Lateral with Tom Scott - 171: Duck on expenses

Episode Date: January 16, 2026

Ella Hubber, Caroline Roper and Tom Lum from 'Let's Learn Everything!' face questions about problematic pictures, identical items and whale wax. 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: Matthew Sherlip, Selena, Mikael, Meggie, Frank Mutter, Cameron L., Jack Harding, Asher Stuhlman. FORMAT: Pad 26 Limited/Labyrinth Games Ltd. EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: David Bodycombe and Tom Scott. © Pad 26 Limited (https://www.pad26.com) / Labyrinth Games Ltd. 2026. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Why might Danish hikers start counting cases of beer for their own safety? The answer to that at the end of the show. My name's Tom Scott, and this is Lateral. On today's show, we have the crew from Let's Learn Everything. Woo! Woo! Yeah! Who have been on this show so many times that they are basically now staff,

except we don't pay them, and they keep wandering off with our stationery. Last week, they did hand in a document entitled the LLE Workers' Charter, demanding emotional support toys, snack breaks, and, quote, at least one question about something normal. They've formed a picket line outside the studio, made entirely of fun facts, which is honestly not as intimidating as they think it is. Oh, oh. Nonetheless, they've shown up for their unpaid shift today, and we couldn't be happier. So, first of all, please welcome back to the show. Tom Lum.

Hey, hey, ho, ho. Sloths have more than seven vertebrae in their nests. neck, which is abnormal for a mammal. Wow. Okay. Yeah. I appreciate the yes anding so much, Tom. How are you doing? Good, good. Oh, yeah. I mean, you set me up for all of my favorite things, workers' rights as well as science fun facts. Doing great. Also, joining us, Ella Hubber. We should probably plug the podcast for new listeners to ours. What is? Let's Learn Everything. Hey, hey, ho. Female kangaroos have three vaginas. Male kangaroos have a double-headed penis. And the podcast... They're all animal facts.

But those are the best ones. And the podcast is called Let's Learn Everything We Learn About Anything Anything and Everything Interesting, such as the facts that we've just told you. I should also ask, how's the podcast going? Because we have you on here regularly, things seem to be going well for you on the team. Brilliantly, and a large part, thanks to this podcast,

because we get a big filter over. There's a good overlap. I believe that's in both directions as well, because I'm pretty sure we get some of your listeners too. I know at least one person has said, oh, I found you through Let's Learn Everything. So that has been, it's worked well. We love helping small creators out.

Fellow Tom's. I can't follow that. Sorry. Which brings me to the final third. That sounds like the wrong adjective. The other third, that's a worse adjective. The last but not least, Caroline Roper, welcome back to this year.

Hey, hey, ho. My co-workers have set the bar far too high, and I can't think of a fun fact fast enough to commit to the bit. So we're doing this instead. Oh, no, they're sub-unionizing. What sort of stuff have you been researching on the show lately? Oh, my goodness. We have had topics like chemistry of computers and the great moon hoax of 1835, all smooched together into one podcast episode. as well. So they are truly quite a chaotic time for us over on the podcast. Let's Learn Everything podcast. Which conveniently is also a description of whenever you three are on this podcast. So very best of love. Frankly to all of us today, solidarity for the union. But we do have work to do. So let's begin today's labour with question one. Thank you to Meggy for this question.

In disc golf, what is a brown ace? I'll say that again. In disc golf, what is a brown ace? I have an immediate thought, and I'm gonna... And I'm actually... It's a joke, but I think it could be true. So I'm worried about saying it. I'm gonna say it. Hitting the butthole.

Could you explain... With the disc. I was going to say explain disc golf, but I'm gonna rephrase the question. Could you explain what you understand disc golf to be? Actually, I was... Actually, now that you say it, I was thinking, it was like frisbee. Like, what's it called?

Yeah. It is like frisbee, right? Yeah. But I believe you throw it into a hole at the end. Yeah. Wow. Okay. Creating a completely different image to what I had in my head. Hit someone in the ass with the frisbee. What was your image, Caroline? No, my image was literally like golf, but with little, little discs and you have to hit it in the right way. And it'll go, like you're skimming, but with golf clubs, which that's... Oh. Yeah.

