

Fold Your Arms to Increase Perseverance On a Problem - skmurphy
http://www.canada.com/components/print.aspx?id=fb05abc6-149a-499d-b3b4-e9df6007675a&sponsor=

======
lacker
They measured "persistence" by seeing how long people would try to solve an
allegedly impossible anagram - "OCHERSTE". But anyone capable of googling for
[anagram solver] should be able to see there _is_ a solution to that anagram -
"trochees".

anagram solver:

[http://www.ssynth.co.uk/~gay/cgi-bin/nph-
an?line=rocheste...](http://www.ssynth.co.uk/~gay/cgi-bin/nph-
an?line=rocheste&words=1&dict=antworth&doai=on)

wikipedia on trochees:

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trochee>

Not that it invalidates the study or anything. Just funny that between the
European Journal of Social Psychology and the canada.com reporter nobody
thought to check if the impossible anagram was actually impossible ;-)

~~~
alyx
I think the word impossible was used loosely. Because I can honestly say that
I very well could have lived my life never having heard of the word
'trochees'.

