Marcia and Bob explore various topics, including the brain’s potential, the ocean and moon, hybrid animals, language, art, economics, nicknames, and everyday expressions. Marcia shares her knowledge, while Bob provides historical context and additional information. They also discuss the missed opportunity for Elvis Presley to star in Barbra Streisand’s 1976 movie, A Star is Born.
Outline
Barbra Streisand’s film choices and Elvis Presley’s potential role in “A Star is Born”.
- Bob Smith and Marcia Smith discuss the myth that humans only use 10% of their brains, with Marcia providing scientific insights and Bob expressing skepticism.
- In 1974, Barbra Streisand had a new vision for a version of A Star is Born, with Kris Kristofferson eventually co-starring in the film.
- Barbra Streisand offered Elvis Presley a starring role in her movie, but Colonel Parker rejected the offer.
- Barbra Streisand and Lady Gaga have something in common beyond their roles in their respective movies: they both wrote hit songs for those movies.
- Marcia and Bob discuss various facts and statistics, including the loudest animal in the world (blue whales), the best-selling soup in America (Campbell’s cream of mushroom), and the origin of Bic pens (renamed from French to American spelling to avoid offensive pronunciation).
- The transcript also touches on the topic of mapping, with Marcia mentioning that the surface of the moon has been mapped within 23 feet, while the ocean floor has only been mapped three miles across.
Unusual animal hybrids and historical facts.
- Marcia and Bob discuss various hybrid animals, including a sheep-goat hybrid called a Gipe, a paisley (a hybrid of a grizzly bear and a polar bear), and a human-chimpanzee hybrid attempted by the Soviets in the 1920s.
- Marcia shares pictures of her brother’s early artwork, including depictions of her arm and fingers, and Bob expresses surprise at the variety of hybrid creatures discussed.
- Bob Smith and Marcia Smith discuss Yale University’s connection to the petroleum industry, with Bob highlighting the university’s role in the first fractional distillation of crude petroleum.
- Marcia Smith shares a Japanese story about a 25-generation-old sweets shop in Kyoto called Itchy. Mon Jia was Suki, which has been in operation continuously for over 1000 years.
Language, art, and trivia.
- Marcia Smith and Bob Smith discuss the differences between “theater ending in ER” and “theater ending in our E,” with Bob Smith explaining that it’s due to Noah Webster’s attempts to standardize American English.
- Bob Smith reveals that Johnny Mathis provided Miss Piggy’s singing voice in The Muppet Movie, surprising Marcia Smith with the trivia.
- Bob and Marcia discuss the US Mint in San Francisco and its history during the Gold Rush, as well as the current net worth of various countries.
- Bob Smith and Marcia Smith discuss Alfred Hitchcock’s signature profile drawing, with Bob identifying it as Hitchcock himself.
- Marcia Smith provides nicknames for famous people, including Thomas Edison, Frank Sinatra, and Charlie Chaplin, with Bob correctly identifying them.
- Bob and Marcia discuss the origins of the name “Elphaba” in the musical “Wicked” and the location of America’s oldest covered bridge in New York.
Etymology, history, and culture.
- Marcia and Bob discuss the origins of various phrases and words, including “basket case” and “napkin.”
- Marcia and Bob discuss the challenges of raising children, with Marcia sharing a quote from Socrates 400 BCE.
Bob Smith 0:00
In 1974, Barbra Streisand had a bold vision for a new version of A star is born. Kris Kristofferson eventually co starred in that film. But who was her first choice?
Marcia Smith 0:12
And what percentage of your brain do humans actually use?
Bob Smith 0:17
I don’t know if I have enough to figure that one out. Well, you can try answers to those another questions coming up in this episode of the off ramp with Bob and Marcia Smith.
Welcome to the off ramp a chance to slow down. Steer clear of crazy. What’s the other part? See, I lost part of my brain
Marcia Smith 0:50
take a side road. Yes.