There are, I think, a lot of courses in the US, perhaps not so much in the rest of the world, but this is a game on the scale of regular golf, but you are throwing what are formally called flying discs and informally referred to as frisbee's. Ah. Nice. So not hitting the butthole with a disc. Why? Why did your brain immediately go there?

So another, so also, I love that this is just like a nomenclature in an niche. There's no riddles here. Maybe there are some tricks, but this is just like, what's this little fun fact? I do know for our disc golf, I don't know if this is relevant, but instead of like a hole, the size of a golf ball or a disc, it's this standing thing that has like chains coming down it so that it catches it, sort of like a curtain, would catch the, and then it lands into like a little tray. So it's easier to hit than... Yeah, it's called a basket. Yeah, yeah. It's a chain-shaped basket about maybe two meter and a half, two meters off the ground. And so that's, I don't know if that's relevant.

Brown ace, my first guess is like it goes into the dirt somehow and then still is score. I don't know, an ace is also interesting. Because surely if it's a frisbee shaped thing, like they can do a little bit of up and down maneuvering whilst they're travelling, can't they? Is it like an instance where it has come down, maybe touch the ground in some capacity, and then still manage to like come back up and then get into the basket, I guess?

I think I'd start with concentrating more in what Tom said, which was like aces. What might a regular ace be? You've also made me so paranoid of saying, as if saying Frisbee is gonna cost this podcast $5 every time we say it, as opposed to this circular disc. A hole in one, I would assume, was that.

That's my guess. Yes, that's right. Okay, okay. So, a brown... Damn. I'm thinking like a brownout with electricity, so it could be something like, you don't see it, maybe. A hole in one where the dirt, it's in the... the hole is in the ground, where it hits a grizzly bear. Where...

So, not grizzly bear. And Ella, not a bot hole. No, well. But you are thinking along the right lines here. It doesn't hit a tree and bounce, does it? Oh, yeah, bounces off a tree into the basket. That wouldn't really be an ace, though. Why would it not be an ace?

Is in one throw, right, is an ace rather than... Or is there a rule in disc golf if it hits some? It's a hole in one, sort of. One's, but. Tom, I also fully, I miss heard you, when you said, not Grizzly Bear, I thought your enunciation was not Grizzly Bear. Oh, no, no, no, no. Oh, you mean a black bear.

Where do you normally find disc golf courses? In the woods, on the beach. Yeah, maybe more in forests or I guess on regular, possibly in regular golf courses. I know they're sometimes hilly because that's in, because you can go up and down a little bit with discs. Maybe in forests? It's mostly in public parks. Oh, okay.

Oh, interesting. Is it into the bin? Yes, it is, Ella. Oh, wow. Oh, well done. Yes, a brown ace is when your first shot does indeed hit a hole in one. It's just really not the hole you were looking for

and it goes straight into the bin. There is also a black ace, which is a hole in one, on the wrong basket, so a different hole, and a grey ace, which is correct hole wrong basket, because courses can have multiple baskets on the same hole and all things like this. But a brown ace is you have thrown your disc in the bin. Ella, we will go to you for the next question, please. Someone made two magnets featuring Jimmy Carr and Jim Gaffigan.

How did it help their domestic life? I'll say that again. Someone made two magnets featuring Jimmy Carr and Jim Gaffigan. How did it help their domestic life? My first instinct is this is like a one of those like a snake coloration pneumonics where it's like if you're Jimmy's car, go straight to the bar. If you're Jimmy's Gaffigan, you're sure going to laugh again. I'm going to step out of this one.

Oh my God. Not because I have heard this before. Because I don't like the question. Because I have a philosophical objection to Jimmy Carr. Because I'm gonna write down a word that I think is... I think my brain solved this, and I'm gonna write down a word and I'm gonna stay out of it. Okay. Okay. Oh, interesting.

