h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: How To Get An Egg Into A Bottle - A23908511
Author: SWL™ If we are the only intelligent life in the universe, at least there's a finite number of idiots. - U1775547

A little one I knocked off earlier.

*giggles*

I knew how to do it, but not how to get it out again..

Oh Lord!


Not what have I said?

Traveller in Time with more controlled way to get egg out
"Put bottle first under cold water, cool all sides of the bottle.

Change to hot tap holding bottle upside down above a bowl, egg will pop out without catching it in the face or mouth. "

You could probably use a similar method to get the egg in. In fact, there are probably lots of ways to achieve this trick. This is just one way to do it

Ooooooooh SWL, I soooooo needed to know how to do that, I just didn't know I needed to know until you wrote it down.

Another title that betrayed the authir.
I'll read it once I've finished working on my own entry.

I don't understand the bit about getting it back out again, if it's upside down and I'm blowing into the bottle, isn't that nasty old pickled egg just going to end up down my throat?

Oh, I understood that as: give the bottom of the bottle a hard blow, like in: hit it.

I prefer TiT's option for removing the egg, and hope SWL will too.

Seems I shouldn't read things whilst not fully awake.

The finale, I've been told, is to add a strong salt solution to the bottle after the egg has gone in. This re-hardens the shell, and makes it even more mystifying.

>>> Just like dad, nature abhors a vacuum <<<

Just so you know, SWL, you are now responsible for the state of my keyboard and monitor



FM - would that not preclude then removing the egg from the bottle?

I agree with Mina, sounds like you'd get a gobful of nasty squidgy egg unless the bottle had a second orifice (like a vinegar/oil bottle, perhaps?)

Is a 'ketchup smack' sufficient to pop the still soft egg back out?

Actually, SWL, why not have a variety of possible endings?

obtain it's egg >> its egg


W

Well, if you want to get it out again, why bother putting it in there in the first place?

Shall we ask SWL that?

Traveller in Time confused
"Why get it out or better why get it in the bottle in the first place ?

Quite simple : While we can !

Why do we do things ? "

I agree. As whatsisname once replied when asked why he climbed Everest - "Because it's there". Well, we may not all have an Everest in our back gardens but we can still endeavour to push the envelope of human achievement in our kitchens.


Incidentally, how does the salt bit reconstitute a shell?

This trick was often given in books as "how to get an egg into a milk bottle". Does anybody still use milk bottles these days? And if not, are there any other bottles with a wide enough neck for the trick?

You have one "it's" that should be an "its" in the entry.

I'm pretty sure you still get milk bottles. Failing that, there are a few soft drinks' bottles like Oasis that should do the trick. Though, now I've got to thinking .... how cool would it be to fill a demi-john with eggs, especially if you could get the shells back on

Errant apostrophe rounded up and given a jolly good scolding btw.

I'm not sure I want to go into alternate endings. It's a short, concise piece that gallops along nicely. There are always different ways of doing things and this is just one.

Hi SWL



Well, to be quite honest, it just didn't sound all that spectacular a trick. You say "without breaking the egg" but before you start you hard-boil it to rubbery, and dissolve its shell in vinegar. I guess it's obvious to onlookers that you've done this. (And if so, why didn't you just peel it?) If the egg's rubbery, why should anyone be bemused by you squeezing it through a gap which is only slightly smaller than the egg itself?

Maybe I'm not picking up the full illusory feat.

Now if it had a shell and you squeezed it through without breaking it, then I'd be impressed.

Alternatively, someone mentioned using salt to 'reharden the shell'. If you could give the egg the appearance of being inside the bottle with a shell intact, then that again would be impressive.

Can you just clarify where the wow factor is with this one?

Icy