Half a croissant, on a plate, with a sign in front of it saying '50c'
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Alphabetting

A New Form of Gambling
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Punters place bets on which order of a certain number of 26 letters are drawn from a barrel. Would assist in literacy - as extra money is awarded if a word can be formed from the drawn letters.
benfrost, Dec 30 2001

Countdown myth http://www.snopes.c...otv/tv/countdwn.htm
From snopes's urban legends pages. [pottedstu, Jan 04 2002]

[link]






       BON FREST SI BIENG DELH PROSINRE HEER
po, Dec 30 2001
  

       Sort-of Baked. The Sunday Times newspaper in Perth, Western Australia, recently ran a competition where willing punters chose any seven letters, sent in their coupon(s) to the newspaper office, and hoped that their combination matched what was drawn from a barrel. I don't think combinations that formed words were awarded, though.
TimHighfield, Dec 30 2001
  

       To ben or not to ben, that is the frosty question
thumbwax, Dec 30 2001
  

       "threefourfivesixseveneight" = a number, of 26 letters
jester, Dec 30 2001
  

       Brettjs: are you some kind of genius? Did anyone have those spaghetti alphabets when they were little? Could they be drawn from the can, I could eat my words afterwards then.
sven3012, Dec 30 2001
  

       Scrabble's not a gambling game? Uh-oh.
snarfyguy, Dec 31 2001
  

       The daytime TV show 'Countdown', beloved of UK students and housewives (and others blah blah blah), has a board where eight or nine letters are picked by Carol Vorderman from two piles - one vowels, the other consonants - on the command of the contestants. It has been running for years and years, and yet it was only this year that this dialogue occurred:
Contestant: "Consonant please"
Miss V: "F"
Cont'nt: "Vowel"
Miss V: "A"
Cont'nt: "Consonant"
Miss V: "R"
Cont'nt: "Consonant"
Miss V: (amidst much laughter) "T"
Richard Whiteley: "What are the chances, eh? We've been doing this show for twenty years and only now does that combination come up."
Miss V (to the cameras/producer): "Don't cut that - this stays in!"
lewisgirl, Dec 31 2001
  

       I'm ill.

and not from booze or anything. It's this sodding weather - too bloody cold and the house is damp. My sinuses have gone mental.
lewisgirl, Jan 01 2002
  

       I'm pretty sure 'arse' came up once, and a young lady once got 'masturbate' from the letters. Points of view heard from me that week!
[ sctld ], Jan 01 2002
  

       [ sctld ] : "masturbate" has 10 letters, so I'd say it's unlikely to come up. According to snopes there was one time both contestants got "wankers", but this was never broadcast.
pottedstu, Jan 04 2002
  
      
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