QotD: Convincing
Posted April 23rd, 2004 @ 02:30pm by Erik J. Barzeski
Question: What's the silliest thing you've ever convinced anyone was true?
My Answer: I'm not certain. Many of my friends (not I) smoke pot now and then, so it's pretty easy to convince them of things when they're high. Just today, for example, I convinced a friend of mine that if you searched Google for "google" it would go into an infinite loop.
You are encouraged to answer the Question of the Day for yourself in the comments or on your blog.
Donate Life
Posted 23 Apr 2004 at 4:47pm #
For a while I have been trying to start the rumor that the CN Tower is building a water-slide around the outside of it. Made out of clear plastic no less, so you get a view of the city as you are going down it.
Some people have believed it, but usually I can't keep a straight face to their "Oh wow, that would be awesome!" exclamations and give it away.
Posted 23 Apr 2004 at 6:26pm #
Gullible isn't in the dictionary.
Posted 23 Apr 2004 at 7:17pm #
I've convinced several friends over the years that Bob Dylan, whose last name is actually Zimmerman, was my great uncle. This was apparently believable enough that one of them kept asking me about "Great-Uncle Bob" for a good four years after I first told him this little tale...
Posted 23 Apr 2004 at 7:27pm #
For a period of several days I had my ex-girlfriend convinced that the little octagonal structure in the middle of a park is called a "GAZE-bo."
Posted 23 Apr 2004 at 10:58pm #
My buddy and me in high school told this guy that I had a "delayed twin brother Earl who was born 5 months after I was". He believed it. Man, we were harsh 🙂
Posted 23 Apr 2004 at 11:21pm #
I once convinced a friend that non-residents had to get immunizations at the toll booth coming into New Jersey. I told her that you just stuck your arm out of the car and they gave you the shot. I had her going for at least 10 minutes before I could no longer keep a straight face. The funny thing is that she's from New Jersey.
Posted 24 Apr 2004 at 12:37am #
I had a group of dinner guests convinced that capers weren't actually a seafood, but were harvested in the wild, as if by cowboys. I told them that I preferred free-range capers, and that I went on a spring hunt every year to collect my quota that I then salted and used throughout the rest of the year. Capers didn't grow in Alberta because our soil was too alkaline, and the nearest capers lived in Saskatchewan. They bought it, and as far as I know, still believe that capers aren't actually a seafood.
Note: capers are pickled flower buds of a Mediterranean shrub. Nobody seems to believe that.
Posted 24 Apr 2004 at 1:10am #
Freshman year in college me and my roommate convinced the couple girls in the room next to us who were from the east cost that Jackalopes are real. One of them figured it out in a week or two. I don't think Sarah ever did. She was starting to lose faith at one point but we got a postcard with a picture of one and her faith was restored.
Posted 24 Apr 2004 at 8:08am #
Hey Guys....here's something Erik isn't telling you.
A "large" software company is planning to buy out NSLog... Read all about it here
Posted 25 Apr 2004 at 1:03am #
Back when I was 12 or so I managed to convince the neighbourhood kids that the moon would blow up. You see there was a partial lunar eclipse and the moon was looking a scary shade of red. One of the kids even ran away crying thinking that the moon would land in town. heh. Was cruel at the time, but damn funny now 🙂
Posted 08 Jun 2006 at 2:51pm #
I once convinced this Spanish kid that lived in my building that I could speak Russian. I quoted what alec baldwin said in russion from The Hunt for the Red October.
Posted 03 Jul 2006 at 4:23pm #
About three years back, I convinced a group of some students at the university that on the way back from my trip to Serbia, I had to sneak a pack of peanuts and a bottle of water out of the country becuase it was illegal to eat anything other than bread and government water. The story was quite elaborate, it involved me getting chased by dogs, shot at, and having my clothes torn by the barbed wire.
I kid you not, the reactions of people listening were unbelievable. Out of 30 that heard me tell the story, I swear at least 15 believed it completely and kept asking me all kinds of questions how I got out. 🙂