I hate, that's interesting. We might have removed a helpful person there for knowing the people. If this is wrong, you can all roundly mock me for my hoobers. Oh, that's wonderful. Okay. Okay, come on, guys. My brain immediately goes to, there's this couple on TikTok who, when they're having an argument, they enter therapist mode. Or was it a therapist mode or was it like legal counsel mode where they both put a little hood on and pretend that they are not themselves and they present the arguments very mutually to each other.

And do they personify these two people? That would be rough, wouldn't it? I think Freud said, described you had the id, the ego, the car, and the Gaffigant, right? Yeah, that's nice. Caroline, can I get your help? Is Jimmy Carr, I think, is a British celebrity? Yeah, he's very well known. Yeah.

Is Jim Gaffigan an American, I believe? Yeah. Is that, I'm wondering if that's the distinction, where it's like you have a British gym and you have an American. or is this a fake out and does the gym not matter? Ah. The gym doesn't matter. Really?

Ooh. Good, good, good. The people do matter though. Knowing what they do is important. They're both comedians, right? Right? If they're not, I'm in trouble. Do they take the two magnets every time they're having a little fight and they magnet them together to make them kiss?

And then it makes them want to have a little smooch and makes everything better. improving their domestic life part of this is nothing to do with arguing although I reckon this thing could cause arguing but it's not to do with arguing. Is it like a chore assignment thing or like on the laundry? Oh, oh, on the dishwasher if it needs to be loaded in or out is like a common thing that I feel like you could like have a marker for.

I'm going to throw the word dishwashers up. It's on my page. Yeah, okay. If we have two, fine. Dishwasher. I'll let you have it, but then let's take it further. Why? What are these magnets doing? Are they going into the machine?

Or are they going on the outside of the machine? They're going on the outside of the machine? Yeah. Ah, okay. My assumption is it's like ready to take out versus ready to put stuff to load in. And I'm trying to think what the pun is. But why? I think if I'm right, Ella, the pun requires knowing their work, perhaps.

Yes, exactly. Maybe I actually wrote to just in case we got to this point, I wrote down some other examples of comedians I would put on the magnets. Oh, okay. So instead of Jim Gaffigan, I might put Bob Hope or Jerry Seinfeld. And instead of Jimmy Carr, I might put George Carlin or Kathy Griffin. Does any of those help? Are you too young? No. I care.

I'm trying to figure out what the commonality is. Oh, stand-up. Oh, stand-up. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. Are they all stand-ups or only some of them? They're all stand-up comedians. They have a style of stand-up comedy. Observational versus, uh... Oh, man.

If you're putting something in the dishwasher, what does that mean for the dishes in the dishwasher? Clean versus... Oh, clean humor versus none! Oh! Oh! Exactly. Exactly that.

The magnets are to indicate if the dishwasher is dirty or clean. So user IRMachineer made an online post titled, My Partner Made Clean and Dirty Dishwasher Magnets. Guess which is which. The relevant magnet is placed on the dishwasher to indicate its status. British comedian Jimmy Carr is famous for pushing boundaries of taste in his routines. He's a dirty comedian, I guess you could call him. I probably wouldn't.

I'd just say he's unnecessarily controversial. He makes dirty joke. Yeah. Jim Gaffigan is an American stand-up comedian who makes general observations about fatherhood and everyday life. He's generally regarded as a clean comedian using no to little profanity. And the only reason I got that early is because I went round someone's house the other day

and they have, not those magnets, but they have a clean and dirty magnet specifically bought to be two-sided. Nice. It was once to like make your domestic life my brain just went clunk, clunk, clunk, clunk. So you do not get to mock me for my hubris. I'm sorry.

We'll do that all off here. Don't worry. Another good one is you could do Bob Saget in full house and then Bob Sagitt in his stand-up career. Yes. I do not understand that reference, but you didn't get any of the comedians, I said. Sorry. Yeah, you can find out what year and where I was born based on that joke. Yeah.

Yeah. Thank you to Frank Mutter for this question and to Cameron L, who sent in a similar idea. Gemma buys a rubber duck, places it beside her computer workstation, and submits the receipt for expenses. Why does she have a reasonable chance of being reimbursed? I'll give you that one more time. Gemma buys a rubber duck, places it beside her computer workstation and submits the receipt for expenses. Why does she have a reasonable chance of being reimbursed? I've got to guess that the rubber duck isn't a literal rubber duck.

