Lateral with Tom Scott - 142: The inverted tree

Episode Date: June 27, 2025

Sam Denby, Adam Chase and Ben Doyle face questions about hilarious horrors, renamed ranks and portable plaques. LATERAL is a comedy panel game podcast about weird questions with wonderful answers, hosted by Tom Scott. For business enquiries, contestant appearances or question submissions, visit https://lateralcast.com. HOST: Tom Scott. QUESTION PRODUCER: David Bodycombe. EDITED BY: Julie Hassett at The Podcast Studios, Dublin. MUSIC: Karl-Ola Kjellholm ('Private Detective'/'Agrumes', courtesy of epidemicsound.com). ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS: Joël, Aaron Solomon, Ivan Walters, Chris Tam, Artie.. FORMAT: Pad 26 Limited/Labyrinth Games Ltd. EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: David Bodycombe and Tom Scott. © Pad 26 Limited (https://www.pad26.com) / Labyrinth Games Ltd. 2025. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

SAW is a famous, long-running horror film series. Why was the sixth installment mocked by French people before it was even released? The answer to that at the end of the show. My name's Tom Scott and this is Latro. Hello and welcome to episode four of Jetlag Does Lateral. On the last episode, Ben and Adam had just solved a question about odd numbers in Japanese supermarkets. Meanwhile, we were working out how Latvian physicists sent a dinosaur into space.

But then Ben used 300 coins to buy a platinum superpower that allowed him to see the answer of the next question. We completed the challenge to shake hands with 10 people who know where Belgium is, but then Adam played the super double reverse bonus card, which meant that he actually won the challenge. That means Ben and Adam have 45 minutes more in their time bank, but we've locked the super double-reverse bonus card, which meant that he actually won the challenge. That means Ben and Adam have 45 minutes more in their time bank, but we've locked in one more question than them. So as we start day four, there's everything to play for.

Incredible. I have a whole fake intro here that the producer gave me that I just get to throw out now. Welcome back to Lateral, the three from Jetlag the Game. Sam Denby, Ben Doyle, Adam Chase, welcome back to the show. Thank you. Weee! Good to be back. It's a soft coup.

This is our podcast now. For those who don't know the show, tell us about Jetlag the Game. Well, in Jetlag the Game, as this intro mocks, we have wildly complicated game structures. Not that complicated, actually really elegant. The season I was on was very, very quick and brief. Just sometimes requires a little bit of explanation about how things work, but we make it as simple as possible.

But we play games where the worlds are bored, so travel-based competition shows. And by the time this goes out, season 14 should, hopefully, touch wood, be in the can. The schedule that you'll keep to is ridiculous, because you are working on a season while publishing a season. How do you keep everything in order? I'm going to throw that question to Adam. Well, I think the funny thing is that, like, by the time that a season is... the last episodes of a season are coming out,

we're, like, completely past it, which I think is weird. By the time the last episodes of a season are coming out, we've already filmed the next season, and so I'll be getting, you know, like, tagged and stuff or whatever, of people reacting to the finale, and I'm like, I'll be getting, you know, like, tagged in stuff or whatever, people reacting to the finale. And I'm like, Oh, right.

Like, you guys don't know what happened yet. Like, that was months ago, I already filmed a new season, like, like we go to record on our podcast, the game design episode, where we explained the game design for the season. And I was like, how can we record that episode? We haven't finished designing the game yet. And it was like, No, Adam, it's for the season that we filmed months ago. I was like, oh, right. People haven't seen that yet. Well, it's always extra tough, like is about to imminently happen where we're going to record podcast episodes about the season that we did months ago after we filmed the next season.

So we have to remind ourselves that no, we're going back like five months and two seasons back in our thinking. And that gets tricky. And it is you all designing the games. So I will throw this question to Ben. How much do you have to workshop each game design to make sure it works? Because you get one shot to film these. It's a funny question to be asking us right now, because our current one is a nightmare. Oh, okay. Which I'm sure people, by the time this comes out, will be familiar with,

but I shan't even say. A lot of these games undergo hundreds of different iterations before we reach what we actually end up playing. Well, good luck to all three of you on this show today. Thankfully it's not 7.30am, but it's still time to go, go, go to question one. Thank you to an anonymous listener for sending this one in. Massachusetts New England merch only names Irish cities. Why is this ironic?

