Bit of fun!

jrc2806

My colleague went through the following with me during the week - took me a while to realise why it works. Give it a go and post your answer below....

Pick a number from 1 to 10
Double it
Add 8
Half it
Minus your original number

Now - if A=1, B=2, C=3 and so forth, think of a country which starts with the letter that corresponds with the number you are left with from the calculation above.

Now think of an animal which starts with the second letter of the country you have in mind along with the animal’s colour.

Lets see what you get.......Don’t read any posts below until you have gone through the above!

sev112

Grey elephant

kossofffan

Silver Grayling

usedtobe

sev112 said:

Grey elephant

This 

poopot

Black jaguar

LuttiS

Brownish Emu

fob

Translucent(?) Jellyfish

Sassafras

Xippopotamus.

iseverynamegone

Brown Ass

Chalky

I think this originated in the 80s. The apparent randomness is anything but.

jrc2806

usedtobe said:

sev112 said:

Grey elephant

This 

This is what the majority of people asked came up with during the survey. Turns out that the calculation always equals 4 - which = D.

Most then vouch for Denmark. Second letter E and the common answer is elephant - although out of the 10 or so I had tried this with I did get one response being an Emu from Deutshland...

Try it with your family/colleagues etc. Before they tell you the answer ask if they are thinking of a Grey Elephant from Denmark. 

Does not not work quite so well on a forum thread though :-)

paulnb57

Denmark Eagle

Chalky

That's because it is very old and very well known.  

jrc2806

Chalky said:

That's because it is very old and very well known.  

Ah - had not realised that.....

Chalky

jrc2806 said:

Chalky said:

That's because it is very old and very well known.  

Ah - had not realised that.....

Google grey elephant denmark trick or puzzle

Chalky

Chalky said:

jrc2806 said:

Chalky said:

That's because it is very old and very well known.  

Ah - had not realised that.....

Google grey elephant denmark trick or puzzle

Alternative is to say last letter of country, gives K for kangaroo. Or animal beginning with last letter of country and its colour begins with last letter of animal. Most will say orange kangaroo.

The underlying deceit is to suggest the answer is random.  But it is not random and in fact probability of the target answer is almost 100%.

fob

I hadn't heard of this before but, if you want to impress your kids, a similar trick:

As quick as you can - what is:

1+1?

2+2?

4+4?

8+8?

16+16?

32+32?

64+64?

Name a vegetable

Carrot

(make sure you write it down beforehand of course)

Chalky

Another old one that is harder to explain.

The first thing is to write the word 'Carrot' on something that the target person will be able to see in plain sight but with the word carrot hidden from view, eg a piece of paper turned over.  The better you make this, the better the reveal (I once did it on the bottom of a paper plate that someone was using).  You may want to write Cabbage in a suitable secondary location.

The second thing is to clear the target person's mind.  To do this, some simple arithmetic will do.  Start with 1+1 and keep doubling until you ask 32+32. When they say 64, calmly but quickly ask them "What's the first vegetable you think of?"

Seven or more out of ten will say Carrot, one or two will say Cabbage.  (If their answer is not given immediately, they will likely answer with something else, and you have lost.)  If they say Carrot, you then reveal the answer in plain sight and your audience is astounded.

Why does it work? Some say Carrot is often the first vegetable learnt in English, and that the 'kicking Ka-' phoneme is one of the first sounds we learn to speak.  Whatever the reason, the result is Carrot in the vast majority of cases.

Shrews

Ostrich

5
10
18
9
9-5 = 4
4=D
Dominican Republic
Ostrich

All the number work always adds up to 4 and therefore D

Denmark or Dominican is 50/50

So this could go further

Most people would say Elephant, Eagle, Emu (Denmark) or Ostrich, Orangutan, Otter, Ocelot (Dominican)

If your word is 7 or more letters then name a musical instrument with less than 7 letters beginning with G
If your word is less than 7 letters then name a musical instrument with less than 7 letters beginning with P

Guitar
Piano

Add up the letters in your word to find your personal number

I predict your number is 6

DB1

Chalky said:

Another old one that is harder to explain.

The first thing is to write the word 'Carrot' on something that the target person will be able to see in plain sight but with the word carrot hidden from view, eg a piece of paper turned over.  The better you make this, the better the reveal (I once did it on the bottom of a paper plate that someone was using).  You may want to write Cabbage in a suitable secondary location.

The second thing is to clear the target person's mind.  To do this, some simple arithmetic will do.  Start with 1+1 and keep doubling until you ask 32+32. When they say 64, calmly but quickly ask them "What's the first vegetable you think of?"

Seven or more out of ten will say Carrot, one or two will say Cabbage.  (If their answer is not given immediately, they will likely answer with something else, and you have lost.)  If they say Carrot, you then reveal the answer in plain sight and your audience is astounded.

Why does it work? Some say Carrot is often the first vegetable learnt in English, and that the 'kicking Ka-' phoneme is one of the first sounds we learn to speak.  Whatever the reason, the result is Carrot in the vast majority of cases.

I also wonder whether 16 and 32 are associated with the word 'carat' and therefore seem familiar in context.

axisus

These don't work so well when written down, people think too much. You kind of need the pressure of someone asking you, preferably with others around