It's some kind of... Boo. I want it to be. Why are you booing me? The rubber duck's real. I'm normally the one that gets booed around here. Is this not related to like the concept of like talking to a rubber duck in like computer science, which is a thing, which is like when you have a problem, you talk to a rubber duck to sort of like make yourself think it out out loud as opposed to staying.

in your mind from, like, is this just like... An emotional support rubber duck is what I'm... Yes! Tom, you know the concept? Yes. So is it just that if she does this and says it out loud to a rubber duck, it's more likely to be correct? So, this is a concept called rubber duck debugging. Have you heard those words?

Like, it feels like you're vaguely familiar with this, Tom. Yeah. You just don't sound confident. about it. Yeah. Oh, that's how many years it's been since I was doing software development is exactly how unconfident. You can, again, triangulate how long it's been.

But yeah, is that what we're talking about? Yes, this is exactly what we're talking about. What's the process? You just talk through your problem to a rubber duck, and as you're saying it, or explaining or walking through the process, you sometimes find the answer you're looking for? Yes, this was popularized by the 1999 book, The Pragmatic Programmer. which popular lines the image of a developer keeping a toy duck on their desk for exactly that reason. Why might she be able to get that reimbursed then?

Because she's using it for work. Yeah. Yeah. It's genuinely helpful as a work thing, particularly because it helps a developer. What might also stop? Distracting your co-workers or taking up someone else's time? Exactly, right. That's the last thing I wanted.

Wow. Because you are frustrated with this thing. It isn't working. But the minute you go over and pull someone else over from their desk, magically it will work. Because you have to explain it to someone. That's the point of the rubber duck, is it is someone you have to explain it to before you go and get a co-worker. Maybe I should get a rubber duck. I am a distracting entity in my office. If you're worried, someone's going to start a podcast, yeah, just get them a rubber duck.

Tom, whenever you're ready, it's your question. This question has been sent in by Selena from Brisbane. Mary acquires fish scales, a narwhal tusk, and earwax from a blue whale. Why? I'll say that again. Mary acquires fish scales, a narwhal tusk, and earwax from a blue whale. Why? Why did you put so much nasal emphasis on the whine?

It's just my favorite thing to turn statements into a riddle. It's doing a lot of heavy-lived thing there. We have list questions like this occasion. It's like, here's three random objects. Good luck. Okay, so a tusk, an owl tusk, fish scales, and earwax. I'm going to go with carbon dating. That's all, you know, these things store different amounts of carbon

for different periods of time, and you can use that to age the way. Someone really went in with an intelligent answer straight off the bat here. That's crazy. Was it? All right. I'm going to go in with brewing because I know fish scales are, or something extracted from them is used in some traditional brewing processes. The narwhal tusk and the earwax from a blue whale, those do not fit this, but I'm going to assume there's some other part of the brewing process in, I'm going to say, Svalbard,

that includes those. Caroline, what are you going for? I was going to guess soap making as an immediate thing, just because I feel like some of those things are used as like ingredients or to support with like the suponification process, or something like that. So that's where my brain went to. Thank you.

Guys, I have never been more delighted to not tell Ella she's correct right away so that we could hear Tom's answer and then make fun of him. Ella was 100% Well, you're 90% spot on because it's not carbon dating but when you said age the whale Okay, okay. It's to age the whale. How do we age the whale?

Oh my goodness. I guess it's just by how like these things does disintegrate at different rates in the whale. Like a tooth is going to go less quick. Almost, almost. Is it the other way? Is it like the size of a tusk indicates the age of the animal, the number of scales, or the shape, or the wear, or something like that. The amount of ear wax?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, because I was thinking, like, these were all inside the stomach of some predator, and you would get... But, like, earwax doesn't make sense for that. Yeah. You guys, you guys are almost entirely there. I'm just looking for a specific word. It's similar to... Is it like tree rings or something like that?

