Harrowsmith – September 2019

14

T

he American game show

Family Feud debuted in

1976 and was one of very

few programs that we could

reliably dial in with an antenna

and rotor control box out in

the country. My siblings and I

sat cross-legged in front of the

console TV, yelling over the

competing family members.

We sat too close, of course—the

common refrain from my dad

was “You’re going to hurt your

eyes!” We’d hush him so we didn’t

miss any bit of the show.

The answers to the host’s

questions were actually based on

those obtained from a 100-person

survey panel. Contestants battled

it out, trying to guess the most

popular answers to the question.

Since the answers were derived

from a survey, “Survey says!” was

the natural response.

When piecing together content

for “Air,” our third elemental-

themed issue, we thought, “What

is associated with air?” My

personal survey said this: Birds!

Manure! Airstreams! Airwaves!

Lavender fields! Drafty windows!

Ayr, Ontario (page 224)! The

angel’s share (learn more about

this on page 91)! We definitely

didn’t pull ideas out of thin air

for this issue, and you’ll see that

Editor’s letter

Survey

Says!