Bob and Marcia Smith discussed the lasting impact of historical events, such as the 1879 measles epidemic in Lowell, Massachusetts, which led to the invention of telephone numbers. They also explored the symbolism of the poppy, Memorial Day, and pineapples, highlighting their enduring impact on society. Later, Marcia and Bob shared stories of Frank Sinatra’s kindness and humor, emphasizing his ability to connect with people through warmth and wit. They recounted instances of Sinatra meeting fans in restrooms and chatting with audience members during performances, showcasing his charm and appeal.
Outline
Measles epidemic’s impact on telephone numbers and car mileage.
- Bob and Marcia discuss how an 1879 measles epidemic in Lowell, Massachusetts, changed life forever for everyone on Earth.
- Bob and Marcia discuss the invention of telephone numbers due to a measles epidemic in Lowell, Massachusetts.
- Marcia and Bob discuss the world’s most mileage cars, including a 1963 Volkswagen Beetle with over 3 million miles.
Money, flags, and dreaming.
- Bob and Marcia discuss the history of money creation and its potential for inflation, sharing examples from ancient Rome and China.
- Bob Smith and Marcia Smith discuss the oldest flag in the world, with Bob claiming it’s Denmark’s flag from 1219.
- According to scientific studies, the average person dreams for about an hour and 20 minutes in an 8-hour sleep period.
- Bob Smith and Marcia Smith discuss the origins of the poppy as a Memorial Day symbol, with Bob explaining how the poem “In Flanders Fields” by Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae inspired the tradition.
- The poppies that grow on battlefields are able to survive due to the high lime content in the soil, which is caused by shelling and explosions.
Frank Sinatra and Adolf Hitler’s dietary habits.
- Bob Smith shares interesting facts about historical figures, including Dr. Edward Taylor, who was a renowned gynecologist and comedy writer for Groucho Marx.
- Marcia Smith asks Bob Smith about Adolf Hitler, but Bob corrects her and moves on to another topic.
- Marcia and Bob discuss Frank Sinatra’s kindness and generosity towards fans, including a story of Sinatra paying for a fan’s bill at a restaurant.
- Bob shares a story of Sinatra chatting with the audience and making a young fan feel special despite having a cold.
Origins of phrases and historical facts.
- Marcia and Bob discuss the origins of phrases like “draw a blank” and “Liz is lotto” (1567).
- They explore how “draw a blank” may have originated from Tudor England lottery games (1567).
- Bob and Marcia discuss the history of skiing, including a 5,000-year-old carving of skiers found in Norway.
- Peter the Great made his wife keep a jar containing his severed head in her bedroom as a reminder of her affair.
The history and cultural significance of pineapples.
- Marcia and Bob discuss unusual facts, including pineapples being expensive and hard to get in the past.
- Bob shares a story about how pineapples were first introduced to Europe in the 1600s.
- Bob Smith and Marcia Smith discussed the history of pineapples and their former high cost, with Bob sharing a story about how pineapples were once $8,000 each.
- James Dole, a pineapple farmer in Hawaii, is credited with making pineapples more affordable for everyday people by starting a pineapple plantation and keeping prices down.
Bob Smith 0:00
We’re all wondering how life is going to change with the COVID 19 epidemic. How did an 1879 measles epidemic in Lowell Massachusetts change life forever for every person on earth?
Marcia Smith 0:13
What automobile holds the record for racking up the most mileage on the old speedometer
Bob Smith 0:19
answers to those and other questions in this edition of the off ramp with Bob and
Marcia Smith 0:24
Marsha Smith and.
Bob Smith 0:43
Welcome to the off ramp a chance to slow down steered clear of crazy take a side road to sanity and get some perspective on life. Well, Marsha, it’s been 10 weeks we’ve been cooped up together indeed it has. Oh, you sound so fresh and excited. Are you looking forward to going out more? Is that what it is?
Marcia Smith 1:02
Lots of sugar Bob lots of sugar.
Bob Smith 1:04
What should we call this 10th week of trivia Marsh? Mask off trivia? Unmasked?Trivia Unmasked – that’s what we’ll call it. unmasked trivia, or is it trivia unmasked? I think the ladder – Trivia Unmasked. We’ve got our masks off.
Marcia Smith 1:19
Oh, I thought that is that your face?