It sure is. What is a word for that? It's just a very simple word. Oh, growth or... Age? Yeah. Layers. There it is, yeah.

So, Tom's doing... For those who only listen in audio, Tom was putting his hands on top of one or another, like a stack. Really helpful. They all growing layers? Yeah, I have to double-check fish scales, but I did... I was more fascinated by novels and the earwax. But yes, these are all ways for scientists to determine the age of animals or estimate them. So there is a great paper called Chronicles and Ivory, estimating the age of narwhals,

that talks about these growth layer groups. But the earwax is the most interesting one, because that was one, I was just like, that's why is that even like a thing? They are called ear plugs, is what they're referring to this is a paper. from Smithsonian Magde, they say the density of the earwax that sits in the ear canal is similar to the density of water. And so the earwax actually helps them listen rather than block their ears. Which is fascinating because they're underwater. And so in some ways you want that. And it's at this point that I realize you were making me research an episode of our podcast, which is unfair.

And this is exactly why we're unionizing, Tom. So, each of these things can be used to determine the age of the animals, similar to counting the rings on a tree trunk. For many mammals, growth or wear patterns in teeth, as well as bone fusion patterns are also common ways of establishing age. Thank you to Jack Harding and many other people for this question, which is based on Oliver Vorge video, who is also a regular unilateral. So there's some overlap here. Tourists in Iceland often upload photos with the location tag Gyltzkilta, even though these pictures were taken in completely different places. Why?

Tourists in Iceland often upload photos with the location tag Gyltzkilta, even though these pictures were taken in completely different places. Why? What does that mean, Tom? Is that... Um, my first thought is like this is like a default location, So this is just like a fun joke that you could, I'm thinking like why you would want to do this.

My brain went to, for the meme of it, you know? Yeah. Yeah. Oh, oh, oh, oh, wait. Hold on, I just have a hunch. I want to get my own to see if I can... There's been a lot of hunches this episode. I know.

Some of them have turned out to be right, some of them have not. Is this area a like miniature land similar to like a like Las Vegas where there's lots of small

versions of of like sites of the world and so people go to like the actual pyramids of Giza

and tag it as this small land place as a joke Tom no as I was doing

the gesture for you I went you fool by your own joke Oh no, God, why? God, God.

Wow. Okay. And now that the ritual humiliation is done, we can move towards the answer. Can you say the word again, please? Guilt still. No, I can't. I'm glad you asked because no, I can't.

It actually, Icelandic has very few things in common with English. this probably wouldn't help you. Oh. But it is Giltzkilter. Skilk, Gilgolk, skil. And that is a location that people are tagging themselves at. It is an actual location.

Ooh, good question. Is it like, you know, on Google Maps, when you, like, come across a, um, a crash or something site, and you put, like, oh, there was, all the police is here. There's a crash here. that happened and report it. You know, they're reporting something

rather than saying their inner location. That is definitely getting closer. But remember, they're uploading photos tagged with this location. The Northern Lights, the Aurora Borealis. A lot closer with the reporting car crashes thing. This does mostly happen with tourists traveling by car. That's a good hint. Tourists by car traveling will...

Do they think they're at that location and are just wrong? Yeah, kind of. Oh! Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Oh. Interesting. The tourists are absolutely in error. Oh.

Is this a... Now, does that word translate... Oh, my... Is this like a translation error thing where like a sign... Okay. Uh, uh, does the... do they go to a road sign? that says something, but it's been mistranslated, and really it means like translation error, I don't know, I'm circling around, but something like this, do you know what I mean?

Apart from translation error, you're spot on. Oh, okay. Like, you just haven't got the word itself, but you're right. This is a fairly common word if you're traveling to tourist destinations in Iceland by car. Free parking? The opposite, paid parking, but I'll give you that, Tom, particularly given earlier. Giltzkilta is roughly translated pay to park. Oh no!

Because you will see that next to the phrase pay to park, a significant number of tourists in Iceland will assume that is the name of wherever they happen to be. Oh. So yes, someone has created the location tag for it on Instagram or whatever, and so there are photos from wildly different parts of Iceland, waterfalls, lava fields, beaches, car parks are just rec your big suburb. tagged with Gjoltzkilter.