Bob Smith 0:51
Take a side road to sanity. There we go. Speaking of brains and not using it to its full capacity. Your question is about that isn’t
Marcia Smith 0:59
Yeah, what percentage of your brain do humans actually use? I
Bob Smith 1:03
remember reading something like 5% or 20%, something like that. And then somebody else came back later and said, That’s not true. People use more than that. But I’ll go with the 25% Just go set up a bit.
Marcia Smith 1:15
The most common thought of is 10%. But that’s a total myth. And it’s one of Hollywood’s favorite premises. And they use that amount, pretend percent in movies like phenomenon, and limitless and all that a great idea for selling popcorn, but there’s nothing. It’s not scientific reality. For one, evolution makes it highly unlikely that a species would evolve with an organ that requires so much energy and then uses only 10% of its capacity. That’s
Bob Smith 1:46
what I always thought. But what do I know? I’m not thinking well, right? Well, this is the
Marcia Smith 1:50
interesting part, sections of the human brain specialize in certain tasks. So while it’s possible, for only part of the brain to be activated during any particular activity, the whole brain is still very much in use. In fact, scientists have yet to discover any part of the human brain that does nothing. So the answer is 100%. Okay,
Bob Smith 2:13
well, that makes sense. Because there’s all these involuntary things that have to be run in your body. Yeah, it has to be the blood has to flow. All the other systems have to be running the whole shebang. So just because we don’t know how much of the brain is where he doesn’t mean it isn’t
Marcia Smith 2:27
working. Yeah. As you can see, in some tests, one part of your brain lights up when you’re doing this or thinking about that. The whole brain works.
Bob Smith 2:37
Well. That’s that’s very comforting. It’s very comforting. Good. Okay. All right. You mentioned the movies I did. Speaking of the movies Marcia, back in 1974. Barbra Streisand had a bold new vision for a version of A star is born. That was the first new stars born in about 20 years. Kris Kristofferson became her star, but who was Barbra Streisand’s first choice after she was offered the movie? What did she want as opposed to someone that could sing? It’s somebody who could definitely sing. Okay, so somebody you know very well, very well. Somebody you really liked very well as a young girl.
Marcia Smith 3:12
Was it Elvis? Elvis? Oh, my God. I
Bob Smith 3:14
didn’t know this, you know, but I checked this. He would have been good and it’s true. Elvis Presley. Now his film career had kind of bottomed out and he was reportedly thrilled at the opportunity. Oh, don’t
Marcia Smith 3:25
tell me Colonel Parker turned it down.
Bob Smith 3:27
Well, here’s the story. She offered him the starring role she had just done the way we were. And on March 28 1974, Barbra Streisand visited Elvis Presley backstage at Caesar’s Palace to discuss her project. He was delighted with the idea that it would give him a lot of chance to show himself Yeah, after two meetings, Streisand and John Peters, who was her boyfriend and CO producer, they made a formal offer. And it was generous. They offered a half a million dollars upfront, plus 10% of the net profits, Elvis could produce and take the full revenue from all of the concerts that would be filmed. Oh my goodness, and Streisand’s production company and Warner Brothers would retain rights to the music and the soundtrack. Oh, what
Marcia Smith 4:12
happened? Why?
Unknown Speaker 4:13
Well, guess what? It’s what you thought
Marcia Smith 4:14
Parker Colonel Parker bomb killed the deal. What an app.
Bob Smith 4:19
He told the movie makers they should have come to him first. Then he demanded $1 million upfront, plus 50% of the gross profit $1,000 a week in expenses. Approval of all of Presley songs and a cut of the soundtrack revenues
Marcia Smith 4:35
for Elvis have stood up to him. I mean, he could rise Yeah, what did he go on to do Viva Las Vegas so sad really? And he could act? Did you ever see King Creole? That was one
Bob Smith 4:47
of his best films. Yeah, you’re right. He really could act he just needed to get in better vehicle. But show business insiders assume that Colonel Parker who never let Elvis pursue more challenging work would never have accepted his call. Like playing the role of a heavy drinking drug using rec anyway.
Unknown Speaker 5:04
Well guess how he died? That’s the sad part isn’t it is very, very sad. Wow, that
Marcia Smith 5:09
makes me cranky. Bob,
Bob Smith 5:11
I have a funny piece of trivia to add on to that. What famous person was responsible for Barbra Streisand’s wardrobe?
