h a l f b a k e r yRenovating the wheel
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When the guy completes the sentence: "S - O - L - D -
SOLD!" The auction's over.
Replaces that machine gun talking
"Weeeegot550whogonnagimme6
yamminayamminayammina" thing they do now.
I understand the idea is to drum up excitement but I
don't see the point of communicating when people
can't
understand what you say. This would be more exciting
and clearer. You say the price, suggest the next bid and
do a short countdown of a pre-determined length. You
can't do numbers because that would add to the
confusion. "I got three hundred, who'll give me four,
five, four, three, two, one... I got one hundred, who'll
give me.. oh, wait..."
You've got some wiggle room with auctions now, the
auctioneer might give you a few more seconds to think
about it but with this method you more clearly see the
end of the auction coming. Or do you? Auctioneer's can
still drag out that last D and the "SOLD!" if they want to.
*ridiculous* ain't on this list....
http://grammar.your...sts/misspelled.html [xandram, Jun 18 2012]
Say each letter copying these tones
http://www.youtube....watch?v=MdsuUlEP57g Like: S - S -S, OhhhhhhOhhhhhOhhhhh. lllllllLLLLL lllllllLLLL [doctorremulac3, Jun 18 2012]
The Taxi Programming Language
http://bigzaphod.github.io/Taxi/ [ytk, Jun 18 2012, last modified Feb 08 2014]
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Annotation:
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I'm given to understand that the auctioneer's style has a
great deal to do with tradition. Tradition is something we
rural folk tend to hang onto, because we think slower than
them flashy big-city types. |
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Well, they could still retain the machine gun delivery if necessary. They could say: |
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"Got 550 gimme 600 S. S .S .S .S .S .S .S .S .O. O. O. O. O. O. O .O .L. L .L. L. L. L. L. L. D. D. D. D. D. D. D. SOLD!" Or "S-ily S-ly S-ly S-ily S-ly S-ly O-dily O-dily O-dily O-dily O-dily O-dily O-dily O-dily etc. Sort of like yodeling. |
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So you could still get your traditional silly on, but it would be a little clearer what the guy's saying and you get the countdown aspect. I understand and have great regard for silly traditions, but you could retain or even increase the silly aspect while enhancing it's effectiveness. |
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Speaking of silly, I have gotten excited and bid against myself once before - that may be part of the intent. |
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Yea, I went to an auction once. Sounds silly but you get quite an adrenaline rush once the battle starts. The guy starts his "Yiminyyiminyyiminy" thing, you throw that paddle up, you're on top of the world for about 3 seconds then Bam! that schmo three rows over stole your item like a jackal pulling a wallaby out of a polar bear's mouth. So "BAM!" you fire back and next thing you know, you've paid 3 times what the item's worth but it's all yours. Then you get to look at the guy who only offered twice what the thing is worth with that "Who's the idiot now sucker?" smirk that makes it all worth while. |
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At the Burnham and Otterthwaite sheep auction on
St. Clive's day, it's traditional for the auctioneer to
conclude by blowing a series one, then two, then
three notes on a silver cornet whilst stamping his
foot. |
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However, since the cornet obscures his view of part
of the bidding floor and also makes bidders' cries
inaudible, experienced bidders locate themselves
just left or right of centre. |
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While lifting his leg to stamp his foot? Sure that's a cornet you're hearing? <--- fart joke. |
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//While stomping his foot?// |
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No, whilst stamping his foot. |
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(Singing) You say "whilst" and I say "fart joke" ... |
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My not-quite-grandfather was an auctioneer as a side-job. He's fun to listen to. |
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Yea, you'd have to make sure with this method you
do something entertaining to compete with the old
method. Maybe tap dancing. Or spell the word
sounding like an air raid siren where each letter goes
up in pitch. |
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Maybe spell it out such that you sound like one of
those car alarms that cycles through 4 or 5
progressively more obnoxious alarm sounds. I'll try to
find a link. |
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I have nothing of value to add, but I just wanted to
point out that in the Taxi Programming Language
(link) the destination that converts strings to
uppercase is called "Auctioneer School". I find this
quite amusing, for some reason. |
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To make it more interesting, bidders can raise the bid, but only with additional amounts in prime numbers. |
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Every auctioneer has a different style. Some plead. Some taunt. Some try humor. Some are so proper and snooty. The sustained sound is more an effort to save their voice. Stopping and starting kills the vocal chords. Even so they have to trade off every two hours or so. Your not suppose to understand everything said just the pricing changes and where the bids are coming from. |
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I, and a flask of cognac, have bid against myself once or twice in the excitement. Fortunately I had friends to calm me down. |
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Most auctions you can skip entirely. Just leave a bid for things you want with the staff during the preview, and one of the floor men will bid on your behalf when your items comes up. Should you win you'll get a call and can sort out payment and delivery. Floor men have bid against cognac as well. |
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Well, this was an auction in a barn for horses, tack and saddles. Not much floorman action there. |
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