Do Penguins Have Knees? (30 page)
Read Do Penguins Have Knees? Online
Authors: David Feldman
So, at least two popular science books testify to the existence of the cliché, but we are no closer to an answer to the genesis of the belief. Two friends swear that they remember reading about the 10 percent theory in a novel by Robert Heinlein, but we haven’t been able to track it down yet.
Frustable 3 from
Why Do Dogs Have Wet Noses?
is still open for business.
Submitted by David Fuller of East Hartford, Connecticut.
Thanks also to Ray Jackendoff of Waltham, Massachusetts, and Jeff White of Etobicoke, Ontario
.
FRUSTABLE 4:
Where, Exactly, Did the Expression “Blue Plate Special” Come From?
Reader Marty Flower provided us with a hot tip. She suggested we call the Homer Laughlin China Company, in Newell, West Virginia, the largest and one of the oldest suppliers of café and hotel china in the United States.
We called them and found to our consternation that although they sell blue plates, they didn’t start the practice, and didn’t know the origin of “blue plate specials.”
We were forlorn until we heard from Roger Bosley, of Arvada, Colorado, who sent along a reprint from a book (
A History of Man’s Progress
) from and about Pioneer Village in Minden, Nebraska. This book claims that the now familiar blue willow pattern of china was inspired by a Chinese legend about a poor coolie, named Chang, who fell in love with Li Chi, the daughter of a mandarin, while playing under a willow tree. The mandarin forbade the relationship, and the willow tree drooped in sorrow over the broken romance.
The Chinese depicted the story on blue dishes, some of which were brought back to the West by Marco Polo. According to the book, written by Harold Ward, “restaurants serve their leading course on a blue willow plate and call it a ‘Blue Plate’ special—in tribute to this legend.” Unfortunately we couldn’t find any evidence connecting the “special” to the blue willow pattern.
We heard from a couple of people who encountered blue plate specials. Nazelle Trembly, of Ocean Grove, New Jersey, remembers that the plates had three-way partitions to keep sauces from running into one another. Trembly theorizes that these plates were exported from China, probably first used at sea, and then later shipped to port towns like New York, Boston, and San Francisco.
But Oree C. Weller, of Bellevue, Washington, is our only correspondent who ever washed a blue plate special. He believes that Americans imported this china from Japan!
During the 1930’s, Japan exported a lot of dishes, cups, and saucers in a hideous pattern. Cafés all over, especially the South, bought these dishes because they were cheap and the cafés could tolerate the high incidence of breakage by low-paid ($. 10 per hour) dishwashers like me.
The cafés served a fixed price, fixed menu lunch every day and soon customers began saying as they sat down for lunch: “What’s on the blue plate for lunch today?” And hence the name stuck.
Perhaps we’re no closer to knowing exactly where the expression comes from, but at least we have some tantalizing theories.
A complimentary book goes to Oree C. Weller of Bellevue, Washington
.
FRUSTABLE 5:
Why Does the Traffic in Big Cities in the United States Seem Quieter Than in Big Cities in Other Parts of the World?
All of our mail echoed the same sentiment: Traffic seems quieter in the U.S. because it
is
quieter. The hero, it seems, is the catalytic converter. Typical of the responses was the letter of Toledo, Ohio’s David G. Conroy:
Traffic in Europe seems louder because it is louder. The reason—emission standards. Since 1972, all cars made in America and those imported to America must have catalytic converters built into the mufflers. Not only do these little marvels clean up auto exhausts, but they also make cars quieter. If you disagree, simply take the shielding off the converter on your car and see how much noisier it becomes.
But other factors are involved, too, best summarized by reader Jerry Arvesen of Bloomington, Indiana:
Our federal emissions laws are more stringent than most other countries’. Only recently are European countries requiring unleaded gasoline and the technology that reduces emissions, pollution, and consequently, noise.
A better-running, state-of-the-art vehicle is much quieter than a carbon-belching monster. This is especially true when comparing the United States with countries from behind the Iron Curtain, whose technology in automobiles is the equivalent of the cars we were producing in the 1950s and 1960s.
Also, the traffic laws of the United States are both enforced by police and obeyed by drivers much more than they are in European countries. This would naturally lead to less noise from horns honking, the sound of fender benders, drivers yelling at each other, and the like. I once read that in Italy, traffic lights are a guideline. A green light there means to go without reservation; a red light means go, but look first.
Our cities and states are more modern and therefore laid out much more efficiently for vehicular traffic than they are in the older European cities that are centuries old and originally designed with narrow, twisting streets barely wide enough for horses and one-way traffic to pass through.
Submitted by Nityanandan Ashwath of Richmond Heights, Ohio
.
A complimentary book goes to Jerry Arvesen of Bloomington, Indiana. Thanks also to David Schachow of West Hill, Ontario, and Ron Gulli of Tuscon, Arizona
.
FRUSTABLE 6:
Why Do Dogs Tilt Their Heads When You Talk to Them?
We assumed that this would be the easiest of the ten Frustables to answer. We’re still amazed that not one of the thirty or so dog experts we’ve contacted would venture an opinion on the issue.
Imponderables
readers, however, have no such compunctions. Readers were split among three camps: those that thought the tilting had to do with the dog trying to hear better; those who thought the dog was trying to sharpen his vision; and the doggy anthropologists who are confident that the tilting is a sign of (pick one) aggression or friendliness.