I'll say that again. Massachusetts New England merch only names Irish cities. Why is this ironic? I'll say that again. Massachusetts New England merch only names Irish cities. Why is this ironic? What? Hahaha! Massachusetts New England merch? Like, is that a store? Like, merch for the state of Massachusetts? Only names Irish cities.

Sorry, but you're saying merch, like as in, is there a store called Massachusetts New England Merch? Or are you saying that any merchandise that is about the state of Massachusetts, I don't understand the noun part of this sentence. This is so, Ireland is not England, so it's not New England. It's not even Old England. It's just diff... What? Was that the answer? No. That was not the answer. And I am gonna let you talk about this one for a little while. This must be some wordplay thing, I feel like.

Massachusetts, New England, Mark. Okay, first of all, no one says Massachusetts, comma, New England. They say like, Boston, comma, Massachusetts. That's true too. Oh, I actually have it with an apostrophe here. It's possessive plural. You're saying Massachusetts plural. The New England merchandise owned by Massachusetts.

Only names Irish cities, yes. Massachusetts is New England. Yes. So it's a New England within Massachusetts. You know earlier, Sam, you said something that was really quite perceptive here. I agree, but I don't know what you're talking about. You said this must be a wordplay one.

Yes. Well, cause like like New England, Massachusetts is in New England. New England is not in Massachusetts. So there must be a New England of a different sort within Massachusetts. Is it that it's like New England merch? It's not their old England merch. Not their old England merch. It's Massachusetts' English merch. That is new. But it's new.

The same would be true for Maine. Maine's new England merch. Only names Irish cities? Only lists Irish cities? Yes, correct. Only names. Is it possible, this doesn't seem right, but is there a town called England that is new? No, this is not on the right track. This is not on the right track, but I thought Adam nearly got it then.

And remember, I'm asking why is this ironic? I can't deal with that yet, Tom. I don't understand the question yet. I wouldn't focus too much on the statement, because it's not actually true. It's not even true? We're in kangaroo court right now. This is a joke.

At some point, the penny is going to drop, We're in kangaroo court right now. This is a joke. At some point, the penny is going to drop, and honestly, I think you're going to curse the anonymous question writer of this. We already are. New. England merch. Only lists. Only names. Only names.

Only names. And the distinction between lists and names is important. It is. That's why I keep correcting it. Only names. Only names. And the distinction between lists and names is important. It is, that's why I keep correcting it. Only names. Irish. Okay, here. I don't know what the hell's going on. Here's one way that that sentence could make sense.

Do all of the players on the English national team have last names that are cities in Ireland. I'll be honest with you, the sentence doesn't make sense. If you're trying to make sense of the sentence... Yes! Oh, Tom! Oh, thanks for letting us know, Tom! Yeah, but you were still trying to decipher it. Okay, wait, wait, wait! Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. I'm remembering something that you freaking said, which you said this is also true of Maine. Yes. for it. Okay, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait,

wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait New England merch? Like M-N-E-M? M-A-N-E-M?

Keep going. Massachusetts New England merch only names... It spells mnemonic. Yes, it does. That sentence- And it's ironic because it's mnemonic to remember how to spell the word mnemonic. Yes it is, and I apologise for that question. Adam, you look positively angry at that question.

I hate this. It is a mnemonic for how to spell the word mnemonic. This doesn't feel allowed on this podcast. It's rare we have a pure wordplay one. I'm going to burn this podcast to the ground. Adam, I think it's only fair that we get the next question from you whenever you're ready. Massachusetts New England merchandise. Okay. Here we go. A particular chart has an inverted tree structure. To the

left of the root are the letters T, M, O. To the right are the letters E, I, S, and H. What does the chart represent? Oh boy. It's another, it's another letters one. And one more time. A particular chart has an inverted tree structure. To the left of the root are the letters T, M and O. To the right side are the letters E, I, S and H.

