Friday, March 07, 2008

A Puzzle

What do handguns and soda containers have in common?

Leave answers in the comments section. (Yes, yes... I realize there's an infinite possible number of correct answers -- they're both tangible, they're both products, etc. -- but in keeping with the convention of puzzles like this, you have to find the relatively narrow and interesting category into which both fall. And besides, as it happens, at least one of them has been in my kitchen.)

27 comments:

Chip said...

Sometimes you can turn them in for money. And then they get crushed, melted and turned into something else?

Anonymous said...

Both need to withstand internal pressure.

Anomaly UK said...

Governments try (unsuccessfully) to reduce the number in circulation by buying them up: in "buybacks" and deposit refunds respectively.

Glen Whitman said...

All clever answers -- but not what I had in mind!

Anonymous said...

Pop a cap?

Yo.

Ran said...

My first thought was the same as Chip's, but since you've already ruled that out …

- Both need to be modified in order to be used: you need to load a handgun, and open a soda container.

- Both can be used as projectile weapons (one as the projectile itself).

- Both are forbidden on the campuses of many elementary schools.

- Both are the subject of debates over what to call them (though with one it's politically loaded, no pun intended, and with one it's primarily regional).

- Both have warnings on them not to point them at people (maybe? I'm sure I've seen some sort of warning like that before, but maybe that was on champagne?).

Anonymous said...

I would have said something about how both bring huge profits and kill a lot of Americans, but it's the *cans* so. . . Both are getting thiner? Need oil?

Glen Whitman said...

Even more creative answers, but still not what I was thinking. Hints:

It's not a pun.

It's not about how they are used.

It's not about their effects on individuals or society.

I'll give a more explicit hint in a day or two if I still haven't seen the answer.

Anonymous said...

They both pop.

Anonymous said...

they shoot when you least expect it

Anonymous said...

State legislatures spend enormous amounts of time debating petty regulations about both of these, and the regulations vary considerably from state to state in unpredictable ways.

Anonymous said...

Have both of them been banned in public schools?

dgonen said...

Neither can be brought past a security screening point at a U.S. airport.

dgonen said...

...unless they are empty (of bullets or of soda, respectively)

Anonymous said...

Both have "triggers" that have to be pulled?

Anonymous said...

I thought it might be the energy content, but a .45 ACP bullet has only about 500 J, or 0.12 kcal, while a can of coke has 140 kcal.

But a diet soda has a bit less than a kcal, which would be about the same energy as a fully loaded pistol.

Kai Jones said...

Both are useful because of what they contain.

Blackeagle said...

Both handguns and soda containers have been made out of steel, aluminum, and plastic.

Insert Username Here said...

Both are sold in a combination of U.S. & metric units: e.g, .45 [inch] or 9mm caliber, 12 oz. can or 2 liter bottle.

Anonymous said...

Both have been the target of lawsuits styled in terms of "defective product" under a theory of strict liability.

pinkboi said...

Both are pressurized by a gas (typically, CO2), though this depends on the handgun of course.

Both have a mouth.

Both are/have a cylinder.

Glen Whitman said...

David wins! I was thinking about how both items come in both metric and English units.

Lots of other good answers, though.

Insert Username Here said...

What do I win? I suggest a suitable prize might be a Glock and a case of Diet Coke.

Glen Whitman said...

Clarification, in reaction to a complaint at the Volokh Conspiracy: they come in both metric and English units in the United States. (Was there really any confusion about that? I hope not.)

Berck said...

I'll go ahead put automobile tires on that list. They're even worse. They're sold with both English and metric units SIMULTANEOUSLY.

Take the tire size 195/55R15, the size on my car.

That means that the width of the tread is 195mm, the sidewall height is 55% of 195mm, and the wheel diameter is 15 inches.

Taylor Ace said...

Hmmm. . . Metric and English measurements, yes, ALSO, both are phallic, and with "tips," if you will, that make them highly dangerous as sex toys for female sexual gratification. . .

Taylor Ace said...
This comment has been removed by the author.