Re: OT: Junk/Dim S(ui)m

John queries:

>That reminds me that I saw a mysterious sign on a Catholic church
>today:  CHINESE AUCTION TODAY, ADMISSION $3.  What on earth is that?
As I recall, it's sort of a combination of an auction and a raffle.
Your $3 at the door buys X amount of tickets. But unlike purebred
raffle tickets, where you'd get X amount of chances at one prize
(say, a television), you can "bid" on the prizes displayed that
you're interested in (more often than not chotchkies, but not always)
by placing one or more tickets in a basket next to said prize which
is later drawn from, like your regular raffle. I guess the theory is
you can either put all your tickets in one basket and improve your
chances of winning that particular item, or spread the chances around
of winning *something*, so in that sense, you're "bidding". Don't
figure on it having too much to do with China -- it's big at small
summer fundraisers like, as in your example, chruch socials.

Kou

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