think it's because Clark tends to be pretty predictable while Lois isn't.

Wow, that was fun!. Some great questions, and although some of them were hard to choose, I totally understand and appreciate why you've given us these limited and tricky choices. Makes for much deep thinking and scratching of the head.

Ignorance hampered me a little for one or two of the questions. I'm afraid I didn't know enough about those historical figures to make a very informed choice - but that said, I seem to have chosen the majority option anyway! Class valedictorian - is this the person who gets the highest grades in a class? Class president - is this person elected by the rest of the class or chosen by the teacher, and what does a class president actually do (if anything <g>)?

Is it just me, or are we all having more difficulty agreeing on Lois's traits than on Clark's?

The last question - I'm surprised at how many people chose the cosy fire in a ski cabin. She seemed to be pretty seduced by the prospect of foreign trips, both when offered by Lex and by Clark, but I don't remember her going particularly gooey over the prospect of a snuggly cabin and a real fire.

Yvonne

I wondered between those two options, myself, Yvonne. I almost chose the foreign getaway for the very reasons you listed (her reaction to Lex taking her to Paris, her breathless amazement when Clark's proposal dinner was going to be there as well) but I ultimately chose the fire because ... well, partly because I was thinking of a "together" L&C where private time would be craved (like the chataeu Lois booked for them in SLV), but also because I wrote it into Momentum 2 so I figured I had to justify it somehow. <vbg>

Kathy

LOL, Kathy! And perhaps you wrote that so convincingly that everyone else now thinks that's the natural choice for Lois.

Yvonne

um, maybe

My question about "who was doing the forcing" was not intended to indicate anything more than that I needed the context to answer the question because that would influence how I answered it. So, for example, is it S1 Lois or S4 Lois? I would have a different answer for each one. If it was Mxy....(never can spell that name) playing tricks then a different answer than if it was a Lois who was forced by information that her child would be a special needs child. What if she was 22 when forced to choose as opposed to 40? What if we're talking an elsewhere story set in a society that forces women to choose - will you be a mother or will you have a career? etc , etc. So it's my imagination that trips me up every time.

Now the romantic getaway question is a whole different thing. Easy! All of the above . Oh, I have to pick one? Okay then, since the question doesn't deal with a serious topic I can go with that forced choice thing and pick,... so ... um... well... what season is it... ? summer? oh it doesn't matter?... okay then, ... is she pregnant, then maybe not the ski lodge.... um...

c (who has enjoyed these quizzes )

What if it's the devil who's making her choose???

Well, when she had the chance to choose a romantic getaway for herself and Clark, that's more or less what she went with. The Chateau. So there does seem to be some precedent for it from the show. I guess that's maybe what those who chose that option were thinking of.

LabRat (who hasn't done the quizzes because it got to be too much thinking , but who has enjoyed the various opinions about them.

For questions 6 and 19 there were no valid choices for answers.

Question 6: Lois would want to know that Clark is Superman and for their relationship to go forward to lovers and married. If they became lovers Lois would figure it out. There is no way that they could become that intimate and Lois not figure out that Clark is Superman.

Question 19: Lois would find a way to have children and work and Clark would support her unconditionally in that endeavor so neither choice here is valid. They would work it out because Lois' career defines her as a person. Clark would never expect her to give up her career.

Kmar, the questions are hypothetical. Therefore, the solutions - and the very premise of having to make a choice out of a limited number of options - are very valid.

The whole point of the questions is to ask: What if Lois HAD NO OTHER CHOICE but to choose from the following options.

And since this entire show was based around the premise of an alien who landed on Earth, was imbued with superpowers (the guy could fly) and spent his time saving people while wearing a blue spandex suit, I think it's fair enough to present questions that require decision making in a vacuum when such a case would never occur in the real world. We are not dealing in the real world, here. If you can buy that a pair of glasses served as a sufficient disguise for Clark for two years, why can't you suspend disbelief long enough to imagine a scenario wherein Lois had to choose from two undesirable options?

Of course Lois would find a way to make career and kids work, and Clark would never expect anything otherwise. And I would like to believe she is smart enough that after spending enough time with Clark, she would have eventually figured out his secret. We all know that. So offering those solutions as possible choices does not force you to decide anything about what you think demonstrates Lois's character.

Does Lois value her career above the wishes of her husband to have a family?

Would Lois rather have love that came with secrets or the truth but no love?

The answers to these questions tell me something I didn't get from the show. And that's the point of the quiz.

Lynn

BTW - I would assert that Question 19 is not an entirely unrealistic scenario. Many families/women are faced with the decision of sacrificing a successful career in order to care for a family. Sometimes it is not financially or physically viable for a woman to work a high-stress, high-involvement job (such as an investigative reporter) and take care of her children. Especially if she is unable to afford a nanny or some other form of extended child-care. And if her husband is basically on-call 24/7 (as I imagine Superman is) then things become even more difficult. What happens when Lois is on a crucial stake-out, Clark is home with the sleeping children, and an apartment complex catches fire?

Sure, maybe Lois could manage some kind of scaled back career. But I doubt she could devote the same amount of time and energy necessary to achieve the current level of success she has if she also wanted to play a substantial role in the raising of her kids.

And honestly, I don't imagine Lois would feel good about herself if she believed her children were suffering because of her absence while she pursued her successful career. Especially given her background and her lingering pain over a father who spent more time at his lab than with his family. I don't imagine she'd want to repeat this mistake. Do you imagine she'd be the kind of woman who'd be satisfied with the idea of nannies raising her children?

Do you imagine Clark would want that? Do you imagine that Clark would quit his job as Superman in order to be a stay-at-home father? You say he would support her unconditionally, but what if it meant he couldn't be Superman any longer? Would he go that far?

There are a lot of factors. But to say that this scenario would never happen - I disagree.

Finally got around to doing this poll/quiz (lazy bum, I know). Very interesting.

Question #4, I was actually trying to determine which Lois it would be writing that story. I figured the decision would be different pre-Clark/post-Clark. *shrug*

As for the blind date, I could *so* see her wearing jeans and a sweatshirt, just to spite Cat.