Bob Smith 1:22
That’s just how I look Marsh. Okay, we’re all wondering how life is going to change with the COVID 19 epidemic and some things might change forever. Things did change forever for every person on Earth. Even us living here today because of a measles epidemic in Lowell, Massachusetts, in 1879. Now, what about that measles epidemic changed life for everyone forever after?
Marcia Smith 1:52
The only thing I can think of is this
Bob Smith 1:54
the biggest question in the world, Marsha.
Marcia Smith 1:57
And I’m failing? I would. The obvious question Was it prompted the vaccine?
Bob Smith 2:03
No, no. Measles vaccine. Yeah, no, this was a small epidemic. It was in Lowell, Massachusetts, but it prompted something to happen to change. Okay, tell me, Bob, that measles epidemic led to the invention of telephone numbers. Now, how in the world would a measles epidemic lead to the invention of telephone numbers? Wow. Dr. Moses, Greeley. Parker was a physician in Lowell. And he was an investor in the local telephone company. And he feared that lols for telephone operators might also come to measles. And bring about basically paralyze the telephone service because the phones were assigned by their names. So the operators needed to know well, Where’s Mrs. Smith’s phone? And Where’s Mrs. Johnson’s phone and Where’s Mr. Jones’s phone, and they would use those cables or patch cords to connect the calls? Well, 200 people, it’d be easy for somebody who was a new operator to not find those names as quickly. So we thought, you know, there’s 200 subscribers. Let’s just give everybody a number. Okay, one, two or two. So they assigned a number to everyone. And that was the beginning of telephone numbers. It was because of an epidemic. Well, that’s actually
Marcia Smith 3:10
fascinating. Well,
Bob Smith 3:11
I’m glad you thought. Yeah, it’s pretty amazing. Yeah. So you can thank Moses Greeley and a measles epidemic for your telephone number.
Marcia Smith 3:19
Thank you. Thank you, Moses. And
Bob Smith 3:21
I thank her daughter Chelsea Smith, because she gave me a book that had that story in it a book called now I know, the Soviets invaded Wisconsin, and 99 more interesting facts by Dan Lewis.
Marcia Smith 3:33
Okay, Bob, here’s totally related to nothing you just talked about? Name one of the automobiles that exist today that you think might hold the record the world’s record for racking up the most mileage the world’s
Bob Smith 3:46
record, the most mileage Alright, so would this be a vehicle that’s used for all kinds of purposes? Board for trucks?
Marcia Smith 3:54
Oh, that’s on the top 10 of below this, but this is the one okay. With the most the 1966 Volvo. Really? Yes. And you want to guess ballpark figure how many miles was
Bob Smith 4:07
on it on one car? Yeah, I see. So it’s an individual car. Yeah, one person has this car. I have no idea.
Marcia Smith 4:14
Check this out to over 3 million miles on this
Bob Smith 4:17
one car. And it’s hard to believe, isn’t it? 3 million
Marcia Smith 4:21
miles and counting. So that was as of 2019. But 20 cars have gone over a million miles. Okay. 20
Bob Smith 4:29
individual cars have gone over a million miles. Okay, what are they?
Marcia Smith 4:33
This isn’t all of them. The 2007 Toyota Tundra.
Bob Smith 4:37
So somebody owns a 2007 Toyota Tundra that’s got over a million miles.
Marcia Smith 4:42
That’s correct. Wow. The 2006 Honda Civic the 1996 Dodge Ram 1991 and 90 Ford Honda Accord. We had one of those. The 2006 Ford F 250. Truck.
Bob Smith 4:56
I’m not surprised that pickup trucks get a lot of use the 19
Marcia Smith 4:59
91 and 2006 Chevrolet Silverado 1983 Towncar. But the one that amused me the most is the 1963 Volkswagen Beetle. Now that
Bob Smith 5:12
makes sense. Those things lasted forever. Yes. Okay. Speaking of old
Marcia Smith 5:20
careful there, Bob.
Bob Smith 5:21
This is uh, how old is it? Okay, that’s what this Okay, now in 1963, the Beatles burst onto the world scene and they hailed from an old English sea port of Liverpool. Liverpool. Yes. How old? Is that city? When was it founded?
Marcia Smith 5:37
We have gosh, I was just talking to my mother about that this
Bob Smith 5:40
morning. Your mother’s been dead for?
Marcia Smith 5:42
Okay, doesn’t mean we still don’t. Okay.