What does the chart represent? Inverted tree. So it's like... It's V-shaped, basically. It's starting... No, wait. Okay. It's a tree structure that you start at the top and it gets bigger at the bottom.

Or is it a... It doesn't matter, actually, whether it's inverted or not. What matters is that there's a chart with a tree structure and that going out from the root are these letters. So it's like different branches from it have each of the letters. Different branches, yeah. Like as the branches go out, parts of the branches,

like all of the nodes, connect to different letters. Right? Anytime there's a branch, there's a letter, and then there's letters at the end of the branches as well. So TMO stands for? I wouldn't worry about what TMO stands for, Sam. In the same way as the last one was a wordplay and unexpected one, is this about the shapes

of the letters somehow? This has nothing to do with the letters' shapes, I don't believe. Is this like a linguistics thing? I mean, I guess it is a linguistics thing in the sense that letters are involved. Is it — I mean, I'm just trying to think of things that take the shape of tree diagrams and like, certainly like, genetic trees are a thing. Maybe like, the letters represent certain people within a family or something. Or it could be a level higher than that. It could be like genus and orders and philums and things like that.

But I don't know why it would be left and right. Those are specific. You don't need a certain side for certain words. What if it's like, could this be like an anatomy thing? So it's like, I'm thinking like heart, you know? Like left and right ventricles and stuff. Yeah, this has to be something asymmetric. Does this have to do with a heart?

No, it doesn't. But you didn't rule out anatomy there. Like is there anything else? It does not have to do with anatomy. Okay, well now he has. Okay, um... Are we on the right track with asymmetry? Like, are the left and right important here?

No. Ah. I'll also say that it's not just these letters. These are just, I listed some of the letters. Some of the letters. I feel like we have to acknowledge that, like, there's something in the question that would give us a clue towards what this is probably beyond just what the letters are.

Yeah, I would say, like, don't worry about what the specific letters are. I would say like, focus on like, why would a structure, why would a branch structure with a bunch of letters at all the nodes and ends exist? What could that represent? Could the letters be literal? Like it's like the, it's like representing the construction of a word where like certain letters are what could come next or something like that. Maybe there's there's something with with interpreting the letters literally. All of the nodes have two branches that go off them and each one has a symbol on both. And it's always the same two symbols off of each one. So you've got your letter and then it branches and there's a symbol for each branch and it's always the same two different symbols and

then that happens again. What could this represent? Do the letters are the letters elements? This podcast is too hard. I'll also tell you that this chart is just a way of representing something that you know about. You know what this is. You are familiar with this concept. This is just a visual representation of it. All I know is content. Is it content?

Is it about making a YouTube video? This is about making content, if this podcast right now. Oh, that's true. But not the thing. So could the symbols be like yes or no, up or down? It's got to be two binary opposing things. Not exactly yes or no or up or down. What are other things that are sort of exist in a binary way?

Ones and zeros. Yep, keep going. Ones and zeros. Yep, keep going. Ones and zeros. What are some others? Oh! I really think that this binary idea is a very good spot to be in. So it's like, how can we represent things in a binary way? Yes or no?

One or zero? What are other things that do a similar thing that that? Agree and disagree. Um, cooperate and refuse. Um. Positive and negative. Think of a visual way that this happens. Plus and minus.

Um. Here, here's something that I'll tell you. There are 26, uh, letters on this. That's the number of the alphabet. That's all of them. Sam knows about the alphabet. I'm looking at my keyboard. Nope. It's not like one's on one side of the keyboard, one's on another.

And I don't feel like it's going to be some complicated computer science thing. What? So I've got all these letters here, right? What is a... In what instance would I need to use some sort of binary system to communicate letters? Oh my god! Oh, yeah, okay. If I... if... Is it dots and dashes? It is in fact dots and dashes.

