by tiw » Sep 25th, '08, 09:03
This one's quite good at a party and so far it's worked 5 times out of 5 for me. I'll just tell you how I did it the last time as I can't really break down the method.
Anyway, I was at a house party and walked into the kitchen where some poor girl was hiccuping. There were 3 other people in the room all suggesting drinking water and holding breath. I wandered over just as the lastest 'cure' failed and offered to help. I took out my wallet, took out a tenner, and slapped it down on the table in front of her saying "Here's £10. Hiccup again and it's yours!", and pushed it across the table towards her before stepping back. I then gestured innocently waited for 3-5 seconds, said "No? Alright then!", picked up the money and left!
As I left, the poor girl said "Rats! I coulda done with money!". Well that's gratitude for you!
The theory goes that hiccups are involuntary, and as soon as you try to make yourself hiccup, you can't. As everyone knows, if you break the pattern of hiccuping by relaxing/drinking water/sudden shock they'll disappear. Perhaps someone could come up with a proper scientific explanation as I don't really know why it's worked. I might just be luck!
As for the history of "The Move", credit goes to a friend of a friend who worked in A&E. He'd come across people in terrible states, and to cap it off, they'd have the hiccups as well. He'd then use this wager to cure the hiccups to give them some relief! I never found out his success rate, it might've been never for all I know!