Marcia Smith 5:16
Well, I said,
Bob Smith 5:17
Edith, had you think it was Edith Head or somebody like that? It was Barbara herself. The credit reads Miss Streisand’s clothes from her closet.
Marcia Smith 5:29
Is that what? The movie credit in that movie? Yes. Oh, that’s hilarious. And that
Bob Smith 5:33
was a big hit. That was a big big movie in 1976 was Elvis could have been in it.
Marcia Smith 5:39
After the latest Star Is Born, which was awesome, too. I wanted to go back and watch all of them again. Well,
Bob Smith 5:45
since you brought that up one more piece of trivia. Why do Barbra Streisand and Lady Gaga have in
Marcia Smith 5:50
common besides that part that role with regard to
Bob Smith 5:53
that role? What do they have in common? They both wrote the hit songs for their films.
Marcia Smith 5:57
She wrote she wrote Green was that it? Yeah,
Bob Smith 6:01
Barbra Streisand wrote evergreen and Lady Gaga wrote the shallows. That’s
Marcia Smith 6:04
shallow. Yeah. Which I adore both those songs are just awesome. Yeah. Wow. Bravo girls. Pray
Bob Smith 6:11
tell what is next, Marcia.
Marcia Smith 6:14
Okay. What is the loudest animal in the world?
Bob Smith 6:17
The loudest animal? I’m gonna say Great White whales or blue whales. What’s the answer? Yes. Blue Whales.
Marcia Smith 6:25
Yes. Because they sing songs under the ocean. They do and they make their sounds there Decibels are 188 decibels. And they can be heard almost 100 miles away.
Bob Smith 6:36
100 miles away, and it’s through water to Yeah, yeah. Amazing. That
Marcia Smith 6:41
allowed us land animal is the howler monkey at 88 decibels.
Bob Smith 6:46
That sounds bad to the howler monkey. I don’t want him anywhere near me. Yeah. Well, you mentioned the whale. We mentioned the whale. So we talked about the ocean. This is from a book that was given to me by our new friend, Daria Solavei. Eva, the brilliant abyss by Helen scales. It’s got some great facts up front. And I want to ask you this question. What have we mapped more? The surface of the moon or the surface of the ocean floor? What if we mapped better the moon? You’re right. Yes. Is that amazing? Yes. The surface of the Moon has been mapped within 23 feet. We can locate things. That’s how well it’s mapped. Wow, the moon. The ocean three miles. Really three miles across sensical. It’s amazing. I mean, the the oceans here. It’s been here forever. We’ve been here forever. But the movie you? I knew. Oh, okay. I thought there was amazing. It’s from the brilliant abyss by Helen scales that Daria gave us great book. Okay. I will have more statistics from that in the time to come.
Marcia Smith 7:50
I’ll bet you well. Bah, bah, bah, what’s the best selling soup in America? Best
Bob Smith 7:55
Selling soup in America is tomato soup. Oh, that’s a good No, I bet it’s a chicken noodle.
Marcia Smith 8:02
It is if you’re Campbell’s. But the biggest selling is cream of mushroom. Really? Yep. 80 million cans they sold not too long ago. That’s a lot of soup. And I would assume it’s because it’s in a lot of recipes. Oh,
Bob Smith 8:16
you’re probably right. It’s an ingredient. Yeah. Yeah. Campbell’s Soup a great American products. This is a great American product. But it wasn’t made in America. Originally. Bic pens came from France. Oh, really? Yeah. So why did the inventor of the big pen rename his creation when he brought it to America and to global markets.
Marcia Smith 8:37
It wasn’t thick. It was something else. It was big. But he
Bob Smith 8:41
changed something about the pens name. The spelling, the spelling, the inventor was Marcel bich. But it’s B IC H that’s how it’s spelled okay. And he named the product after himself the Bic pen but he realized that in America the French word be ich would be pronounced bitch. That’s what it would have been bitch pen. And he didn’t want that. So he dropped the H from his name. So bitch pens or be ich pens became Bic pens.
