A SUBLIMINAL PUZZLE

In a moment of boredom, I leaned back in my chair and looked up at the sky, sneaking in through the venetian blinds. Blue with lazy white clouds. The trees swayed in the silent breeze; traffic rushing up the slip road behind them, glinting in the tiny moments where the sunlight caught the windscreens.

I pushed myself up, clutched my empty glass from the desk and headed off to the kitchen.

The Book People had been in. Every now and again, the Book People come in and leave a selection of new releases on one of the tables. There are always titles like: Everything You Need to Know About Knitting or The Usborne Book of Star Wars Characters.

I had a little flick through Ultimate Dad Stuff, seemingly a handy guide to entertaining your children. Funny. There were two things that caught my eye and one of them has got me really thinking. I'll tell you what it is in a meemo, but first the other one (which made me chuckle) might give you a flavour for the rest of Ultimate Dad Stuff.

It goes like this:

1. Place a glass of water on the table and cover it with a hat
2. Tell your small person that you can drink the water without touching the hat
3. Crawl under the table and make slurping noises
4. Claim to have drunk the water
5. When small person doesn't believe you, ask them to check
6. Swipe the glass and drink the water while they lift the hat

Good work, Ultimate Dad.

Now then, here's the other thing to try. Answer the following:

1. What is 7+3?
2. What is 8+2?
3. What is 6+4?
4. Name a vegetable




Did you say 'carrot'? I did. So did the book.

Why? Things like this fascinate me. Is it statistical that most people, when suddenly asked to name a vegetable will always say 'carrot'? Or is the shape of the 7 and the shape of the 3 influencing you to think about the shape of a carrot?

If it is that, then we are frighteningly gullible and complex. Now I don't want to trick anyone, or be accused of foul play but I wondered whether I could do the same.

So I've dreamed up a test. Here's a sentence. What I'd like you to do is to read it two or three times.

"Less than 8% of people believe it's unwise to close your eyes."






Now think of a bird.







If you thought of an owl, it probably means I should jack in this technical writing malarkey and take up marketing. If not, then maybe my theory about the carrot is completely wrong and something else is going on.

I quite like the fact that I can't figure it out.