In her weekly column in Parade magazine, Ask Marilyn, Marilyn vos Savant poses the following problem:

Which of the following does not belong: a lemon, an orange, a bananna, a tennis ball?

Her answer: The lemon. It's the only object with no unique characteristics. The banana is the only one that is not round; the orange is the only one that isn't yellow; and the tennis ball is the only one that isn't a fruit.

She is, of course, wrong with her answer. In fact, there are at least two other answers.

The tennis ball is the only one that isn't usually eaten by humans, and the orange is the only one that takes the article "an" rather than the article "a".

I thouight of these two immediately. Can anyone else find other answers for her question?

This message has been edited. Last edited by: DorianGreyed,

The banana is the only item not Made In China.

Aren't there always many alternatives to this kind of question?

LMAO! I just thought of another, probably the most obvious, answer.

"Aren't there always many alternatives to this kind of question?"

Yes. I know that; you know that. But, apparently, she doesn't know that.

quote:

Originally posted by DorianGreyed:
LMAO! I just thought of another, probably the most obvious, answer.

Color?

I think she's right. We can all think of MANY things that set the banana, the orange and the tennis ball apart, but can you think of anything that is unique or distinct about the lemon that none of the others share? No, and that's why the lemon is the one that is different. It is the only one that ISN'T unique. There are many possible answers, but if you say that there is only one answer, that can be the only answer.

quote:

Originally posted by Sarai:
I think she's right. We can all think of MANY things that set the banana, the orange and the tennis ball apart, but can you think of anything that is unique or distinct about the lemon that none of the others share?

Yes. It's the only one in that list that is lemon-shaped.It's the only one that tastes like a lemon too but lemon-shaped is a better distinction because there are other fruits that are of that shape (e.g lime ).And unless we are very picky and claim that the small protrusions at the ends exclude it from the description we can call it ovoid. There are plenty of ovoids in the world but none of the others in the list is ovoid.

"...can you think of anything that is unique or distinct about the lemon that none of the others share?"

It is commonly used to naturally bleach hair and as a salad dressing instead of vinegar.

Methos - They are all a shade of yellow.

Sarai - She didn't ask if one didn't have something "unique or distinct ...that none of the others share". She asked "Which of the following does not belong", a different question entirely. Giving the restrictions in the answer shows that the restrictions were not in the question. What she has done is like asking for the three letter word for a group of whales, and accepting only "pod" and not "gam". (Don't laugh, I have had that exact situation happen in a trivia contest.) Just because she didn't see other answers before giving hers doesn't mean that the others are wrong; it just means that she missed some. Note that, on the TV show "Jeopardy", sometimes, a correction is made when an unexpected answer is belatedly recognized as a correct one. This is why I have repeatedly pointed out in the Trivia forums that the question should elicit one and only one answer, or else all responses that answer the question must be accepted as correct. It is not a game of "Guess What I Am Thinking About".

So far, no one has thought of the answer that I think is the most obvious.

Another answer: The tennis ball is the only one that is manufactured rather than grown.

(Still, the very obvious one has not been mentioned.)

quote:

Originally posted by DorianGreyed:
So far, no one has thought of the answer that I think is the most obvious.

Not: " Lemon is the only one that goes after, and with, Meadowlark" ?
[Whatever happened to the Harlem Globetrotters ?]

quote:

[Whatever happened to the Harlem Globetrotters ?]

They're still around; they just haven't changed their show in 50 years. (Still do the confetti in the bucket routine.)

Your just angry because you fall for it every time, JR.

Harlem Globetrotters official site

I checked their schedule, Fred, but no dates are given for the UK or France.

Actually, a couple years ago they played an exhibition game against the U of Mich. They lost, but showed they were capable of really playing basketball.

quote:

can you think of anything that is unique or distinct about the lemon that none of the others share?

First, I have to agree with DG, there's nothing in the question that makes not having any unique properties a better answer, but yes. For example, lemons are the only ones that taste sour (I'm guessing on the tennis ball).

Anyone know what gave a can of tennis balls its distinctive smell?

"Smells are used to make tennis balls seem more summery" - BBCNews

"Tennis enjoys a trademarked scent as well. A Dutch perfume company trademarked the smell of freshly cut grass, which it uses to give certain tennis balls the cache of having been scuffed on the grass courts at Wimbledon. It remains the only scent to enjoy European trademark status." - Columbia News Service

I found no answer to your question, but did find that many people love the smell of a just-opened can of tennis balls.

quote:

the smell of freshly cut grass,

I always thought they smelled of mothballs.

I don't know, DG. Probably silly to mention but the tennis ball is the only one that you can bounce. I dunno.....

That's another answer, one that I didn't think of. But the answer I think is the most obvious has yet to be mentioned.

You can't bounce bananas, but, if you throw them just right, they'll return to you.