From an IQ exam:
What does this say? ↑ → ← ↓
(Edited from ↑ ← → ↓ ; see my explanation in Deusovi's answer below. I'll be going now.)
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1Would this count as a rebus? – Beastly Gerbil May 29 '16 at 18:42
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@BeastlyGerbil: I'd say so! – Deusovi May 29 '16 at 19:29
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6It would only make sense in one of the worlds languages. So whatever IQ that would measure would be heavily biased. – mathreadler May 29 '16 at 19:49
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18@mathreadler All IQ measurements are heavily biased. Defining intelligence in terms of who has the best math skills is itself a heavily biased definition. – BobRodes May 29 '16 at 20:29
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There is a conceptual difference between using language skills (which is both learned and culturally biased) and non-language based symbolic pattern recognition like casual (time-sequence) patterns which is the basis of many IQ tests. But I do agree that IQ is often heavily biased toward spatial pattern recognition and/or mathematics. However, for this question the connection between arrow and letter is through language. So it is more of a test of who has learned culture well enough. – mathreadler May 29 '16 at 20:55
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3Whether a person knows the word "news" isn't much of a determiner of their language skills, beyond the age of perhaps six or seven. As such, it's difficult for me to support the assertion that this question is a test of "who has learned culture well enough" at any level past early childhood, in the way that a question that measured reading comprehension might well do. I find it much easier to support the assertion that the question is an indicator of lateral thinking skills, albeit limited to speakers of the English language in its usefulness as such an indicator. – BobRodes May 29 '16 at 21:37
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11Well, that's not the Konami Code. – T. Sar May 30 '16 at 16:54
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@mathreadler I'd answer ↓ – May 31 '16 at 04:07
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@ThalesPereira My first thought exactly ... – Num Lock May 31 '16 at 07:50
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1When I saw this I interpreted it as "Going back to where you started from" – Creative Magic May 31 '16 at 09:28
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@BobRodes Regarding your association with the language, "what the arrows are saying" can be interpreted in several different ways. "URLD" is also something they can be saying. It may be "ABED". – T. Sar Jun 13 '16 at 19:17
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@ThalesPereira I'd be interested to see the reasoning behind your alternate interpretations. – BobRodes Jun 17 '16 at 19:49
7 Answers
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If you interpret them as
compass points
it says
NEWS.
Deusovi
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25Edited and corrected. They used to call me "Wrong-way Rodes" at a place I worked when I was young. I have "direction dyslexia", which causes me to transpose left and right and get lost very easily if I don't resort to maps and signs. It's very annoying driving down the Oklahoma Turnpike, because the gas stations are in the median serving both directions. I have on two occasions got back on the road going the wrong direction, going 25 miles or so back the way I came, paying a toll, and getting back on the way I was going. – BobRodes May 29 '16 at 19:30
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Though @Deusovi's answer seems correct I just want to point out that the test might have mocked you stating you're going nowhere ;) – Vincent May 30 '16 at 08:50
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Groan, if this was actually the answer to an IQ test, it really is weak... How would anything outside of the alphabet of {N, S, E, W} be 'said' ? For instance how would 'North' - the word we've arbitrarily taken the first letter from - be communicated ? What is the 'arrow-glyph' for 'o', 'r', 't' and 'h' ? – Lamar Latrell May 30 '16 at 21:12
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@LamarLatrell It was interesting in part because of the context. There were numerous other questions of the find the next number/symbol in the sequence variety, and several word-type questions, all sprinkled into a lot of which choice describes you the best questions. I couldn't think of an answer to it until I cleared my head and came back to it near the end of the exam. Probably why I still remember it 33 years later. – BobRodes May 31 '16 at 07:47
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2@bobrodes, at the risk of sounding like a real bore... those sequence style questions are just as arbitrary ! – Lamar Latrell May 31 '16 at 07:50
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Sigh. Driving from Indianapolis to Nashville last week, got off the road to get something to eat, got back on, and about a half hour later noticed the sign "Indianapolis 43". There went that sinking feeling again. Another eight miles before I could turn around. I had even looked at the sign getting back on the freeway, and said "North. Yep, that's the way I'm going." Sometimes it's tough to be me. :) – BobRodes Jun 17 '16 at 19:52
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My 4 year old son saw this and started singing Goosey Goosey Gander
Upstairs ↑ and Downstairs ↓, In my lady's chamber → ←
Abhijit
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I'm going orthogonal instead of lateral with this one.
upright left bottom
Playing with words is (arguably) much more fun than playing with compass.
An upright (marked by strong moral rectitude) person, who, as a result of misfortune, hit the rock bottom, has finaly been able to go back to living according to his former ideals and left his past behind him.
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Interpret it as puns coordinates, and as directions and quality. Up arrow means up, +y, and also "why?" Left arrow means -x and also a lack or loss, or something worse or forgotten. Right arrow means +x and a gain, or something better, and also "right" and "write". Down arrow means down, -y, or "why not?" We get: +y => Why -x => forget [suffer loss] +x => it is better to write -y => (it) down!
wombat
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From the point of view of an overhead observer looking at a person move in those directions, it says indirection or confusion to me.
Bob
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