When looking for the best films of 2009 so I could get a video and stay home tonight, I came across this quip from Robert Ebert,
Since Moses brought the tablets down from the mountain, lists have come in
tens, not that we couldn't have done with several more commandments.
How true! We often talk of The Top 10 List of this or that. In NZ we also speak of the First 11 or the First 15, but most lists are either 10, 40 or 100. The FBI has its Top Ten Most Wanted. Top 40 usually has to do with music charts. The Big 5 are the African animals most people want to see on Safari.
Top 100 is when list makers want to cover more ground and couldn't whittle it down to 10, I reckon! Time has top 100 most influential this or that and book lists often stretch to 100 as it is too hard to choose!
NZ has Top 10 Holiday Parks. What happens when they get too many? They can do as the Beach Judges did and make it the Top 20 Best Deserted Beaches in the World. Wouldn't you like that job! NZ has one beach on that list but then there are so many other beautiful beaches, they made an exclusive Top 10 list for NZ beaches.
How about Publisher's Weekly Top Ten Books of 2009 or The Guardian's list of Top Ten lists of best books in various categories.
If you were going to make a Top Ten List of something, what would it be? Best cars, geocaches, guitars, sources of anti-oxidants, uses for vinegar or duct tape, songs, or iPhone apps? What else is worth making a list of? Think outside the box!!
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