It's how you learn Morse code. I've seen this damn chart, it is how you learn Morse code. It's a chart of Morse code, of course. Ah! Well. That's pretty good. Because T, M and O all start with a dash, I think? That's dash dash dash.

E, I, S, H all start with a dot. It's like a thing, and it's like, you do T, but then if you add another dash, then it's an M, but if you do a another dash then it's an M, but if you do a dot then it's an N, but then if you put a dash on that it becomes a K. And if you learn that going across is a dash or down, yeah, that's infuriating but I've seen that damn chant before. Well, Tom, I'm thrilled that this frustrated you. Yes, this, it's been a tough episode so far.

Get to Toronto's main venues like Budweiser Stage and the new Rogers Stadium with Go Transit. Thanks to Go Transit's special online e-ticket fairs, a $10 one-day weekend pass offers unlimited travel on any weekend day or holiday, anywhere along the Go network. And the weekday group passes offer the same weekday travel flexibility across the network, Thank you to Chris Tam for this question. In 2025, Chuckles825 performed a speedrun of the arcade port of Crazy Taxi

for the Awesome Games Done Quick charity event. However, he required additional assistance to avoid a predictable problem. What was the problem and solution? I'll say that again. In 2025, Chuckles825 performed a speedrun of the arcade port of Crazy Taxi for the Awesome Games Done Quick charity event. However, he required additional assistance to avoid a predictable problem. What was the problem and solution? Um, Adam and Sam, are you familiar with Crazy Taxi?

No. No. It's an old arcade game where you are driving a taxi really fast and crashing into a lot of stuff. Sorry, you just described it as an old game, and I recognise it is, but if it's any consolation, that stabbed me through the heart. I'm sorry, Tom, but it is now, in the history of games, Crazy Taxi is an old one. Yes. It's old enough that I've played it, which is saying something, in our tapes. Ben, do you know how long this game normally takes?

Like, how long this speedrun could have taken? I don't know how long a speedrun of crazy taxi is but probably not very long It could it could it could be minutes. It's probably minutes My guess is that it has something to do with like because a lot of speed runs require really precise inputs at really specific times, and, like, making sure that you're pressing all of these buttons all at the same time at the right time. And maybe there was some reason that he couldn't press all of the buttons when he needed to. Yeah. That would make some sense to me.

The people who assisted were not playing the game. We're not playing the game. OK, so sorry. So just to be clear, so that I have the question. This guy was playing crazy taxi, doing a speedrun

of it. And it's just that he needed help from another person for part of the speedrun. And we need it's just that he needed help from another person for part of the speedrun, and we need to figure out what he needed help with. No, I'm going to reread the question. He required additional assistance to avoid a predictable problem. Tom, can we know how long the speedrun took? You're right in saying it was a few minutes. I think it was about 20-30 at most.

Oh, okay. Because my thought was like, oh, did he need someone to help him go to the bathroom because the speedrun was so long. Right. I mean, that was like my first thought, but it sounds like it's not like an endurance feat. Yeah. It's like he didn't have the problem.

The event organizers did. Ben, have you played Crazy Taxi? Do you have any memories of it? I have never played Crazy Taxi. I know sort of what it is, and it's most basic. For those of us who grew up on it, there are certain parts of it burned into our head that I will not tell you right now.

But yes, this was a problem for the event organizers. Is there something deeply offensive in the game Crazy Taxi that has to be shielded from the other viewers of the speedrun? You know how earlier, Sam, you were talking about content and questions about content? Yes. Have a think about what problems might be caused there. It's not that it's deeply offensive, I don't think they'd have played that. But...

there's something else in there. My guess is that the arcade version of Crazy Taxi featured, like, brand... ...logos or something that maybe couldn't be shown. Or some kind of copyrighted material that couldn't be shown. Is that getting anywhere? Are there... naked people? Ben, you're very close there. There actually were brands in the game as well.

They got some sponsorship in there to help pay the bills. But you were talking about something else in there. Copyrighted material? Is it about copyright? Yes, it is. That was the problem. How might other people help solve that? Was there music being played that they couldn't be playing and so someone else had to play

music? Yes. Yes, you've basically got it. Okay. People, though. The dialogue? Is it that they needed people to say the lines that are in the game Crazy Taxi? No, you're right with the music. They couldn't play out the music tracks from the game.

