Spoilers for Friday 2nd February 2024 (Series 89, Heat 24)

[Stewart Gordon]

I'm pretty sure the true meaning of "Hobson's choice" is a "this or nothing" choice, rather than literally no choice at all. According to what I was taught, Mr Hobson himself is reputed to have said to his customers something like, "You're having the horse nearest the stable door, or none at all." (I'm made to wonder now how he dealt with people who came back later, when a different horse would be nearest the door.)

I've just discovered that there's also a name for a choice between two evils: "Sophie's choice".

And I would imagine that there's a name for a choice of the form "X or X". This typically means the options provided are too similar to be much of a choice, rather than the exact same thing being on the menu twice. For example "chicken or chicken" meaning a choice between two chicken dishes, with no option provided for those who don't like chicken (or even are vegetarian). Another example is when one of my groups offered a choice between going to the cinema and a video night, in other words "watch a film or watch a film". Any idea what this kind of choice is called?