Are Lobsters Ambidextrous? (14 page)
Read Are Lobsters Ambidextrous? Online
Authors: David Feldman
All of these theories have some merit, but we must admit that the last is the most inviting, if only because it is the most inclusive.
Submitted by Dan Arick of New York, New York
.
Why
do women put perfume on their wrists?
We’ve wondered the same thing. When we pass through the cosmetics counters of department stores, we see women applying perfume to their wrists and then sniffing intently. Why not on their fingers? The back of their hands? Their arms? Their underarms?
What do they know that men don’t know? A cursory poll of some females indicated that most of them had no idea why they put perfume on their wrists. But it turns out that there is a method to their madness. Irene L. Malbin, of the Cosmetic, Toiletry, and Fragrance Association, explains:
Women put perfume on their wrists because there is a pulse point there. Pulse points are located wherever the pulse of the heartbeat is closest to the surface of the skin. The heat generated by the pulse point will intensify a perfume’s impact.
Malbin lists other pulse points: behind the ears, the nape of the neck, the bosom, the crook of the elbows, behind the knees, and at the ankles. Obviously, it is easier for a consumer to apply perfume to the wrist than the back of the knee, at least in a department store.
All of this makes perfect sense. But then why don’t men apply cologne to
their
wrists? Or do they?
Submitted by Jesse Flores of Henrico, Virginia
.
Why
do pretzels have their strange shape?
We don’t know how every source we read or contacted dated the origin of the pretzel to Italy in
A.D
. 610, considering that none of them can point to the identity of the inventor or the exact location. But all agree that the pretzel was invented by a monk who used it as a reward for students who recited their catechism properly.
According to the conventional wisdom, the shape was not an accident, and it had nothing to do with expediency in baking. The Italian word for pretzel,
bracciatelli
(variously translated as “small arms” and “folded arms”) is the clue: The shape of the pretzel was meant to resemble the arms of a child in prayer. Norma Conley, a self-professed pretzel historian and president of the Pretzel Museum in Philadelphia, told
Imponderables
that in medieval times, people prayed by putting their arms across their chest in a cross shape, placing each hand on the opposite shoulder.
The shape of boys’ arms in prayer, and not the letter B, a
knot, or parts of the human body, are what the pretzel was designed to look like. Conley reports that pictures of pretzels can be found in early bibles, sometimes used as page borders.
This said, we would still not be surprised if the monk story was apocryphal. But it’s all we have, at present.
Occasionally, rituals around the world take advantage of the unusual shape of the pretzel. A woodcut from the seventeenth century, found in a cathedral in Switzerland, shows the pretzel used as a nuptial knot—a wishbone, of sorts. The bride and groom each pulled on one side of the pretzel; whoever grabbed the larger piece had his or her dreams come true. The two linked arms and ate the pretzel, and the possessor of the short end pretended that the inevitable loss of face involved in losing this contest wouldn’t ruin the marriage irreparably.
In parts of Europe, even today, the pretzel is used as a good-luck charm. In Germany, for example, many folks wear a pretzel on a loop around their necks on New Year’s Eve. (Try doing that with a pretzel stick!) Supposedly, the pretzel necklace brings them good luck and a long life. If nothing else, it gives them something salty to eat to motivate them to drink more beer—another, less esoteric, German New Year’s Eve custom.
Submitted by Jacob Schneider of Norwalk, Ohio
.
One look at Bic’s disposable lighter reveals the seemingly needless use of two chambers. When we queried folks at Bic and other lighter manufacturers, representatives calmly and without defensiveness denied that there were two chambers in their lighters.
Not until we heard from Linda Kwong, public relations man
ager at Bic, did we get the answer: Our eyes deceived us. There
aren’t
two chambers, but…
The wall of plastic that makes up the fuel reservoir portion of the main body has to be reinforced with a cross rib or web to assure that this containment vessel will exceed the high pressure of the fuel. This cross rib gives the
appearance
of two separate chambers.Submitted by Joseph P. McGowan of Glenolden, Pennsylvania. Thanks also to Dori Moore of Wheelersburg, Ohio
.
In
Do Penguins Have Knees?
