50,000 CB2 Question. (in Contests)

No entry fee, only a single entry per person is allowed.

The first post anyone makes in this thread will be classed as their entry. Regardless of what is typed.

I'm looking for the the answer I was given by my Granddad (Which may or may not be the popular answer) to;

"How many beans make 5?"

(Just to point out to my lovely wife that other people have indeed heard of this phrase! :P )

As per the title, the prize is 50,000.

Have fun! ;)

lol. The answer would be "four," one of them is a has bean. :P

Two in each hand, and one in the mouth

two beans and a bean, a bean and a half, and half a bean

None right so far.

his answer was something along the lines of:
when you know how many beans make five, you are smart, well informed, clever, etc... you know what's what.

One bean, half a bean, bean-and-a-half and two beans

two in each hand and you, cos you're a human bean.....

five

no, the only thing i know about beans is that they're good for your heart....

None just right yet.

:)

Just to clarify, I'm looking for an exact answer. The exact version given to me by my Granddad.

Some answers have come very close though...

a bean, a bean, a half a bean, a bean and a half and a bean

We have a winner folks! :D

That was the exact version I was taught!

Very similar to other entries, but the order was very important!

Thank you. That was easy.:)

So now explain why your grandad taught you that the answer to "How many beans make 5?" is "a bean, a bean, a half a bean, a bean and a half and a bean ". What is the significance of that?

No idea Bast! I tried remembering back as to why I knew this when trying to explain the existence of the phrase to Claire. She'd never heard of it and thought I was just making it up...

I've really no idea where it came from...

:(

Idiom: know how many beans make five

To be sensible or aware; to have one's wits about one.

I found it amusing to ask people, "How many beans make five?" and "How many steps in a ladder?" as two of the riddles used to help them to open up and attain that understanding of the language of poetic metaphor. Both were never intended by Roy to be questions, but were simply the use of common British colloquialisms that roughly translate to "…am still being educated and haven't reached the end of my journey yet." Those questions would mean nothing special to an English person who heard them many times throughout their lives, and therefore would be useless as "mystical questions" in England. However in the United States the differences in the languages and the customs made them fun choices for me to use.

At one point, I was teaching people that many answers to the old ways, (folkways, folk magic and beliefs, "traditional witchcraft") can be found in surviving fairy tales. I suggested that people could find the answer to "How many beans make five?" by reading Jack in the Beanstalk since beans play a prominent role in the little thief's adventures. In fact, in at least one version of the story the person who buys the cow says to Jack, "You look like a bright lad. Tell me, how many beans make five?" And Jack replies brightly, "Oh, that's easy! Two in each hand, and one in the mouth!" Suitably impressed the stranger exchanges his five beans for Jack's cow. Since then some Americans have decided not only that "How many beans make five?" is a "traditional witch question" but also that the one and only correct answer is "Two in each hand and one in the mouth." So much for warnings about dogma!



_(-.-)/
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-Ai Luv U-
Proud member of The Knight Watch

"common British colloquialisms"

Ah... So that's what it is... I'll ask my Dad if he has any more info when he gets back from holiday.