# "Name a (blank) that doesn't have the letter (blank) in it!" Scam? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 4, 2013, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-blank-that-doesnt-have-the-letter-blank-in-it-scam/652008 "2013-03-04T16:37:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2013, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-blank-that-doesnt-have-the-letter-blank-in-it-scam/652008/1 "2013-03-04T16:37:05Z")
Facebook culture has given prolific birth to yet another really stupid meme. I’ve been seeing those “Name a (blank) that doesn’t have the letter (blank) in it!” things for weeks now. Stuff like “Name a city in California that doesn’t have the letter “E” in it”. They’re incredibly stupid, in the sense that I haven’t seen one yet that I couldn’t name at least 10 refuting cities/songs/whatever within 10 seconds. Are these “like-fishing” schemes, like the ones that have a picture captioned “Hit ‘1’ and see what happens!”? Is it another kind of scheme? Is it just a stupid meme that took on some sort of viral contagion life of its own? ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2013, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-blank-that-doesnt-have-the-letter-blank-in-it-scam/652008/2 "2013-03-04T16:58:53Z")
I’m seeing these too, and they all end with “I bet you can’t!!” Idiots. I wish I could keep them off my screen, but my friends keep answering them. . . ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2013, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-blank-that-doesnt-have-the-letter-blank-in-it-scam/652008/3 "2013-03-04T17:00:24Z")
Yes - some kind of status farming. They get a whole load of people to interact with a page then sell the page to some other site for SEO. ---
**Author:** ![jasg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@jasg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasg)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2013, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-blank-that-doesnt-have-the-letter-blank-in-it-scam/652008/4 "2013-03-04T17:06:30Z")
Plus the proposed mental exercise is like asking you to NOT think of an Elephant after you read this post… ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2013, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-blank-that-doesnt-have-the-letter-blank-in-it-scam/652008/5 "2013-03-04T17:25:30Z")
It may or may not be a scam, or status fishing, or whatever. Easy questions that are presented as difficult spread quickly on facebook, no matter the motive. Daniel Dennett, presciently in 1991, wrote about how memes are subject to Darwin just like the rest of us. It doesn’t matter if it’s stupid or useful, if a meme finds a way to spread, it will. This meme’s niche is making people feel smart for 10 seconds. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2013, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-blank-that-doesnt-have-the-letter-blank-in-it-scam/652008/6 "2013-03-04T17:32:20Z")
Here’s a [TED talk by Dennet on the phenomenon](http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_dennett_on_dangerous_memes.html). I realize this isn’t a direct answer to your question, but I think it’s useful enough that it bears mentioning. The answer to _your_ question probably depends on the source - some of these are just shared from other easily fascinated individuals, but at least one I saw was from a radio station. Not that that makes it necessarily evil; it could just be a dumb easy update for the guy whose job it is to provide facebook content for the radio station each day. ---
**Author:** ![dstarfire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dstarfire/32/5762_2.png) [@dstarfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dstarfire)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2013, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-blank-that-doesnt-have-the-letter-blank-in-it-scam/652008/7 "2013-03-04T17:51:14Z")
> [@bup](#): > > Here’s a [TED talk by Dennet on the phenomenon](http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_dennett_on_dangerous_memes.html). Curse you!!! Don’t you know those TED videos are like crack for curious people? Now I"m going to have to spend the whole day doing rehab yet again. You may think just one link is harmless enough, but once you’ve wasted half a day learning curious facts and listening to intriguing ideas and stories you’ll realize they’re worse than cute animal videos. At least with cutesy or funny videos you **know** you’re wasting time, but those TED talks feel empowering, educational, like some sort of accomplishment. It’s as if watching a video somehow makes the world better. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2013, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-blank-that-doesnt-have-the-letter-blank-in-it-scam/652008/8 "2013-03-04T18:23:48Z")
Dennett’s alright. Despite being an older guy who is a _shudder_ philosopher, his writing is really clear and concise, unlike most philosophers. I’m not sure about the OP’s situation, but before that there were those stupid “Comment with ‘win’ to find the answer!” I Googled it, and [look what came up first](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=669547). ---
**Author:** ![Kimmy\_Gibbler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Kimmy\_Gibbler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimmy_Gibbler)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2013, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-blank-that-doesnt-have-the-letter-blank-in-it-scam/652008/9 "2013-03-04T21:56:00Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > Stuff like “Name a city in California that doesn’t have the letter “E” in it”. They’re incredibly stupid, in the sense that I haven’t seen one yet that I couldn’t name at least 10 refuting cities/songs/whatever within 10 seconds. Off the top of my head… [ol] [li]San Francisco[/li][li]Palo Alto[/li][li]Ojai[/li][li]Chula Vista[/li][li]San Luis Obispo[/li][li]La Jolla[/li][li]Moor Park [Thanks, **STG**!][/li][li]Oakland[/li][li]Ontario[/li][\*]Rancho Cucomonga[/ol] ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2013, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-blank-that-doesnt-have-the-letter-blank-in-it-scam/652008/10 "2013-03-04T22:50:36Z")
I fell for that on Facebook, and I thought my friend, the poster, was just being a dumbass. “Name a rock band that doesn’t have the letter T” I replied: Hawkwind , Crazy Horse just off the top of my head. Then I felt like I just wasted my time, and got the hell off of Facebook, again. Please tell me, like you are speaking to a 5 year old, people make money from this…how?? ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2013, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-blank-that-doesnt-have-the-letter-blank-in-it-scam/652008/11 "2013-03-04T23:03:42Z")