Bob Smith 5:48
How old is Liverpool?
Marcia Smith 5:49
I’ll say 1200. Well,
Bob Smith 5:53
guess what? It’s been around since the 1199. So you only missed it by one year. Liverpool is over 800 years old. I just thought that was fascinating. Okay, you’ve heard of the dangers of printing money, you know, creating certificates of beyond the worth of the national treasury. Okay, where does that money problem? How far back does that go? In
Marcia Smith 6:15
the world or in the world? All I’ll bet it goes back to Roman times. They made too many coins and too many Roman coins.
Bob Smith 6:23
Well, the Romans were around it goes back to the ninth century, apparently, because in 845, paper money in China led to inflation and state bankruptcy. No kidding. And they invented paper money. Really? Yeah. Well see there. So there’s like somebody there decided, well, you know, there’s only $8 million in the Treasury will will print $50 million worth work out. It didn’t work out even in 845. And we still make the mistake.
Marcia Smith 6:49
Okay, word Smith. There are only two words in the entire English language that contain the vowels a E, I O you in order? What? Yes. Can you name one of the
Bob Smith 7:01
two? There’s a word that contains a E I owe you in our
Marcia Smith 7:06
yeah, there’s two of them two words. Two different words.
Bob Smith 7:10
Well, there’s pile and there’s, you know, I have no idea. Now, obviously, these aren’t words that are used very well.
Marcia Smith 7:17
One of them is really Yeah, first one is abstemious well spell it a s t e m I owe us which means absent I assume
Bob Smith 7:28
absolutely abstemious like absent yeah abstemious, okay? I’ve
Marcia Smith 7:31
never heard that. Here’s one that we do use more often. facetious.
Bob Smith 7:35
Oh, really?
Marcia Smith 7:36
I never thought of that. Fac e face. Ti o us vicious. Yeah. That’s just a feather in your cap, buddy.
Bob Smith 7:45
Okay, that’s like that movie. We were watching the other night. Oh, as good as it gets as good as it gets. And she’s saying how do you spell conscience? And her mother spells it out. She goes con science. This doesn’t look right. Right. Yeah, we all been there. Those kinds of things are how I remember how to spell things. So this day, I think of recite. That’s the way you spell recipe. Irie, CIP. Okay, another old question Marsh. What is the oldest national flag in the world? What country claims it and how old? Is it
Marcia Smith 8:17
the oldest flag? I’ll say Greece, Greece. Is it?
Bob Smith 8:20
Oh, the flag of the well, the flag of the country of Greece? No. It’s Denmark’s flag. Really? Yeah. Denmark’s flag, like a number of flags in Europe has a cross in it. Yeah. It’s like a white cross on a red background. Yeah. Well, that dates to 1219.
Marcia Smith 8:37
I thought it looked at Jensen was a picture of a nice why it’s so weird looking flat.
Bob Smith 8:41
Yeah. Well, the story on it is even weirder. In that year, Denmark’s flag is supposed to have fallen from the sky. Course, during a battle in Estonia. Now the Danes were about to lose the battle and the flag appearing was seen as a sign from heaven, which inspired the Danes to win. That’s the legend anyway. In reality, that flag of 1219 was most likely a crusade banner, because the war in 1219 was a crusade against the Estonians who were not Christians. And that white cross on red emblem originated in the age of the Crusades. So that’s how far back that kind of a flag symbol goes. So now, even though that’s the legend, 1219 and nobody can prove it goes back that far. That is the day June 15. Every year on that day, the Danes celebrate their flags birthday. And even if that legend isn’t true, they know that the flag is truly old because it appears in paintings in the 1370. Yeah, it looks like a crest.
Yes. The oldest flag in the world. Okay. All right. According
Marcia Smith 9:41
to scientific studies, Bob, in an eight hour period of sleep, how much time will the average person spent dreaming that you’re out of eight hours? How much time do you actually spend dreaming?
Bob Smith 9:54
I thought it was only like two hours. Yeah, well, less than that an
Marcia Smith 9:57
hour and 20 minutes really? Yeah. So you only dream an hour and 20 minutes. It’s probably in your REM sleep, which is towards the end, I think deep asleep when you wake up sometimes you’re going oh my god, that was a stretch. It’s not Christmas Tuesday, and I gotta feed the dog.