It would automatically get the stream shut down. As someone who did grow up on that, the opening notes of All I Want by the Offspring are just kind of burned into my head. They are iconic to this game. You could not leave that out. But they've got to mute the audio. Well, so they had people sing the song, right? Is that what we're getting at? They had a full live band. Oh, nice. That's cool. This is a speedrun of the Dreamcast version of Crazy Taxi.

It is known for its soundtrack, which is mostly the offspring, I think there's some bad religion music in there as well. It would cause them legal issues if they played that out. You cannot play Crazy Taxi without that music. And so they brought in a live band. Sounds delightful. Which is still in violation of copyright. It's just less likely to get automatically

detected in shutdown. Sam, it is over to you for your question. Alright, this one's a banger. This question has been sent in by Aaron Solomon. On the 8th of January 2025, the five players sharing the court for the NBA's Indiana Pacers set an unbelievable record, with a total of six. What record did they set? So to reiterate, on January 8th, 2025, the five players sharing the court for the NBA's Indiana Pacers set an unbelievable record with a total of six.

What record did they set? Basketball fan Adam Chase. The five players for the Pacers. You're saying this just happened? Yes. In 2025. Yes. Set a record with six. Is that the most points that have ever been scored in basketball?

Yes. the most points that have ever been scored in basketball. Yes. Okay. I mean, I'm just trying to think of what are things that rarely happen in basketball. Um, Oh, I, is it the greatest number of points in a single possession? No. Oh wait, how does that work?

Well, there have been weird things with like technical fouls and stuff where like on one possession you technically end up with a crazy number of points because like you shoot a three and then you also got fouled but like it was a technical so you got two. Anyway, it wasn't the answer. Did not expect basketball knowledge. Don't know why I didn't expect basketball knowledge but... Because he's a freaking nerd. Basketball, as a great musician once said, basketball is my favorite sport.

I like the way they dribble up and down the court. Okay, does basketball have a system like ice hockey, where they have penalties or something like that? Yes, they do, yeah. I mean, one of my first thoughts was the idea that, like... You can get ejected from a basketball game if you get too many fouls. I think in college it's five, in the pros it's five or six, I'm not sure. So my first thought was that they had six people foul out of a game, but that wouldn't

make any sense in the construction of the question because Sam said that the five players achieved it and you can't have five players foul out six times. How many players are on a basketball team? They're like on an NDA roster, I think there's like 11, I don't remember exactly. Oh, 11 minus 6. It could be that six of them got sent off and five of them are still on the court. Oh, is that what it is? Is it that they were the only five people remaining on the roster? Nope. No, Sam's saying that.

Oh, okay. I'm just trying to think, other rare things that happen in basketball. I mean, it's not going to be something boring. Like they had six like, you know, buzzer beat, you know, like you can't have six buzzer, but you know, six half court shots. Like it's got to be something weirder than that. Yeah. Can I ask that was this were that were these six things something that happened within

the like technical rules of basketball or was it like six of some other kind of circumstantial event? More so the latter than the former. Okay. Is this something that would be on a stat sheet? No. Okay. And you said this happened in would be on a stat sheet? No. Okay. And you said this happened in 2025 with the Indiana Pacers? Yeah, on January 8th. Was it where there are six streakers?

Do people streak in basketball games? Probably not. Well, you said that it was the five players for the team who set the record, right? Yes. Maybe they were the streakers. So unless the five players were streaking, then that can't be it. And the record was six. Yes. The record was six. Okay.

