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Here comes the science bit
Feb. 12th, 2013 08:55 pmIn which I back up the wild claims Emory and Nate make in TOG. With science! And some other stuff.
1. Where the popcorn comes into play is that the properties of its questionable flavoring in some of the microwaveable varieties may actually have a hand in causing dementia. -- Chapter One
Afraid some enthusiastic microwaveable popcorn lobbyist might read my book and accuse me of besmirching popcorn's good name, I did consider taking this part out -- or at least sprinkling the word allegedly throughout the sentence with a liberal hand, but I really like little bits of throwaway trivia. And at the time of writing, I had just learned about it so I was itching to share (and ruin everyone's quintessential film-watching experiences, naturally. You're welcome.)
To be fair, eating butter-flavored popcorn probably isn't going to give you dementia. The study referenced regards food industry workers' chronic exposure to the flavoring ingredient, diacetyl, during the manufacturing process. Researchers found that the ingredient increased the risk of toxic damage to brain cells similar to the way proteins clump together in Alzheimer's disease. Which is still not to say that diacetyl definitely does link to dementia, but that it's a possibility.
Source: Science Daily
2. "Maybe," I said smoothly. "But Aristotle once said that people with curly hair can't be trusted, so..." -- Chapter Two
I first heard about this on QI, a wonderfully funny and informative British comedy panel quiz show, on their Fingers and Fumbs episode (S6E7). Apparently Aristotle was super into physiognomy, which reads a person's character or personality from facial features. He wrote a whole book on it, The Secrets of Nature Relating to Physiognomy, in which pretty much every facial feature signifies something horrible. Of the curly-haired: "He is by nature proud and bold, dull of apprehension, soon angry, and a lover of venery, and given to lying, malicious and ready to do any mischief."
So my characterization of Emory? Nailed it.
Source: Project Gutenberg
3. "Hi, Mithter J," said Abby, smiling the untroubled smile of five-year-olds everywhere. -- Chapter Five
This one isn't really a wild claim by either Emory or Nate; I just wanted to talk about it. Abby has a frontal lisp here, doing a 'th' for an 's'. Though this has no relevant impact on the storyline at all, in my mind she actually has a lateral lisp. However, dialogue with a lateral lisp is very difficult to spell. I'll let this lovely little girl from Horrible Histories demonstrate what that sounds like:
Incidentally, Horrible Histories is a brilliant, award-winning historical sketch show for children, and everyone should watch it.
The difference between frontal and lateral lisps, other than, obviously, tongue placement, is that the former is a typical developmental error that could potentially resolve on its own with maturity, while the latter is not a typical developmental error and almost always requires speech therapy, regardless of age.
Source: My school learnin's. (If you really want, I'm sure I can scare up some actual references for you.)
4. "No one can resist the face of a Lhasa Apso; it's been scientifically proven." -- Nate, Chapter Seven
Okay, this one Nate pulled right out of his shapely bum. But I mean, come on. Have you seen a Lhasa Apso? They're adorable.
1. Where the popcorn comes into play is that the properties of its questionable flavoring in some of the microwaveable varieties may actually have a hand in causing dementia. -- Chapter One
Afraid some enthusiastic microwaveable popcorn lobbyist might read my book and accuse me of besmirching popcorn's good name, I did consider taking this part out -- or at least sprinkling the word allegedly throughout the sentence with a liberal hand, but I really like little bits of throwaway trivia. And at the time of writing, I had just learned about it so I was itching to share (and ruin everyone's quintessential film-watching experiences, naturally. You're welcome.)
To be fair, eating butter-flavored popcorn probably isn't going to give you dementia. The study referenced regards food industry workers' chronic exposure to the flavoring ingredient, diacetyl, during the manufacturing process. Researchers found that the ingredient increased the risk of toxic damage to brain cells similar to the way proteins clump together in Alzheimer's disease. Which is still not to say that diacetyl definitely does link to dementia, but that it's a possibility.
Source: Science Daily
2. "Maybe," I said smoothly. "But Aristotle once said that people with curly hair can't be trusted, so..." -- Chapter Two
I first heard about this on QI, a wonderfully funny and informative British comedy panel quiz show, on their Fingers and Fumbs episode (S6E7). Apparently Aristotle was super into physiognomy, which reads a person's character or personality from facial features. He wrote a whole book on it, The Secrets of Nature Relating to Physiognomy, in which pretty much every facial feature signifies something horrible. Of the curly-haired: "He is by nature proud and bold, dull of apprehension, soon angry, and a lover of venery, and given to lying, malicious and ready to do any mischief."
So my characterization of Emory? Nailed it.
Source: Project Gutenberg
3. "Hi, Mithter J," said Abby, smiling the untroubled smile of five-year-olds everywhere. -- Chapter Five
This one isn't really a wild claim by either Emory or Nate; I just wanted to talk about it. Abby has a frontal lisp here, doing a 'th' for an 's'. Though this has no relevant impact on the storyline at all, in my mind she actually has a lateral lisp. However, dialogue with a lateral lisp is very difficult to spell. I'll let this lovely little girl from Horrible Histories demonstrate what that sounds like:
Incidentally, Horrible Histories is a brilliant, award-winning historical sketch show for children, and everyone should watch it.
The difference between frontal and lateral lisps, other than, obviously, tongue placement, is that the former is a typical developmental error that could potentially resolve on its own with maturity, while the latter is not a typical developmental error and almost always requires speech therapy, regardless of age.
Source: My school learnin's. (If you really want, I'm sure I can scare up some actual references for you.)
4. "No one can resist the face of a Lhasa Apso; it's been scientifically proven." -- Nate, Chapter Seven
Okay, this one Nate pulled right out of his shapely bum. But I mean, come on. Have you seen a Lhasa Apso? They're adorable.