Bob Smith 10:14
It’s not Christmas, but it’s time to take a break and we’ll be back right after this. You’re listening to the off ramp with Bob and Marsha Smith. Well, we’re back. We’re back on the off ramp. And this is the Memorial Day weekend as we record this. I have a question for you about that. Why did the poppy become a symbol of Memorial Day?
Marcia Smith 10:37
The flower that little red poppy thing that we get that from veterans when we give money?
Bob Smith 10:41
Well, they’re one in the same actually. Oh, yeah,
Marcia Smith 10:44
I guess it is. Okay. Was that perhaps a traditional flower brought to funerals back in the day?
Bob Smith 10:50
No, that wasn’t actually you know, it’s it came from World War One World War One I wasn’t sure. The idea came from the opening lines of a world war one poem in Flanders fields that I’ve heard of that, that was a Canadian army surgeon wrote that Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae. He was a published poet also. And he wrote it after he witnessed the death of a friend during a battle in Flanders, which is the Dutch speaking part of Belgium and at his friend’s funeral, he noticed how quickly poppies were growing up around freshly dug soldiers graves. Oh, really? Oh, and the next day sitting in the back of an ambulance, he wrote in Flanders Fields, the poppies blow between the crosses row on row. And the poem went on to describe war from the perspective of the dead and it became extremely popular. It was published during the war, World War One Yeah. And it was used in bond rallies and even put to music by Charles Ives and John Philip Sousa.
Marcia Smith 11:44
So it was a tool to help raise money for veterans. Well, it
Bob Smith 11:48
was raised money for the war effort at the time. But later, after the war, his Poppy poem inspired veterans aid groups worldwide to start selling poppies, to remember the war and remember war victims and brilliant idea. Yeah, the proceeds went to the disabled veterans and their families and war widows and their children and it was done all over the world. Now, why did the poppies grow so fast on the battlefield? That’s the interesting question. Many people never ask,
Marcia Smith 12:14
Oh, well, it’s the nutrients in the fertilizer in the soil from all the dead bodies. It’s
Bob Smith 12:19
the nutrients and fertilizer in the soil, but not from the dead bodies. It’s interesting is this as my wiki pedia rathole
Marcia Smith 12:26
went down that I didn’t see you for two days. It turns
Bob Smith 12:30
out that shelling and explosions spiked the lime content of the soil. And poppies were one of the few things that could grow in that contaminated topsoil. So they started popping up around the grave we allow be damned, and this is a phenomenon that had been seen on battlefields since the time of Napoleon. So poppies are true survivors of wars. Yeah. Wow. Unfortunately, John McCrae did not survive. He died in 1918 of acute meningitis after coming down with pneumonia. But poppies continued to be sold to this day. And that all began with a simple poem 100 years ago. Well,
Marcia Smith 13:05
that’s, that’s enlightening. Thank you, Bob. Okay. Dr. Edward Taylor, who died in 1975. Was that noted? Gynecology researcher, I’m sure you knew that Bob, this your favorite subject? was a world authority on sterility and fertility and a contributor to the development of the birth control pill. Okay, so why am I telling
Bob Smith 13:29
you I have no idea.
Marcia Smith 13:31
He also did something else. You want to take a guess what that was, besides being a renowned gynecologist.
Bob Smith 13:37
gynecologist. Okay. Did he? He was a musician.
Marcia Smith 13:43
I’m just throwing this out. Yeah, you’re in the right field. Oh, really? He
Bob Smith 13:47
was in the arts then. Yeah, really? Edward Tyler.
Marcia Smith 13:50
I know you’d like this answer. That’s why I took this okay. I don’t know what he was also a professional comedy writer for six years writing for Groucho Marx. You Bet Your Life
Bob Smith 14:05
somehow that does make sense. Oh my God. Isn’t that hilarious? knew you’d like that. Oh my god. Hate the world’s kind of blown by a 250th birthday during this Coronavirus. Whose birthday did we miss? Doing me per se somebody in the arts? Got me Bob Beethoven. Oh, 250 you’re gonna spell Beethoven? Yes. b e t h o v
Marcia Smith 14:30
e you’re looking at it? Well, no, I
Bob Smith 14:32
know that. Okay. Because that’s again, one of those I thought beats he had beats in his music. So it’s been proven Yeah. Okay. You know, it’s funny because everybody’s, oh, what a genius and blah, blah, blah. Well, during his time, he basically was a student of Haydn. They both knew how to shock with their music. They intentionally put great changes and ferocity and quiet silence and all of those Yeah, crescendos de crescendos. One of his contemporary critics, called his Second sympathy across monster, a hideously rising wounded dragon that refuses to expire.