, our readers obsessed about bubble gum, but this time around, we seem to have a new junk food obsession: Just what are they putting into those soft drinks of ours?
Let’s solve the second part of this Imponderable first. Most diet drinks, ones containing aspartame or saccharin, contain less than one calorie per twelve-ounce can but more than one half-calorie. Whether or not the drink gets promoted as “zero calories” or “one calorie,” then, usually depends upon how the marketer defines a serving size. Six ounces is the most popular serving size in the soft drink industry. If a twelve-ounce can of diet soda contains .66 of a calorie, then a six-ounce serving would contain .33 of a calorie. Because all figures are rounded off on nutritional labels, this soft drink can be advertised as containing zero calories.
A few soft drinks with mostly artificial sweeteners contain some natural flavorings, such as fruit juice, that contribute a meaningful number of calories (the flavored ginger ales marketed by Canada Dry and Schweppes contain a whopping two
calories per six-ounce serving). But for the most part, the contributors to any caloric content in artificially sweetened drinks comes from trace carbohydrates and other elements in flavorings.
So don’t blame the sweetener if you binge on one of those fattening one-calorie diet drinks. NutraSweet brand, the most popular artificial sweetener for soft drinks, is made of two amino acids, which are, technically, protein components. So aspartame has the same caloric count, per gram, as the protein in a T-Bone steak—four calories per gram. Fortunately for the dieter, the amount of aspartame in a soft drink doesn’t compare to the weight of the protein in a steak. Phyllis Rosenthal, consumer affairs analyst for NutraSweet, explains:
Since NutraSweet is 200 times sweeter than sugar, only a small amount is needed to sweeten products. Therefore, it contributes negligible calories to a product. A level teaspoon of sugar has 16 calories while the amount of NutraSweet with equivalent sweetness has 0.007 calories.
One 12-ounce carbonated beverage contains approximately 180 mg of NutraSweet, a very small amount, which provides a negligible amount of calories.
Negligible yes. But sometimes enough to push a drink over the precipice into one caloriedom. Of course, then the soft drink company can decide that a serving size should really be three ounces, and the product magically becomes zero calories all over again.
Submitted by Barry Long of Alexandria, Virginia
.
Relax, Jon. Phenylalanine is one of those two amino acids we referred to above that are used to make aspartame (the other is aspartic acid). You can find phenylalanine in all kinds of foods, including meats, grains, dairy products, and sometimes even chocolate.
If a soda uses sugar as its sweetening agent, it won’t contain phenylalanine.
Submitted by Jon. L. Carleen of Chepachet, Rhode Island
.
What
is brominated vegetable oil, and why is it found only in orange soda?
BVO, as it is known in the trade, is used as a stabilizing agent in beverages. Actually, it is in many other citrus drinks besides orange sodas. BVO consists of a vegetable oil base—usually soybean, but occasionally cottonseed—combined with bromine. You can’t taste BVO because it is used in minute amounts.
BVO keeps the flavoring ingredients in sodas from separating from the rest of the drink. It is much less convenient to shake a bottle of carbonated orange soda than it is to shake a carton of orange juice that has been sitting in the refrigerator for a few days. At least, it’s more convenient if you are the one who has to clean up the mess from shaking the soft drink.
BVO adds a side benefit, as well, for it is also a clouding agent, lending the liquid a more opaque appearance. Subliminally, the consumer might think of an orange drink as healthier
because the opaqueness conjures up an image of actual food, a pulpy, fruit-based rather than a chemical- and flavorings-based beverage.
Submitted by William Rockenstire of Poestenkill, New York
.
How
do they put the pockets in pita bread?
Who would have ever thought that the pocket is created without human hands intervening? Bakery engineer Simon S. Jackel, director of Plymouth Technical Services, explains:
Pita bread is placed in the oven as a thin, solid piece of dough. There is no pocket in the dough when it goes into the oven. But the oven temperature is so high, about 900 degrees Fahrenheit, that there is a rapid, explosive expansion of the water in the dough, causing the formation of a pocket by literally ripping the bottom part of the dough piece from the top dough piece. Total baking time at this high temperature is only one and one-half to two minutes.
Submitted by James Frisch of Great Neck, New York
.