One Male Goat

What do these phrases have in common?

must wash his clothes, one male goat, uttered his oracle, bathe with water

These are the statistically improbable phrases that Amazon found in the Bible. They analyze how many times a phrase occurs in a particular book, compared to the rest of the books they have looked at. I would have expected something about worshipping the Lord, but from a mathematical point of view, the distinctive feature of the bible is one male goat.

I thought it would be fun to look at some other famous books and find their statistically improbably phrases (SIPs). Here is a test just for fun. Read the following lists, and guess what book they come from:

A) selfish attachments, three gunas, selfless action, supreme goal, karma yoga, selfless service

B) spunk water

C) cilice belt, lame saint, seeded womb, lettered dials, corporal mortification, rosewood box, sacred feminine, royal bloodline, stone cylinder, sweater pocket

D) green eggs

E) lemon verbena sachet, ter mek, right hyah, dey din, iron rampart, free darkies, dar ain, slanting green eyes, whut dey, pie wagon, barbecue tomorrow, bandage rolling, gwine ter, dat chile, carriage block, flapped the reins, weary load, ter git, cape jessamine, look lak, got ter, come ter

F) slop arm, reconstructed pioneer settlement, thump rod, relay barrel, thump barrel, middle sill, proof vial, two end logs, churn jar, cut lap joints, plug stick, heater box, dovetail notches, shaving horse, fer dinner, white whiskey, cap arm, fifty gallon barrel, steam moves, pure corn, wall logs

G) defeating temptation, life purpose statement, real fellowship, five purposes, fulfill your mission, local fellowship, your spiritual gifts, your shape

H) bookstall keeper, merry old gentleman, replied the girl, fat gentleman, latter gentleman

Now that you’ve tried to guess, here are the books that those phrases were from:

A) Bhagavad Gita
B) The adventures of Tom Sawyer
C) The Da Vinci Code
D) Green eggs and ham
E) Gone with the wind
F) The Foxfire Book : Hog Dressing, Log Cabin Building, Mountain Crafts and Foods, Planting by theSigns, Snake Lore, Hunting Tales, Faith Healing, Moonshining
G) The purpose driven life.
H) Oliver Twist