Marcia Smith 15:07
Like how you talk to me when you’re mad, hideously,
Bob Smith 15:11
writhing, wounded dragon that refuses to expire. That’s,
Marcia Smith 15:16
that’s language. Holy, come on.
Bob Smith 15:18
Well, it’s nice to know that even people who were thought of as geniuses years later had critics in their time. That’s what I liked about that. And
Marcia Smith 15:25
speaking of Adolf Hitler, what,
Bob Smith 15:27
wait a minute, no,
Marcia Smith 15:29
tell me this, Bob. What did he give up eating in his early 20s?
Bob Smith 15:34
He became a vegetarian didn’t eat. Yes, he
Marcia Smith 15:36
did. That’s very good. He experienced frequent stomach problems during his early 20s. And so he would only eat pastries, spaghetti, eggs, vegetable
Bob Smith 15:45
enemas, pastries, they’re not there. That’s
Marcia Smith 15:48
that’s a that’s, that’s asparagus on top and what do you got? But he was most mostly vegetarian or vegan. Oh, yeah, he had a thing for pickled pig’s feet. But other than that, he was strictly vegetarian, which brings to my mind. I mean, if he hadn’t killed himself, we could have put him in prison and gave him cheeseburger. Think of all the stomach problems.
Bob Smith 16:12
Okay, I’ve got a kind of a fun story about a celebrity that revolves around dinner. One of your favorites in the music world, Frank Sinatra. We both know that from what we read, He could be very irascible. He got in fights with people it could be mean and ugly and terrible. But a few years back, weekend magazine USA weekend asked for readers for reflections on the life and work of Frank Sinatra. A guy named Bill freeze wrote he was eating dinner at the Palm restaurant in Los Angeles in 1991. While I was using the restroom, the door swung open and Frank Sinatra walked in. I said, Mr. Sinatra, my parents are big fans and saw you in Las Vegas. He said, I appreciate that. Where are they from? He says, Well, my mother lives in Indiana. My father died a couple years ago of lung cancer. He said Did he smoke? I said yes. He said, Damn, smokes. That’s what got Sammy will give your mother My condolences. And they walked out. Okay. He said, I went back to my table and I said, Hey, I met Frank Sinatra in the restroom and they all laughed and said, Yeah, sure. Then Frank walked from the rear of the restaurant looked right at me and said, Bill, it was a pleasure meeting you. As we got ready to go, I asked for the bill. And our waiter said Mr. Sinatra took care of all that’s cool. And we all floated out of
Marcia Smith 17:26
the PA. Isn’t that cute? Yeah. See, that’s that’s a good story.
Bob Smith 17:29
And another Sinatra story. Jeanne Goodman Siegelman, who was a young woman in the 1940s, she said, Sinatra appeared at the Capitol Theatre in New York, and a friend persuaded me to skip school to see him. She was a fan. I wasn’t. He appeared on stage, and he explained he had a cold and couldn’t sing. Instead, he chatted with the audience. I don’t remember what he said. I only remember it was the most entertaining hour ever really an hour. Frank Sinatra had a cold and I became a fan forever. I’ll be done. That’s cute. I thought those would offset offset your Hitler’s story there.
Marcia Smith 18:05
We’re covering the waterfront here. Did you say he took questions from the
Bob Smith 18:10
yeah, he just did a an hour like Carolyn Burnett at the end of her show. He couldn’t see that day. So he’s out there talking to everybody for an hour, right?
Marcia Smith 18:17
Oh, he did a lot of nice things. And he was a jerk too. I don’t know. Isn’t that the way with all? Yes, the way the world knows. All right. You always like, what do you think that phrase came?
Bob Smith 18:28
Okay. I love these things. Ya know, the origins of freestyle. Okay,
Marcia Smith 18:31
now, here’s why we’re using more now than ever. And that’s draw blank. We walk into a room and we draw a blank why we’re there. Okay. But where do you think that phrase comes from?
Bob Smith 18:42
Now? That is a good question. I drew a blank. How can you draw a blank? Well think what is a blank? You could draw a blank, like firing a gun and it didn’t go off. Right?
