• grue@lemmy.world
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    8 hours ago

    It’s also a joke about how very subtle actions count as signaling a bid. Never been to a horse auction so I don’t know how true that is IRL, but it’s a trope in media.

    • PhoenixDog@lemmy.world
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      6 hours ago

      There’s a livestock option in the town I live near. I’ve only been once but my partner has a few times. During the actual auction part people bidding barely raise their hand. Just a quick gesture so the auctioneer can see it.

      You could 100% be thought you’re placing a bid by scratching your nose. They move fast as there’s lots of animals to auction off so it’s all about speed.

    • KoboldCoterie@pawb.social
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      7 hours ago

      There were even cartoons in the 80s and 90s that made this joke. I vaguely recall a Bugs Bunny cartoon or something similar where the characters were at an auction, and one went to hit another and the auctioneer interpreted it as a bid, and they spent the rest of the show trying to get other people to accidentally place bids, too, to outbid them so they wouldn’t have to pay for it.