Wrong but Romantic
I occasionally watch Richard Osman's House of Games with my dinner. The other day they were doing a round where one contestant has to fill in clues (as best they can) to help another contestant guess a thing, person, event, etc.
In this case the answer was a person, and the clues were:
He was born in the ... century.
He is most famous for being ....
He invented ...
The contestant filled in the clues as follows:
He was born in the nineteenth century.
He is most famous for being President of the USA.
He invented the bank note?
Now, one name immediately sprang to my mind - which turned out to be correct. Perhaps the same name has occurred to you? Benjamin Franklin.
What's interesting to me is that, despite all the suggested clues being wrong, it was still easy to guess. Which goes to show the degree of second-guessing we do in these situations - not just 'What's right?' but 'What kind of mistakes might this person be expected to make?' The conscious recall of a few facts is so much less impressive than the unconscious back-and-forth that traces someone else's flawed recall - at least, to me.
In this case the answer was a person, and the clues were:
He was born in the ... century.
He is most famous for being ....
He invented ...
The contestant filled in the clues as follows:
He was born in the nineteenth century.
He is most famous for being President of the USA.
He invented the bank note?
Now, one name immediately sprang to my mind - which turned out to be correct. Perhaps the same name has occurred to you? Benjamin Franklin.
What's interesting to me is that, despite all the suggested clues being wrong, it was still easy to guess. Which goes to show the degree of second-guessing we do in these situations - not just 'What's right?' but 'What kind of mistakes might this person be expected to make?' The conscious recall of a few facts is so much less impressive than the unconscious back-and-forth that traces someone else's flawed recall - at least, to me.