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|Cow, hen, pig, sheep The standard answer is supposed to be hen, as it is the only bird. I believe the standard answer is a "hen" because it's the only one th
by Shenglong 14y ago
|Cow, hen, pig, sheep
The standard answer is supposed to be hen, as it is the only bird.
I believe the standard answer is a "hen" because it's the only one that is gender-specific. In fact, it is distinctly the odd-one out because it doesn't even refer to a specific genus (or even family) of animal.
I'm all for creativity (I have the same complaint often) but there needs to be some sort of standardization in communication and society. A genius who can't communicate any of his/her ideas might as well be no genius at all.
- DanWaterworth 14y ago> I believe the standard answer is a "hen" because it's the only one that is gender-specific. What about cow?
- markokocic 14y agoIsn't that the point of the article? Everyone could pick one of those and reationalize why it should be the "standard" answer, but it doesn't mean it's the only right one. Good test would require candidate to pick an answer and then explain why, but that would make scoring such test too subjective.
- DanBC 14y ago~~Sheep / ram?~~ Cow / bull? ~~Sow / uh, pig ? (I don't know about pig)~~ Hen / cock? (Pseudo strikethrough! See child comment from pbiggar.)
- shasta 14y ago'pig' can be written in a way such that it has a symmetry about a vertical line, so I'd go with it.
- ColinWright 14y agoScott Kim can make any of them symmetrical in multiple ways - that's not a distinguishing feature.
- jeffdavis 14y agoStrangely, the first reaction I had was that a pig is the only thing that you need to kill to get something from. You can get milk, eggs, and wool from the other animals without killing them. Not sure why I went in that direction, but I could imagine a lot of farmers and ranchers might think along similar lines.
- debacle 14y agoMaybe you play too much Minecraft.
- randomdata 14y agoI'd be inclined to answer sheep. It is the only term that can be used in a plural context. As DanWaterworth noted, cow is gender specific and does not even refer to a specific genus either (see: Whales).
- aidos 14y agoCow is specifically female, so it's not that. There are definitely a few different ways of cutting it, I went for sheep. It's a silly "test" of anything if it has a "correct" answer.
- zerostar07 14y agoFor me the obvious answer is that it has 2 legs :) But if I cannot convince you I am right, my awesome intelligence is all in vain.
- rmc 14y agoI believe the standard answer is a "hen" because it's the only one that is gender-specific. Silly city-dweller! Cows are females.
- deleted 14y ago[deleted]
- abaillargeon 14y agoI've seen a few comments on HN and the blog about this question -- I think it's important to note that the article mentions this question was a set of pictures: >>One test had many rows of small pictures, and I had to choose the odd one out in each row. So the arguments about the number of letters, the order of the letter, etc wouldn't make sense here.
- ucee054 14y agoit is distinctly the odd-one out because it doesn't even refer to a specific genus Cow can refer to female elephants as well
- benmmurphy 14y agoI would have thought hen because the other three are mammals.
- randomdata 14y agoIt cannot be that. Alligators and crocodiles also use the term cow and are not mammals.