Caroline, we will head to you for the question, please. This question has been sent in by Matthew Sherlip. In 2008, resourceful police in Kanagawa Japan used their Nintendo games console when trying to find a hit and run suspect. How? One more time. In 2008, resourceful police in Kanagawa, Japan, used their Nintendo games console when trying to find a hit and run suspect. How?

I have a hunch, so I'm going to step back a little bit. Nice. I also have a vague hunch, but I can't like bring... I think I know where we're drilling down to. I just can't figure out how you'd actually use that thing. I am... What is happening? Oh, no.

Okay, okay. Yes, this is the trouble. When you get people on the show this many times, we all start trying to jostle for... Oh, have we got it, have we got it? Are you thinking the Nintendo Wii, Tomlom? Not at all. Oh, okay. Interesting.

All right. There are multiple options here. Oh! So my theory was that it's the Nintendo Wii, and that had the handheld, like, motion sensor thing. But the way you use that to do precise positioning, when you're pointing it at the television, it's got a little sensor bar on there.

And that works on infrared light. So that is technically an infrared sensor. I was thinking maybe they hacked that somehow, to like find an infrared transmission. That's the thing. I couldn't bring it home past that. Interesting. Tom Lum, what was your theory?

Can I say the device and you let me know if I'm on the right track? Is it a specifically a 3DS? No. Really? Okay. You're both wrong. Sick. It's not a DS.

Is it a DS? It's not. All right. We're good. We're back. Do you want to tell me your full theory? Yeah, it was going to be, there's a feature called Street Pass, which is if you have your DS on, and you pass by people, and they both are on with the screen down, it'll be like, oh, you visited this and then the person's meet would show up, and it'd be like, I was involved in a hidden run. And then you'd be like, that was the one. We got it. Imagine you go up to the, you're going to like the criminal lineup and there's just a picture of their me, and you're like, all right, which was the one?

Caroline, I've almost forgotten the question now It's an Nintendo console I haven't said which console yet No, no, but a Nintendo console to find The Suspect in a hit and Run And this is in 2008 as well Just as a reminder So the 3DS wasn't out

And the Wii was out Yeah But is it the Wii? I'll give you that It was the Nintendo don't we. Caroline, I don't know if I imagined it, but I saw your face do a tell on something I said. Did you? That's interesting. Do you want to let everybody else try and see if they can pass through that fast? No, we need this, Tom.

One of the things I said, I guess, apparently was not that out of this world to say something about Meese? There is something about Me's. I was about Mees. I was about just because you brought up, Tom, that it was about Mees, because that's the only other place I remember using me's. If you don't know what me is, then I'm not going to help you listen to. Don't want to be a friend, to be honest. You choose a character that looks like you, right?

You make one. You can make a character. You can make them look like any. A little tiny runabout character that's like, yeah, this is, this is me. Like, that's the... Yeah, yeah. Did they use the me character as on the poster for who is this?

That's, you know, like an identity kit thing, like an e-fit. Yeah. Yes, they did, I love. What? No. No. That is right. They made a wanted poster using a me profile from the Wii.

How did they get that information? So, there's not a whole load of articles about this incident. But essentially what happened was that instead of using a police artist or a piece of software like photo fit, they used a me user profile on a Nintendo Wii to make a likeness of the suspect, basically. Did it work? Reports don't say whether the suspect was apprehended or not, which makes me so sad. I thought they had found the suspects wee, only their we, and then we're able to find their means. And his collaborators were Mario and Luigi. He drove up behind through a red shell and then, oh, yeah.

Based on his me profile, he was 12 foot tall with very tiny eyes and long arms. And his favorite color was blue. Get on. Fun little fact for you. The Guinness Book of Records credited this as the first use of Nintendo for Criminal investigation. The first, but not the last. The first. Perhaps unsurprisingly, we have unlocked the shiny bonus question. There were some very quick questions in.