The youngest players to ever take an NBA court shot, they were all six. No, but that is, I'd say, ever so slightly in the right direction. Just like, ever so slightly. It's something about the players. Sorry, the only member of the Indiana Pacers I know off the top of my head is Tyrese Halliburton. I don't know who the other players are on the team. Oh, I didn't know they were taking sponsorships for the last names. I didn't know they were taking sponsorships for the last names. I think you're on the right track. I think I would emphasize, you've already sort of concluded this, but it is only these

players who could do this record. This is the only configuration of players that could achieve this record. These are the this is the only configuration of players that could achieve this record. Is it something with the players age or names like no this is okay nothing with that. What other qualities are linked to players height. They had they had they had they set some record relating to the height of the players. No. Like, no. Were they related in some way?

No. Right, it was the first time that six brothers. That would be cool. It's not about any personal quality. It's about them as a unit? It's not about anything about them personally, but it is about something that is linked to them. They were all suspended for illegally match fixing because of online betting. I don't know.

Here's maybe a road to start to go down. I don't know if this is anything, but like, this is so stupid, but I'm thinking about the thing where it's like, well, the average number of feet that people have is like 0.98 because some people don't have, is there a thing where like, there were five players, but one of the players has two heads, and so there were six heads on the court. Like it's not that, you know what I mean?

But like, is it something in that world? It has nothing to do with any personal quality. Nothing about who they are as people. But it also doesn't show up on the score sheet. Yeah. I will give another slight hint, which is that unfortunately this does involve some math. No.

There's five players and the score is six. Or the number, the record they've broken is six. What is a numerical value that could be related to players that is not related to how they play in the game? Is this their numbers? Is it that their numbers on their jerseys adds up to six and that's the lowest that it's ever been? How could that work? Well, I don't know if you had a zero, a one, a two, a three, and a sometimes there's a double zero.

That's right. Whoa. Lowest jersey total. Basketball players have jerseys with numbers in them. Your friend, Tyrese Halliburton, has the number. Do you know? Yes, that's Adam's friend. I don't know what number Halliburton is.

Halliburton is zero. Matherin is double zero. Toppin is one. Nembrand is two. And Bryant, Thomas Bryant Bryant is number three. So this is the lowest possible sum under the current rules of basketball, which do not allow for triple zero. So this is the lowest possible jersey total. Thank you to Artie for this next question. Every evening, Ben calls an elevator that can move in all three dimensions. When

the door's open, he removes a large plaque from the floor and replaces it with a similar one. Why is the plaque particularly helpful in Ben's place of work? I'll say that again. Every evening, Ben calls an elevator that can move in all three dimensions. When the door's open, he removes a large plaque from the floor, and replaces it with a similar one. Why is the plaque particularly helpful in Ben's place of work? This is about me, I mean, so I know the answer. So I do know an instance where this happens, but is clearly not the answer here. Which is that on certain cruise ships, since people have a tendency of forgetting which day it is, they will put the day in the floor of the elevator, so it'll say like, hey, it's Tuesday, because like, you know, you're on vacation, you don't know what day it is.

Sam, you knew this one. Spot on. Absolutely right. I thought that was not it. Sorry. That is absolutely it. Why did I say the elevator can move in all three dimensions? Oh, because it's on a ship.

Because the ship is moving? Yes, absolutely right. Oh, sorry. I didn't mean to spoil it. I thought that that was not it. No, you nailed it. So this is a personal anecdote. Arty, who sent in the question, knows Ben, who used to work on a cruise ship and had

this job. Sam, do you want to talk a little bit more about what goes on here? I don't know a whole lot about this, but I just know that it's like a thing on certain cruise lines where people, in the middle of their drunken nights, they get very excited to celebrate, and they go to the elevators and watch the people change the day. Because it's kind of like New Year's Eve, except it happens every single night,

and it's in the elevator, I guess. You have even got all my notes on this question. Sam, congratulations. I think that one goes to you. It's kind of unbelievable that I didn't think I was right, because the three dimensions threw me off. safety. During Volvo Discover Days, enjoy limited time savings as you make plans to cruise through Muscogee or down Toronto's bustling streets. From now until June 30th, lease a 2025 Volvo XC60 from 1.74% and save up to $4,000. Conditions apply. Visit your GTA Volvo retailer or go to volvocars.ca for full details. No frills, delivers. Get groceries delivered to your door from No Frills with PC Express.

