Sunday 18 December 2022

Abstract moment of the week #13

Oh dear. I have a conundrum and I just don’t know where to turn for the answer.  I’ve tried so many possibilities over and over in my brain, but to no avail.  And you know how it is sometimes, these things play on your mind, they won’t go away, they keep nagging at you and you feel as if you can’t settle until you can get to the solution.  But I just can’t crack it.  So here I am, wondering if there’s any chance that someone reading this blog may be able to help.

Bread

Clothes

Jam

Sweets

Chips

Here’s the conundrum:  What on earth is the question in common with all the above that made 100 people when surveyed give them as answers as the first thing they thought of?! (And in order of popularity.)

I guess that’s what happens when you’re channel-surfing on TV and come across the last few seconds of a round in an archive episode of Family Fortunes.  Never mind the floral dresses that look like they’re made from care home curtains, nor the fluffy perms, oversized suits and impersonations of Mavis from Corrie…. even those weren’t enough to distract from the conundrum in front of me: a complete set of answers but no clue about the question.  Any ideas?  I mean, clothes and jam?  What could possibly connect them? And chips?

20 comments:

  1. The chips are puzzling me. I can think of things that fit the first four like 'things you buy at a village fete' but none that work with chips

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  2. I guess the fact that they were popular answers doesn't make them right. How about "Things that were rationed during the war?"

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    1. Other than that, I'm struggling. Bread-line, Clothes-line, but there's no Jam-line.

      Things have have different names in the US covers jam (jelly), sweets (candy) and chips (fries) but not bread or clothes.

      A real puzzler. What channel and when was this old episode of FF on? Can you find it on catch-up?

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    2. Oh, good thinking there Martin, they could so nearly be right - especially the rationing one. As you say popular answers may not necessarily be right but I'd still imagine that more people would say meat or eggs than chips for that one. So still puzzled.
      I think it was on Challenge, probably Friday, I didn't really take it in, so obsessed was I by then by those five elusive clues!
      Another idea I had was things you can buy but that people often make at home, but sweets are a bit off for that (surely more people would've said cakes or beer).
      Will we ever know?!

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    3. I think Martin has opened up a whole new line of enquiry with his observation that just because they were popular it doesn't mean they were right. Maybe they asked 100 idiots who gave terrible answers, in which case we need to think of questions that seem wrong like "Popular Dog Names".

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    4. Brilliant - 'Popular Dog Names' it is, Ernie. I can't think of anything else for now; besides I have to go and take Ironing Board for his evening walkies.

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  3. What are the next things that the Tories will privatise?

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  4. My initial thought was things that Maxi Jazz mentions in Insomnia by Faithless. It started well:
    Bread… check
    Jam…check
    Clothes…do tights count?
    Sweets…well, he talks about weed, maybe they meant sweet smoke?
    Chips…one dry potato in the fridge, er, I’m done

    In retrospect, every suggestion above is a better one!

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    1. Ah, that would have been so cool! If only!

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    2. Just checked out those lyrics after you posted this comment - Another one now gone. What a brutal month.

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    3. Yes, yet another sad loss. This comment from Khayem came to mind when I heard the news, I was just thinking how we'd only just mentioned Maxi Jazz here. A brutal month as you say.

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  5. Oh heck, difficult one. I thought, things you can have in a basket, but that wouldn't work for jam or sweets really. Was remembering the 'basket supper' of the 70s when you were served up scampi and chips in a basket!

    Liking all the suggestions above actually but will we ever know the answer? You're going to have to contact the programme makers and ask them to look back over their question list from year ? to find out for sure. I'm sure they'd be happy to oblige, or not! Final suggestions from me, things that come in different sizes, but then I suppose you can say that about almost everything. A conundrum indeed.

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    1. Ah, scampi and chips in a basket, takes me back. Mind you, now we (or at least a couple of my local pubs) put everything in separate vessels sat on top of the plate, I just don't understand! All that extra washing up too.
      I expect the episode will come round again soon, they often seem to do that, so I live in hope of switching on just at the right moment. The answer is sure to be a let down now!

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    2. Alyson & C, should you ever make it to Gloucester for a visit, the basket meal is alive and well at The Fountain Inn in the city centre. £6.50 all in, including the classic Scampi option!

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    3. See, now I'm just hungry...

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    4. Good to hear the basket supper is still alive and well - much cheaper too than the fancy option of chips in little aluminium pails, napkins made into lotus flowers, and fish pie in little pans, all placed on a grey slate where everything falls off on your lap! A basket is the perfect receptible to stop that happening. As we seem to returning to the 70s in terms of the economy, high time it makes a comeback.

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    5. I think this calls for a bloggers' meet-up in Gloucester one day and that (very cheap!) basket meal to celebrate :-)
      So true about the slate thing, Alyson, a very strange phenomenon. Think you're right about the '70s - happy to indulge in some Black Forest Gateau too...

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  6. Good idea! Have a wonderful Christmas, C. Thanks for your marvellous posts, look forward to reading your further exploits.

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    Replies
    1. Thank you Khayem, and you have a wonderful Christmas too.

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