MetaChat - Where does "There is no number eight" come from?

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10 August 2007

Where does "There is no number eight" come from? I've seen it around recently and can't recover the original reference from my puny human brain. Hive-mind to the rescue!

post by: kyleg at: 21:10 | 10 comments

Googling brings up a bunch of uses, but nothing clearly early or earliest.

I can't help but suspect maybe the Letterman show or some other place of similar vintage where the ranking/listing thing got started early.

posted by Miko 10 August | 21:17

I recall it in a Mad magazine I read in the early 70s, but I imagine it could have started in the vaudeville days. I recycled it into a quiz I composed for a history class.

posted by mischief 10 August | 21:24

All I could find was an old Monty Python skit mention, "There is no rule six." But the eight thing seems widespread enough that they can't all be bastardized versions of that joke, right?

posted by kyleg 10 August | 21:25

The Monty Python sketch in question.

I have nothing else to add. G'day, Bruce.

posted by bmarkey 10 August | 21:28

Good find, bmarkey, good memory.

I wondered how six changed to eight and idly started Googling "there is no number [other numbers[ and all the middle numbers are about evenly represnted, with six being most common. But there are plenty of "there is no number five/seven/four/eight".

posted by Miko 10 August | 21:50

I'm certain the Python sketch helped, but it's much older than that. The specific number is probably just one of those Bayesian distribution things, though.

posted by stilicho 11 August | 00:57

stilicho: how do you know it's older?

posted by Miko 11 August | 08:02

...I ask because it's the kind of thing I like to looking for, and I haven't discovered any earlier instances on the web. That of course doesn't mean it's not out there - looking into TV is a good idea, and Vaudeville is never a bad guess for a joke origin - but I'm curious as to whether you're remembering something specific or going on gut feeling.

posted by Miko 11 August | 08:04

My wild guess is that it comes from that TV show, the Prisoner. Or something.

posted by muddgirl 11 August | 10:41

"There is no number one" comes from The Prisoner.

posted by mygothlaundry 12 August | 10:38

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