100 Questions and 3,000 Answers

President Reagan was quoted as saying that if the game Trivial Pursuit were designed by economists, the game would have 100 questions and 3,000 answers. President Reagan’s quip is the title of a Tidbits feature…“100 Questions and 3,000 Answers.” This feature highlights a question or comment from a reader along with a response. Please send questions or comments to jayr@nefb.org.

Question: On New Year’s Eve, 1961, I will admit to having too much to drink. I did not even consider buying anything. Do you know how they got people to admit that they bought that much stuff while being intoxicated?

Response: An excellent question referencing last week’s Hmmm… which indicated people bought fewer items while intoxicated in 2020 compared to previous years. The information was quoted in The Van Trump Report and came from the website Finder.com. Finder’s latest Drunk Shopping survey of 1,800 people was conducted in September 2020. In response to the survey, 21.4 percent of the respondents admitted to shopping while under the influence—a SUI. Last year the average drunk shopper spent $424 on purchases, far below the $769 dollars spent the previous year. The most common purchase—food, 81 percent of respondents said they bought food while drinking. Another 60 percent indicated they bought shoes or clothing. The least popular item included on the list of drunk purchases—a motorbike. For more information on drunk shopping, go to: https://www.finder.com/drunk-shopping. However, this doesn’t answer the question of how they got people to admit they bought things while intoxicated. Perhaps they plied respondents with a drink?