Marcia Smith 18:53
That’s a good thing. I mean, if you’re on the other end of the
Bob Smith 18:57
good thing, if unless the other end gun has a bullet that’s heading your way, then it’s not good. So is that where it came from? No, not at all. So is it like drawing a blank on a sheet of paper or something like that?
Marcia Smith 19:08
That phrase goes back to 1567 Holy cow. It originated in Tudor England. Okay. And Queen Elizabeth one. She set up the first national lottery. Oh, really? What 1567 What did they call it? Liz is lotto probably
Bob Smith 19:27
probably to pay for wars and things like that, you know, could be first national lottery was Elizabeth the first? Yeah. What was it? 1567.
Marcia Smith 19:35
Okay, she would have two pots of paper one with the names of people in the kingdom. And the other one would have prizes or blank pieces of paper. So she drew them at the same time, okay, from both pots, and one had the the name of the person and the other one was either a prize or a blank. What was that? What
Bob Smith 19:59
did the blank mean,
Marcia Smith 20:00
you’re a loser, you want nothing. So you didn’t want to draw blank.
Bob Smith 20:04
Oh, that’s interesting. And that’s where they came from.
Marcia Smith 20:07
Yes, it is. So if
Bob Smith 20:08
you drew one and your name, and then there was diamond ring on the other one, you get the diamond. Right? Yeah. Wow. But you drew a blank. Well,
Marcia Smith 20:15
I’d love to know what the prices were back in. I would do probably a bowl of gruel or something like gag. Yeah, I can’t imagine.
Bob Smith 20:23
But here’s another thing that goes way back farther than you think. What’s the oldest depiction of somebody skiing on skis? How far back? What’s the oldest picture of somebody skiing we’ve ever seen? Wow.
Marcia Smith 20:35
But it goes back to Iceland or Finland or Denmark, one of those countries. Somebody’s going down.
Bob Smith 20:42
How far back?
Marcia Smith 20:44
I’m thinking, Oh, well, thinking out loud. Okay. How long have you been you my thought process? Oh, God. Probably somebody said that. Give me tear up that barrel and let’s put it on my feet and go down this hill.
Bob Smith 20:56
I think you’ve just drawn the blank Marsh. I think it’s the problem here. I’ll tell you the answer. The oldest picture representing skiing was a carving on a rock found at Roy in southern Norway. And archaeologists have dated it between 2002 1500 BC. So C skiing Christ. Yeah. Skiing has been around a long, long time. What
Marcia Smith 21:18
did the skis look like? Well,
Bob Smith 21:20
they said Spalding on the end of it. I don’t think of a name of a of a ski company. No, it didn’t. It didn’t say what it looked like but probably a stick figure whiskies and they said Look at that. It’s somebody skiing and it’s prehistoric.
Marcia Smith 21:36
Probably an outerspace Martian did back in the day.
Bob Smith 21:40
What unusual item did the English novelist Mary Shelley keep in her desk? What unusual item? Did Mary Shelley keeping her desk?
Marcia Smith 21:50
pickled pig’s foot, if only
Bob Smith 21:54
it were pickles or pig’s feet? It was the heart of her dead husband. Well, Marsha, everyone grieves differently, you know. But when her husband who was Percy Shelley, you know, he was the great poet he drowned at the age of 29. She didn’t bury all of his remains in the Protestant cemetery in Rome. No one knew this until after she died, but Mary kept her husband’s heart wrapped up. She carried it with her almost everywhere she went. And when she passed away, the heart was found in her desk wrapped in one of his final poems.
Marcia Smith 22:27
Oh, what’s wrong with a pair of cufflinks? Okay, thanks for that, Bob. Okay,
Bob Smith 22:34
here’s another one. That’s fun. Equally wise, we’ll get the gross stuff out of the way. What did Peter the Great make his wife keep in her bedroom? He was the he was the Tsar of Russia. He was pretty ruthless.
Marcia Smith 22:46
And he made her he
Bob Smith 22:48
made his wife keep something in her bedroom.
Marcia Smith 22:53
I don’t want even say out loud. Well,
Bob Smith 22:55
I tell you in a jar. He discovered his wife. Catherine was unfaithful. Oh dear, with a man named William Mon. Well, he removed his part and no, he removed his head and put his head in a jar for God’s sake. And he required Catherine to keep that jar in her bedroom until Peter’s death so that she would never forget her affair.
