Description acceptable

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Blurting · Changing your answer · Conferring
Description acceptable · Leading articles
Prompts · Recognition

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Moot

"Description acceptable" is a warning occasionally appended to the beginning of tossups or the end of bonus parts, to indicate that the desired answer may not have a proper name and/or that the answer line allows some leniency with giving a more common generic answer rather than the proper name of the thing being asked about. This represents an exception to the general principle that things have names.

Questions that can only be answered with a description are sometimes given the warning "description required" instead.

History

The use of "Description acceptable" became more standard in collegiate circuit sets in the early 2010s.

Though some tossups at 2014 ICT had the label, NAQT has banned the use of "Description acceptable" in its question sets since 2014.

Theory

In the strictest reading, the only acceptable answers for a question are those which explicitly satisfy all clues. However, convention allow for writers and editors to provide leniency by including additional acceptable answers - the most common example is accepting answers that are discussed in particular clues but are too specific for others. A "description acceptable" warning is an example of this practice, which is sometimes codified in rule sets.

It is possible to write a question which accepts descriptions but does not inform the players with a warning - however, this creates a situation where players may not be aware that they have the knowledge necessary to answer a question. The desire to avoid this outcome drove the adoption of "description acceptable" warnings and has allowed questions to have broader answerlines while avoiding this negative outcome.

There is some ambiguity regarding precisely what is implied by "description acceptable", as well as the proper course of action for answers with no proper name. Some have advocated for variations of "description or specific answer acceptable" to convey the full set of acceptable answers.

Scenario	Looser reading	Stricter reading
An answer with a well-known proper name	No warning The question must be answered with the proper name.
An answer with a proper name but a more commonly known description e.g. "the boat from the beginning of Heart of Darkness" instead of "the Nellie"	"Description acceptable" warning The question can be answered with either the proper name or the description.
An answer with no proper name	Either "Description acceptable" or "Description required" warning The question must be answered with the description, so it is technically "description acceptable" - "description required" is more explicit though.	"Description required" or no warning In the absence of a proper name, the only correct answer is a description; as such no warning is appropriate. "Description required" is also acceptable.