They can troll through the list of people who replied to the posting and get a list of people gullible enough to click something for no dang reason. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2013, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-blank-that-doesnt-have-the-letter-blank-in-it-scam/652008/12 "2013-03-04T23:15:03Z")
> [@bobot](#): > > Please tell me, like you are speaking to a 5 year old, people make money from this…how?? They create a page with a load of content that generates a lot of pointless ‘likes’. They sell the page to someone else, who replaces the content with whateever they want to sell or promote = ready-made (apparent) popularity. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2013, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-blank-that-doesnt-have-the-letter-blank-in-it-scam/652008/13 "2013-03-05T01:53:11Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Yes - some kind of status farming. They get a whole load of people to interact with a page then sell the page to some other site for SEO. “SEO” 😕 > [@dstarfire](#): > > Curse you!!! Don’t you know those TED videos are like crack for curious people? Now I"m going to have to spend the whole day doing rehab yet again. > > My favorite (brief) TED video : What is the Biggest Rock? ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2013, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-blank-that-doesnt-have-the-letter-blank-in-it-scam/652008/14 "2013-03-05T02:01:10Z")
Biggest Rock URL: [What Is The Biggest Rock? - Onion Talks - Ep. 4 - YouTube](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aO0TUI9r-So&feature=youtube_gdata_player) ---
**Author:** ![gazpacho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6f9a4e/32.png) [@gazpacho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gazpacho)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2013, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-blank-that-doesnt-have-the-letter-blank-in-it-scam/652008/15 "2013-03-05T02:03:21Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > “SEO” 😕 Search Engine Optimization. Basically methods to get your site to come up on the first page of google. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2013, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-blank-that-doesnt-have-the-letter-blank-in-it-scam/652008/16 "2013-03-05T02:26:18Z")
[quote=“Kimmy\_Gibbler, post:9, topic:652008”] Off the top of my head… [ol] [li]San Francisco[/li][li]Palo Alto[/li][li]Ojai[/li][li]Chula Vista[/li][li]San Luis Obispo[/li][li]La Jolla[/li][li]Moor Park [Thanks, **STG**!][/li][li]Oakland[/li][li]Ontario[/li][li]Rancho Cucomonga[/ol][/li][/QUOTE] [ol] [li] Burkly[/li][li] Sacramonto[/li][li] Los Angilis[/li][li] Santa Barbra[/li][li] Bakursfld[/li][li] San Josay[/li][li] Many mor. . .[/li][/ol] Also: Stockton, Turlock, Visalia, Santa Rosa, Acton, Agoura Hills, Alamo, Alhambra, Alpaugh, Alturas, Angwin, Annapolis, Arcadia, Arcata, Arlington, Auburn, Avalon, Azusa, . . . ---
**Author:** ![vd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b19c9b/32.png) [@vd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vd)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2013, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-blank-that-doesnt-have-the-letter-blank-in-it-scam/652008/17 "2013-03-05T05:05:28Z")
[quote=“Kimmy\_Gibbler, post:9, topic:652008”] Off the top of my head… [ol] [li]San Francisco[/li][li]Palo Alto[/li][li]Ojai[/li][li]Chula Vista[/li][li]San Luis Obispo[/li][li]La Jolla[/li][li]Moor Park [Thanks, **STG**!][/li][li]Oakland[/li][li]Ontario[/li][li]Rancho Cucomonga[/ol][/li][/QUOTE] Oddly enough, despite having its own post office name, La Jolla isn’t a city. It’s just a part of the city of San Diego. I’m afraid you lose 1 facebook. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2013, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-blank-that-doesnt-have-the-letter-blank-in-it-scam/652008/18 "2013-03-05T05:24:40Z")
> [@bup](#): > > Daniel Dennett, presciently in 1991, wrote about how memes are subject to Darwin just like the rest of us. It doesn’t matter if it’s stupid or useful, if a meme finds a way to spread, it will. This meme’s niche is making people feel smart for 10 seconds. That wasn’t prescient in 1991. That’s what memes _are_. The concept was defined, by analogy with genes, in the '70s. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2013, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-blank-that-doesnt-have-the-letter-blank-in-it-scam/652008/19 "2013-03-05T23:29:24Z")
> [@Peremensoe](#): > > That wasn’t prescient in 1991. That’s what memes _are_. The concept was defined, by analogy with genes, in the '70s. Huh. Well, good, I don’t like Dennet anyway. I think it’s pretty impressive that somebody (looks like Dawkins, now that I look it up) recognized that cultural ideas are subject to the same problems as genes, because they reproduce and their success is dependent on reproduction, just like genes - before the internet. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2013, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-blank-that-doesnt-have-the-letter-blank-in-it-scam/652008/20 "2013-03-05T23:50:24Z")
Oh yes, brilliant concept. I just like to point out that the concept is not based in, or limited to, the internet. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-blank-that-doesnt-have-the-letter-blank-in-it-scam/652008.md?page=2)