Card #6 – ”Look for Ambiguity” from the Creative Whack Pack
Available on the iOS App Store and as a physical deck of cards

How do you keep a fish from smelling? Put it in the water. Freeze it. Burn incense. Cut its nose off.
This last bit of cleverness results from adopting an ambiguous outlook and discovering that the problem could be interpreted in a variety of other ways.
How to do this? Simply ignore your initial response, and then imagine other contexts where it might make sense.
Here are a few examples:
• “Light-headed workers” can refer to employees at a Friday afternoon office party, and also to . . . MINERS.
• “Unlocked area” can refer to a place where you are free to enter, and also to a . . .
BALD SPOT.
• “Veiled statement” might refer to a threat made by an adversary, and also to . . . I DO.
• “Place where you are charged the going rate”
can refer to a fish market, and also to a . . .
PAY TOILET
• “Sleeping aid” can refer to a glass of warm milk,
and also to a . . . CLEAR CONSCIENCE
• “Party line” can refer to what a committed
socialist adheres to, and also to . . . SURPRISE
• “Ring bearer” can refer to a child at a wedding,
and also to . . . SATURN
• “Strips in a club” can refer to what a female adult entertainer does, and also to . . . BACON
• “Six footer” can refer to someone who is above
average in height, and also to . . . ANT
• “Make-up artist” can refer to the person who
prepares actors’ faces before a performance, and
also to a . . . LIAR
• “Puts on a coat” can refer to the garment one dons in cold weather, and also to . . . PAINTS
• “Bouncer’s place” can refer to the front of a
fancy nightclub where a muscular man stands,
and also to a . . . TRAMPOLINE
• “It might turn into a different story” can refer
to the court testimomy of a convicted felon, and
also to a . . . SPIRAL STAIRCASE
“Unlocked area” can refer to a place where you are free to enter, and also to a . . .
BALD SPOT.
As the Czech novelist Milan Kundera put it: “The greater the ambiguity, the greater the pleasure.”
— How else can you interpret your issue?
— What ambiguity can you find in your issue? How can you play and work with it?