10 reasons, that 10 reasons annoy me

You see them everywhere, magazines, website and I am that some aghast reputable news papers are all doing top ten lists. You have seen them, ten reasons, ten best, ten things to do and so on ...

So, being no better, here comes my top ten of ten reasons why top ten lists are dire:

1. Reason one, I will always put my most biased research opinion at the top
2. Now, I will try and add another very witty item, most lists do.
3. For many of us, the notion of a list, gives a complex concept, or something that is important to us credibility. Some marketing souls exploit this.
4. Our minds work in number groups, we all see patterns. Ancient cultures focussed on this; numbers such as 3, 7, 10 all have meaning (as does 6). Ok, they also gave this some mythical meaning, ironically we still have this notion in modern culture, four horse riders etc
5. Now we have reached the halfway point, this alone would merit comment. See what I did here.
6. Have you noticed that this is simply the number nine, gone awry?
7. Have you ever tried to remember something by using a mnemonic (or acrostic). Richard of York gave battle in vain. Do the colours of the rainbow make the number seven more important
8. Now only two more to go; this pre-penultimate number shows that the list writers are often running out of ideas at this point.
9. Now its time to return to the point of the list. Would you remember this top ten tomorrow, if the day after. The point is they fill print, maybe entertain and occupy the readership yet achieve nothing.
10. At last; the end is here, my friend the end. If you are ever tempted into writing a top ten for anything. Run, run away, run far my friend as these are people with whom you should not do business.

Unless you are the Count from Sesame Street, there is no reason why any top-ten should be interesting.

Image and the Count, all rights, the Jim Henson Company.