We've smashed it. Thank to Asha Stolman for sending this one in. On a hook in a hardware store, there are blister packs containing a single item. The same thing can also be purchased three hooks to the right. What are they? I'll say that again. On a hook in a hardware store, there are blister packs containing a single item. The same thing can also be purchased three hooks to the right.

What are they? Flathead screws? It's just like, that's what it is. The hardware store down the road from me has like a billion things that are the same three hooks to the right. But not one hook to the right and not two hooks to the right. Three hooks. Hmm. Because it's three hooks wide.

Yeah. But then, or is this a joke? Are we being had? Is it happening? Or yeah, is it like, you know, it's some joke like left-handed screwdrivers and right-handed screwdrivers or something like that? Are both items blister-packed? Or is it just one of them?

Okay. Yeah, they both are. And honestly, like, it's not left-handed screwdrivers and right-hand to screwdrivers, but that is, were there some sort of radar scanner, there would be a faint ping off in the distance. Okay, sure. I don't know why that was my metaphor, but we're going with it. Scissors for girls and scissors for boys, and one of them is blue and one of them is pink.

And they have to be kept separate because of cooties. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Oh, is it just like something like you would forget? And then like the second time you see it, you're like, oh, I did actually need that? or... Different sizes or... Oh, is this a...

Actually, is this like a... Like, Garbanzo bee chickpea difference where it's like some people will look for it under this name and others will look for it under a different name. Again, a faint ping in the distance. We're on the radar. Yeah. Cool.

Yeah. Three hooks is important. Yeah. And I cannot... It is relevant that they are hanging up. Halloween decorations. are they hanging up so that children can't reach them? Oh no, you could sell these in a different position.

It's just relevant that they are hanging up. Interesting. But this question wouldn't work if they were just sort of all bundled in a bin somewhere. I'm entering my mind palace that is a warehouse as a supply store. Is it the same item hung over two different hooks? Oh, different kinds of hooks. I was thinking, like, is it one thing, and because of the size of the thing, or something like that, they've had to hook it over,

and, like, that's the distance between, like, the handles or something like that. Oh, no, no, no, no. Definitely a different, a different... The British time, I don't know if it's the US one of all, a different, like, thing in the computer system on each hook. Two different barcodes to scan this thing, too. Okay. Yes, but it is the same thing.

Okay, so, again, the chick-be-garg-bonso being kind of... Maybe. But if it's not that, then it might be something different. Would they go by the same name? No. They go by different names. Okay. No. So they go by different names, they have different things, but they are functionally identical. Names is probably not the right word there. Sure, sure. Is it branding differences? There are similar items on all the other hooks in that section. I'm trying to think, like, like, tool knowledge, because I'm like, could it be like, it's like, uh, like nuts and

bolts and bolts and nuts or something like that, where it's like two aspects of... Just sounds like you're doing percussion there. Bolts and nuts and nuts and bolts. Is it like an alphabetical difference listing? So it's like three, it's three or I guess four letters further along in the alphabet, the two names. That radar's peeing a lot louder now. Nice. Okay.

I love that you've avoided doing anonamata pia for yourself. for yourself, you're just describing it, because in another word, you're going, Bing, thing, thing, bing. That's definitely too much pinging right now, Tom, but it's... Oh, okay, okay. Okay. Okay. All right, this is a good one.

So, it's an alphabetical difference? But you said not names. Not names. Yeah. Is it a size difference? Like, different length of screw or something like that. Oh, no, these are the same thing. The exact same thing, basically.

Oh, it's a number. A number of things? Keep going, Ella. So it's like... I'm trying to think of like a number and where the alphabet, the start of that number has like... It's like four versus...

It's not the alphabet. Oh, it's just numbers. It's like one and four of something. Keep thinking that way. They're three apart. It's not like house numbers or something like that. It is house numbers. Ooh.

Oh, it's just house numbers. Oh, my goodness, it's six and nine. Yes, it is. Upside down. Oh, yes. My! My God, Caroline, Bravo. Ella also with that.

That was, man. Yeah, manufacturers of house numbers often use the exact same item for the number six or nine. The cheek. Because they're hanging on a hook, they have to do a separate product and a separate blister pack. So people don't go, oh, they're out of sixes. Wow, it's not the cheek of it. It's just the public doing the things the public do. Just the public, yes.