Marcia Smith 23:20
And what did she do when he was caught sneaking around? Yeah, see just That’s absurd. His head okay, fun times. That was good. We got some good stuff there.
Bob Smith 23:36
Did you know urine was used as a mouthwash, by the way? Is
Marcia Smith 23:39
it really? Yes. Fine. By
Bob Smith 23:41
the ancient Romans.
Marcia Smith 23:42
Oh my god. Well, it
Bob Smith 23:44
had ammonia in it. See, and so it was used. I’m sorry. It was used for many purposes. But it was used for dental hygiene. Ah, they used it to whiten their teeth. God minty fresh. They
Marcia Smith 23:56
ain’t asked for
Bob Smith 23:57
the record. It’s also a proven stain remover but okay, that’s not by that’s the end of the show. Oh my god, who’s gonna listen from now? I don’t know. Okay. Okay. Give me a chance to redeem myself. Now. This is a good question. Nothing to offend anyone here. All right. This is a fruit now what fruit was once so expensive, only the rich could buy it. And regular people would rent them. Not to eat them, but to carry them around to impress their friends. This is true. There is a fruit that was so expensive. Only rich people could buy it and regular people would rent them and carry them around like hey, look, I got what you know, apple or an orange. What would it say an orange. It’s more exotic than that. Kiwi. Think of something that would have been hard to get back in the day. Okay, a pineapple. That’s exactly right.
Marcia Smith 24:46
But those are big. How do you just carry that in your pocket? Well,
Bob Smith 24:49
here’s the story, you know their native pineapple in your pocket. You must be very happy to see their natives of South America and they made their way to the court. it’d be an island of Guadalupe and that’s where Christopher Columbus first spotted them in 1493. And then he and his crew took them back to Spain and everybody loved how sweet this exotic fruit tasted. And they tried to grow them there, but there are tropical so they couldn’t get very far with them. So the only pineapples they could get their hands on had to be imported across the Atlantic Ocean. So therefore what that would make sense. They were very expensive, hard to get. Now in England in the 17th century, they set up hot houses and started to grow them there in the 1600s. But all the extremely wealthy people could afford pineapples, monarchs like Louie the 15th. Catherine the Great Aunt Charles, the first. John’s first even commissioned a painting of his gardener, presenting him with a pineapple to show how rich he was. How much did you think they cost at one point? An individual pineapple? I have no idea they might cost you as much as $8,000 Each back in that time das back in the 1700s. Yeah, Americans very expensive one pineapple could cost as much as $8,000 in today’s money, $8,000 money. But affluent colonists would throw dinner parties and display a pineapple as the centerpiece a symbol of their wealth, and you see the pineapple carved into all kinds of Yeah, but that means welcome. Well, yes. But that was because of this whole exotic craze. So before selling them for consumption, pineapple merchants would rent pineapples to people who couldn’t afford to purchase them. And those people would take them to parties, not to give to the gift as a host, but to carry around and show their apparent inability to afford an expensive pineapple.
Marcia Smith 26:34
I’ll try to remember that next Soiree. We have
Bob Smith 26:38
to give you a pineapple to carry around. And it’s very funny, who’s the person who you could say, brought down the cost of the pineapple so that everyday people could hit? I’ll say, doll? Yes, James doll, who started the pineapple plantation in Hawaii. Yeah, and kept the prices down so everybody could enjoy the good for but that’s how and why pineapples, one time cost $1,000 A piece. That is a good story. That’s a story by Suzanne raga called the Super Luke’s history of pineapples and why they used to cost $8,000. You can find that on the website, Mental Floss. So that’s where the pineapple as a welcoming symbol came about was because this, some wealthy people would have it out there. Hey, welcome to look. Oh, look, here we have a pool. We have a pool and a
Marcia Smith 27:26
pineapple Bob Smith. He’s
Bob Smith 27:29
he must have made it.
Marcia Smith 27:30
He got paid for one of his voice jobs.
Bob Smith 27:36
All right. And that’s it for this time. I’m Bob Smith.
Marcia Smith 27:39
I’m Marcia Smith.
Bob Smith 27:40
Thanks for joining us for trivia unmasked here on the off ramp. The off ramp is produced in association with CPL radio and the Cedarburg Public Library Cedarburg, Wisconsin.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
