help with a forgotten quotation (ish)
May 20, 2013 11:15 AM Subscribe
I read something in the past 5-30 years that had a story about the value of a sacrificial, superficial distraction that was something along the lines of leaving an apple on the dashboard of your car when crossing the border between the US and Canada if you have something bigger to hide. I use the phrase 'apple on the dashboard' from time to time and not only does no one else get the reference, I've forgotten it, too. Anyone?
I remember it being something like - border control dudes will see the apple and it's an easy target and they'll shout at you for that and take it away, and having expended some 'AHA! Found something!' energy on something relatively innocuous they would pass you through without looking for anything else you might be hiding more determinedly. It may well have been part of some incidental conversation in a novel or short story or even a movie - I don't even have a vague memory of the context I read/heard/dreamed it in.
I usually use the idea in terms of collaborative writing, for what it's worth - just having some low-hanging fruit (heh) that someone who likes tinkering can tinker with that I'm not bothered about losing/modifying. I've just been wondering where the hell I got it from and googling 'apple on the dashboard' - even with other keywords - yields what you'd expect. I'm pretty sure I read this and I'm not misremembering a story or advice out of the mouth of an actual live human, but that's always possible.
I remember it being something like - border control dudes will see the apple and it's an easy target and they'll shout at you for that and take it away, and having expended some 'AHA! Found something!' energy on something relatively innocuous they would pass you through without looking for anything else you might be hiding more determinedly. It may well have been part of some incidental conversation in a novel or short story or even a movie - I don't even have a vague memory of the context I read/heard/dreamed it in.
I usually use the idea in terms of collaborative writing, for what it's worth - just having some low-hanging fruit (heh) that someone who likes tinkering can tinker with that I'm not bothered about losing/modifying. I've just been wondering where the hell I got it from and googling 'apple on the dashboard' - even with other keywords - yields what you'd expect. I'm pretty sure I read this and I'm not misremembering a story or advice out of the mouth of an actual live human, but that's always possible.
This is really similar to an idea in website design (which is also called a particular phrase, but I'm not coming up with it right now) where you, the designer, present the website to the client with one glaring horrible thing - I don't know, something in Comic Sans or an obnoxious icon for the pointer. That way, the client can go, "ugh, that's terrible, take it out," instead of hunting for something real to fix so that they feel useful and discerning.
posted by punchtothehead at 11:28 AM on May 20, 2013 [4 favorites]
posted by punchtothehead at 11:28 AM on May 20, 2013 [4 favorites]
Best answer: It's the duck! The duck! As asked in a previous question.
posted by redsparkler at 11:29 AM on May 20, 2013 [4 favorites]
posted by redsparkler at 11:29 AM on May 20, 2013 [4 favorites]
Response by poster: redsparkler - you're a god/dess! Also thank you, punchtothehead. Ok - that scratches one part of the mental itch - but if anyone can pipe up with where I've seen the apple reference I'll sleep better. Or something.
But I will start referring to the phenomenon as the duck, in the meantime. Or any of the other wonderful terms in that Ask.
(I probably marked a best answer too soon, sorry, but I was very excited.)
posted by you must supply a verb at 11:42 AM on May 20, 2013
But I will start referring to the phenomenon as the duck, in the meantime. Or any of the other wonderful terms in that Ask.
(I probably marked a best answer too soon, sorry, but I was very excited.)
posted by you must supply a verb at 11:42 AM on May 20, 2013
HAH. When I was working on educational products for certain overly politicalized state school boards, we called it The Monkey. As in, you put in a picture of a monkey, they get their knickers in a knot about EVIL-LUTION, and demand you remove the monkey. Meanwhile, you sneak a full column entry about Harvey Milk into a later chapter...
posted by like_a_friend at 11:53 AM on May 20, 2013 [10 favorites]
posted by like_a_friend at 11:53 AM on May 20, 2013 [10 favorites]
It's not an apple, but otherwise your anecdote makes me think of the report that the TSA confiscated a bottle of water from a bag but didn't find the fake bomb that was also inside.
posted by payoto at 12:21 PM on May 20, 2013
posted by payoto at 12:21 PM on May 20, 2013
I've seen this principle come up all over the place in various contexts, but perhaps the most hilarious is Chris Morris' infamous sacrificial sketch, created because the radio station management would always cut something from his (fairly disturbing and offensive) show. So he created a sketch so blatantly offensive that it would be guaranteed to get cut, hopefully shielding the rest of the material. Inevitably, it eventually got posted on the web: full audio, so very very NSFW. (For context, Carey was the Archbishop of Canterbury at the time, and Princess Diana's death was a pretty recent event.)
(On edit: I see you're in the UK and thus probably don't need the context, but I'm leaving it in for any other readers who might require it.)
posted by pont at 12:38 PM on May 20, 2013 [1 favorite]
(On edit: I see you're in the UK and thus probably don't need the context, but I'm leaving it in for any other readers who might require it.)
posted by pont at 12:38 PM on May 20, 2013 [1 favorite]
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posted by windykites at 11:20 AM on May 20, 2013