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]

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



random, halfbakery