Outliers ….
posted by Jacqueline Lipton
Like everyone else I know, I’m reading Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers, at the moment – the intriguing story about why some people become outliers in the sense of being extraordinarily successful while others with similar-seeming innate gifts don’t do as well.
One thing that Gladwell does in the book is give examples of questions from some IQ tests, and he never answers the questions. The one that has been bugging me as well as a number of other people is the question: “Teeth is to hen, as nest is to _____”.
Anyone know the answer? [see under the fold]
Apparently the answer is “mare” because a “mare’s nest” doesn’t exist just like “hen’s teeth” don’t exist.
While it is possible to say that just about any animal that doesn’t have a nest would fit in the blank, the only animal that fits and forms a common English saying is “mare”.
May 23, 2009 at 5:10 pm
Tags: outliers
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Responses (9)
Christopher - May 23, 2009 at 6:36 pm
Cow, sow, doe, vixen, ewe.
Craig - May 23, 2009 at 7:12 pm
This is an excellent example a good objection to IQ tests. It depends on the exposure of the test taker to colloquial english. None of my 5 children, ranging in age from 5 to 16 have even heard the phrase “hen’s teeth”, while the older ones did guess that it must be something rare and so logically filled in animals that don’t nest, none had heard the colloquialism “mare’s nest” either. Now, my children aren’t rocket surgeons, but neither should they be dinged for lack of exposure to phrases that are not at all common in their vernacular.
Bruce Boyden - May 23, 2009 at 7:21 pm
Either it’s a bad IQ test, or an old IQ test, or both.
A.J. Sutter - May 23, 2009 at 8:07 pm
I’m probably older than most who read this blog, and I didn’t recall “mare’s nest,” nor any occcasion on which I might have used it. I guess I’m young enough to be in the pigs/wings/flying-out-of-butts generation of thaumatology. In the early 1960s, the “Candid Camera” TV show often showed segments capitalizing on kids’ ignorance of these expressions. (My younger sister, then in 1st grade, made it on air when she completed “Fools rush in where …” with “people are crowded.”) OTOH, I don’t recall seeing questions like that on the zillions of standardized tests we took in elementary school. Could Gladwell just be telling an old wives’ narrative?
Jason Mazzone - May 23, 2009 at 8:32 pm
Agatha Christie likes to use “mare’s nest.” I suspect it is more common in British English. Gladwell’s father is English (Gladwell grew up in Canada).
Sue - June 23, 2009 at 2:01 pm
Anyone know the answers (as to how they’re obtained) to the IQ test questions in the Outlier’s book? Especially Raven’t question on page78? Please explain. Thanks
Mara - July 6, 2009 at 10:23 pm
I would’ve said “dentist”. What is a nest to a dentist??
Bobby - January 15, 2010 at 2:16 pm
I think it’s funny that Craig’s children are not “rocket surgeons”.
Maria - March 2, 2010 at 2:43 pm
I thought the “rocket surggeons” were funny too. I didn’t know the answer eihter, but hey, English isn’t my native tongue, do I guess I’m excused. This is exactly why IQ-tests aren’t accurate.
As to the answer to the Raven’s question, I haven’t the foggiest. Don’t feel stupid though, the test measures your ability to learn (as will as your reasoning skills). That means that if you take the whole test you will get to a higher level than you’d be able to do in the beginning. You might even be able to solve this one…
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