Devotees of the last camp often compared dogs’ tilting behavior to that of wolves, who are also known to tilt their head. Typical of the anthropology camp is the response of Marty Flowers, of Weirton, West Virginia:
Dogs tilt their heads when you talk to them to let you know they are listening to you. They don’t want to just stare at you, because that’s a sign of aggression in the animal world, but if they look away it might seem that they are not paying attention to you. So they look at you but tilt their heads to show that it doesn’t mean aggression. Dogs don’t growl and attack you with their heads tilted to one side.
We wouldn’t know. We’d be too busy hightailing it away from the dog.
The eye-camp was best represented by Jim Vibber, of Tustin, California:
Dogs aren’t the only animals that tilt their heads when listening to humans talk, and I think this may relate to the answer.
We humans often forget that most other animals do not perceive the world as we do. Binocular, 3-d vision probably should head the list of differences. Most animals (including dogs, birds, cattle, and fish) have one eye on each side of the head, and each eye sees half the world with little overlap in the fields of vision. We find it disconcerting to watch a chameleon looking at its surroundings, as each eye gawks around independently of the other like some clown doing cross-eye tricks. But we think it nothing unusual to watch a cockatoo turn its head sideways to get a close look at something. The same can be seen with goldfish and parakeets whenever you do something that gets their attention.
Dogs and cats have eyes a little more forward on the head than, say, sheep or elephants, but not so far forward as people. They turn their heads sideways, but also frequently perform the more subtle movement of tilting the head at an angle while keeping the nose mostly pointed in the same direction. I’ve also seen this tilting movement in movies, such as when a wolf is looking at something, but I have no idea how much of this is in response to off-camera coaching by the animal trainer.
This
may
be a way of looking at something tall, such as a human being or a tree. Has anyone checked whether dogs respond differently according to whether one is standing, sitting, or lying down?
Not to our knowledge. Before we write the next volume of
Imponderables
, we’ll consult some more veterinary ophthalmologists and check out your theory, Jim.
One point that several dog experts emphasized to us is that dogs’ hearing is so good that it is highly unlikely that they are tilting their heads in order to hear us. Still, we’re most sympathetic with the simpler but not unreasonable ear-theory proponents, led by Susan Scott, of Baltimore, Maryland: “Wouldn’t you tilt your head if everyone around you were speaking gibberish?”
We haven’t given up yet. We’re going to nail this Frustable eventually.
Submitted by Mark Seifred and Denise Meade-Seifred of Memphis, Tennessee
.
A complimentary book goes to Jim Vibber, who certainly has the best rap, even if we’re not sure we believe it
.
FRUSTABLE 7:
Why and Where Did the Notion Develop That “Fat People Are Jolly”?
We didn’t get much mail on this subject, but most of the letters we did receive were choice.
Rick DeWitt, of Erie, Pennsylvania, sent us a reprint of an essay written by Eric Berne (author of
Games People Play
) called “Can People Be Judged by Their Appearance?,” which first appeared in his book
Mind in Action
. Berne argues that the three main body types (endomorph, mesomorph, and ectomorph) each yield specific personality characteristics.
According to Berne, the round, soft, thick build characteristic of the viscerotonic endomorph is usually possessed by someone who likes to “take in food, and affection, and approval as well. Going to a banquet with people who like him is his idea of a fine time.” Berne’s depiction of the endomorph is a catalog of stereotypes about the jolly fat person (“The short, jolly, thickset, red-faced politician with a cigar in his mouth, who always looks as though he were about to have a stroke, is the best example of this type.”) with no evidence whatsoever to corroborate his conclusions.
Berne, a psychiatrist, notes that most people do not fall clearly into one body type, but claims that if someone does, he or she tends to display behavior characteristic of that body type (“If he is a viscerotonic, he will often want to go to a party where he can eat and drink and be in good company at a time when he might be better off attending to business…”). We’re not sure Berne’s discussion really answers our Frustable, but it surely demonstrates how pervasive the image of the fat, jolly person is.
We’re more sympathetic with the homegrown theory of Kim Anderson, of Alma, Arkansas: “The excess fat under the skin of their faces hides wrinkles and stress lines so they appear to always be happy.” This makes more sense to us than Berne.
But Melinda S. Mayfield, of Kansas City, Missouri, took us at our word about digging into the history of the fat/jolly notion:
In ancient and medieval times, the physiologists believed that the four chief fluids or “cardinal humours” of the human body, blood, phlegm, choler (yellow bile), and melancholy (black bile), decided a person’s physical and mental qualities and disposition by the dominance of one over the others. In the case of the humour blood, it created a temperament, or “complexion,” called
sanguine
. A sanguine person was characterized by a ruddy countenance, a courageous, cheerful, amorous disposition, and an obese body.
Even in William Shakespeare’s day, people believed in the four temperaments, a fact evident in his plays. (Ever notice how the comic, happy people in them, such as Falstaff and Juliet’s nurse, are fat? Well, now you know the reason.) In modern times, we no longer follow the theory of the four humours, but we do still follow Shakespeare’s plays, and the idea of the florid-faced, jolly, roly-poly person has lived on.