Shop online and get $15 in PC optimum points on your first five orders. Shop now at No Frills.ca. Ben, it is your question. Okay. We've got a lovely question here from Ivan Walters, or maybe Yvonne, I don't know. But the question is, in many armies, the highest rank is Marshal or Field Marshal. During the Second World War, the US Army adopted General of the Army as its highest rank instead. Why? In many armies, the highest rank is Marshal or Field Marshal.

During the Second World War, the U.S. Army adopted General of the Army as its highest rank instead. Why? I have a really stupid idea for the answer that I fear is the actual answer. I wonder if it's the same stupid idea that I have. I also have a stupid idea.

Okay. So, we've got three stupid ideas. Let's hear your stupid ideas. Do we want, should we say our stupid ideas at the same time to see if they're the same? Yeah, say them all at the same time. That's bad podcasting. My stupid idea is that there's too many Americans just named Marshall, so it was confusing. That was mine too. Mine was that it just wasn't really a thing in American culture,

and it didn't seem impressive enough for whoever they wanted, so they just invented a new rank to go higher. That was sort of my backup, was that like, they wanted, they just, that either they generally, or whoever the person was, wanted their title to sound better. Also, this is irrelevant, but I'm gonna tell it anyway, the naval equivalent in the British Navy is First Sea Lord. Oh, that's way cooler.

That is our highest rank in the British Navy. Which means, in theory, that if we ever had a space army, we could have the First Space Lord. Well, that is worth aspiring to. That would be cool. Yep. Can I throw out final thing before Ben responds, which is, did the term martial have a different meaning in some other countries' military? And so because, like, it's a second world war, the US is working with allies,

the term was changed so that there wasn't confusion or conflicting stuff in the overlap. Wait, wasn't there something in the Second World War called the Marshall Plan? That's true. Yeah, there was a guy named Marshall, right? There was a guy named Marshall. He was the Secretary of State, right? That was Sam's and my first dumb idea.

The Secretary of State was named Marshall, so maybe it was confusing. Yeah, the Marshall Plan was the post-World War II recovery, right? Yeah. Yeah. I would say that, yes, you've basically got it. Um, they had to change the name of the highest rank to general of the army to avoid George C. Marshall being called Marshall Marshall.

There we are. Because the secretary of state thought that being addressed as Marshall Marshall would sound ridiculous. Which brings me to the question I asked at the very start of the show sent in by Joel. Thank you very much. Saw is a famous long-running horror film series. Which brings me to the question I asked at the very start of the show, sent in by Joël, thank you very much. Sore is a famous long-running horror film series.

Why was the sixth instalment mocked by French people before it was even released? Anyone want to take a punt at that? I'm confident that this is because of a language pun. I'm confident that this is because it would translate to saucy. Yes, it would. Oh... What does that mean? Like sexy? Uh, saucy?

I don't know of a French word that sounds like that. But... It would be saucisse. Oh, sausage. Yes, soire six translates to saucisse, the French word for sausage. Thank you very much to our players for running the gauntlet. I don't know which order to say this in. Ben, tell us about Jetlag the Game.

Jetlag the Game is a wonderful travel competition show where we run around to different countries and play all sorts of different games. Adam, tell us about Season 13. Season 13 of Jetlag the Game features a wonderful guest by the name of Tom Scott, and it is a race to claim the most countries in Europe. And Sam, tell us where people can find it. Nebula.tv slash jetlag, or YouTube dot com slash jetlag, I think. Jetlag the game.

Oh, jetlag the game. Yeah, I dunno. Search it. That's our show for today. Thank you everyone. If you want to know more about this show you can do that at lateralcast.com where you can also send in your own ideas for questions. We are at Lateral Cast basically everywhere.

There are regular video highlights at youtube.com slash lateralcast and full video episodes on Spotify. Thank you very much to Sam Denby. Goodbye. Adam Chase. Goodbye. Ben Doyle. Goodbye.

I've been Tom Scott and that's been Lattrell.