Monday, November 29, 2004

The Rest of the Question(s)

As originally posed, the question "How many elephants?" had no wrong answers. But how would you have answered if you had made an assumpton about what the rest of the question was? Perhaps I was really asking, "How many elephants... 

As many as it takes!...does it take to screw in a light bulb?"
...species exist in the modern world?"
...will fit in a VW Beetle?"
...can honestly say that they've met Michael Jackson?"
...currently live in Tucson?"
...have starred on the silver screen?"
...appear in the sequence Pink Elephants on Parade?"
...are killed by poachers annually?"
...do I have in my pocket?"
...live in parks and preserves?"
...have a truly sophisticated fashion sense?"
...web sites are linked to by the Swedish links page below?"
...enjoy a nice Chablis of an evening?"
...have ever really fled from mice?"
...employ mnemonic devices to enhance memory?"


See? The answer depends on the rest of the question, if there is a rest of the question, which there wasn't.

I was also wondering whether anyone would veer into elephant joke territory (three in the back, two in the front, and one in the glove compartment!), absurdism (purple!), politics (too many! not enough! 51%!) or other non-numerical answers (all of them!).  Still, your answers have been pretty entertaining. Thanks!

Karen

Read about Elephant links at the Absolut Elephant.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

:-) Not seeing pink elephants at the moment...

Anonymous said...

Of course, it's 42!

...or perhaps I need another cup of coffee...

Anonymous said...

This reminded me of an elephant reference I heard in an art class once-How do you sculpt an elephant out of a block of marble?  Easy, you chip away everything that doesn't look like an elephant!  I always loved that saying.  

I just saw your post on elephants, my answer to it would have probably veered into "how many elephants are left on earth?"  

Did you ever read a book called "The White Bone"  by Barbara Gowdy?  It was an amazing story told from the perspective of elephants instead of people.  

Hope you are having a great week :)  http://pointclickjeff.blogspot.com/  Jeff