Absolutely right. Wow. Wow. Which brings us to the question from the very start of the show. Thank you to Michael for sending this one in. Why might Danish hikers start counting cases of beer for their own safety? Any guesses about that before I give the audience the answer? You could have saved this for the bonus one.

I have absolutely lost on this. I was thinking it's something to do with oxygen levels, how much beer you can drink at different altitudes. Is it just making sure that they haven't drank too much beer? by counting how many beers they've had already. It's like a Hansel and Gretel, but for drunk Danish people. Yeah, yeah. Is it just to see you're halfway through

and then you need to come back after halfway or something like that? I would say vaguely in that it's to do with timing. Yeah. They can't see any actual cases of beer here. Is this like 99... 99 bottles of beer on the wall? They're just singing the song as they go. Yeah.

Again, like, not that but. Hmm, ping, ping on the radar. I regret starting the radar metaphor. If only because that radar metaphor is oddly quite apt for this one. That's throw me off more than before. They're hikers? Is it hikers? Yeah, hikers.

Actually, that radar metaphor is really good for this one. I'm not sure if that's actually helpful to you. It's just later you're going to go, Oh, yeah, see what he meant that. Is it just, is it the amount of like, wait, you say they literally can't see them? Yeah, there aren't any actual cases of beer here. Oh. Is it dark maybe?

And possibly getting darker, yeah. Okay, I was like, can you tell sunset by the angle or the reflection of... So wait, so they're metaphorical bottles or they're real bottles of beer? They are metaphorical cases of beer. Oh. I tried to bring that to that. potlock once it did not go over well. Actually, I'm not sure metaphorical is even the right term there.

They're not a metaphor for anything. Okay, sure, but they're imaginary. Is it like a word, is that word play we're missing here? Case of beer means something a Danish. No. I would actually go on radar being a thing, and I would go on what Tom said about darkness. Maybe it's getting a bit darker here. Is it like Marco Polo?

you to like say it's like, hey, I'm here. And then someone called in response kind of a thing. Cake's a beer. Or like even like like, because I know divers and people in high altitude situations might need to like verify that they have certain cognitive functions. So is it like you can keep remember the number of beers is like a way to test that you are still cogent? Again, I would drill into a tiny part of that,

which is like, it's a test for something. And people in other countries count different things. Is it like one Mississippi, two Mississippi, one case of beer, two cases of beer? Yes. Oh, my God. Yes, absolutely. That is the Danish version of one Mississippi

or one cattle dog in Australia, one crocodile in South Africa. Why might hikers be doing that for their own safety. The only thing I think is lightning, you know, thunder and lightning for the distance between them? Yes.

Oh! Yes. Wow. This is the Danish equivalent of the one Mississippi, two Mississippi technique. It is in Kersaul, that is one case of beer,

two case of beer. That is timing how far away the lightning storm is and whether it's getting closer. That's why I was talking about radar. That's what I was talking about sunset. That's what I was talking about. getting darker.

See, it wasn't a helpful hint, but afterwards, I get, I get what he meant there. Thank you very much to all our players. What's going on with you? Where can people find you? We will start with Caroline Roper. Oh my goodness. You can find all three of us at Let's Learn Everything, the podcast, or let's learn everything. com where you can find all of our social media stuff.

Ella, what sort of things can they find there? You can find the podcast that we do, which is about, you know, anything and everything. I think. That's it. Yeah. And Tom Lund, what sort of things recently have been going up there? We have just had on a friend of this podcast, Izzy Lawrence, talking all about Egypt, and it was truly one of our, what a, we were truly in awe at all the stuff we learned. It was amazing. And if you want to know more about this show, you can do that at lateralcast.com.

We are at lateral cast basically everywhere. and there are weekly full video episodes on Spotify. Thank you very much to Tom Lum. Whoa, full video! Ella Hubber! Ah! Woo! And Caroline Roper! Yeah.

I've been Tom Scott, and that's been lateral.