Marcia Smith 9:12
I really thought that was American. Interesting. Could
Bob Smith 9:16
you imagine? I do not want my parents to be the beach bands. Let’s go back to a very famous thing. The Statue of Liberty. Why could you say there were two women behind the Statue of Liberty? Well,
Marcia Smith 9:27
one post for it. No. To post for it. Okay.
Bob Smith 9:32
Yeah, the artist use two different models. Both family members, okay. Frederick Augustus Bartolo, his wife spent many hours modeling the arms and torso the figure of liberty. But the model for the face was his mother
Marcia Smith 9:46
Charlotte. Oh, so you can mix it all up.
Bob Smith 9:49
So two women were behind the Statue of Liberty. Did
Marcia Smith 9:51
I ever tell you my arm and my fingers were on many of my brother’s paintings? No, I didn’t know that. He He needed parts for one of his models. He called me and oh,
Bob Smith 10:03
wait a minute. I’ve never saw any of your brother’s paintings that had any human form. Well,
Marcia Smith 10:08
these were their early years. college years. Okay. What kind of animal is a Gipe? GEPGEP? Well think about it. Well, a sheep. Yeah, you’re half right. A gazelle. I
Bob Smith 10:22
don’t know. What is it?
Marcia Smith 10:24
It’s a hybrid of a sheep and a goat. Oh, really? Okay, so it’s called a Gipe. Yeah. And speaking of hybrids, about a paisley
Bob Smith 10:34
I don’t think I’d want to touch that’s a hybrid
Marcia Smith 10:36
of a grizzly bear and a polar bear. Well, they look really weird to grizzly bear and a polar Yeah, a wolf in a bottlenose dolphin and a killer whale made up and that’s what you get a wall fit. Jeez, these are actual animals. Pictures of everyone. Oh my goodness. Leo. Pon the Leo pod.
Bob Smith 10:54
Yeah, that sounds like a place to go. It does. So let’s go fishing by the Leo.
Marcia Smith 10:59
Okay, what is a male leopard and a female lion. Wow. What do you get these combinations? These are interesting. And here’s one that’ll give you shivers. It was attempted by the Soviets in the 1920s. They were trying to develop wait for it a human Z.
Bob Smith 11:16
Oh, no. Yes. They actually bred a human. They tried
Marcia Smith 11:19
to a chimpanzee and a human. Ah, and it didn’t work as far as we know. Oh, dear. You should have saw some of the pictures.
Bob Smith 11:28
It sounds like a Ripley’s Believe It or Not. It
Marcia Smith 11:30
does but it wasn’t okay. So
Bob Smith 11:31
this or odd that’s from our odd hallway of horrors. Hallway of horrors. Let’s go back to the pins. Yeah. marches. hallway, a porta.
Marcia Smith 11:41
Okay. All
Bob Smith 11:43
right. Let’s go back to history. Okay. Okay, good. Okay, how could you call Yale University, the home of the petroleum industry? The
Marcia Smith 11:51
money they got was from an oil Guy No started. Yale
Bob Smith 11:55
is the place where the petroleum industry was born. So let me tell you, please. At Yale University, the first fractional distillation of crude petroleum was done. 38 year old Yale chemistry professor Benjamin Silverman did it while analyzing a sample of the Pennsylvania Rock oil as crude oil was called. He did it for 33 year old George Henry Bissell who founded the Pennsylvania Rock Oil Company of New York. So you can thank you all university I will for all the pollution we have them catch you.
Marcia Smith 12:29
I’ll give them a call later. That you’ve never heard of the heck Amaury people living in Japan. No, let me spell it because I’m sure I slaughtered it. HK i K O M O R I, actually there are people like this all over the world. They are modern day hermits who live as reclusive and withdraw from all social contact and don’t often leave their houses for years. Wow. One study shows that so many people do this. Because in Japan, there’s intense pressure to follow the rules and succeed and and
Bob Smith 13:01
it’s just too so this is not an indigenous ethnic group. No, I
Marcia Smith 13:05
thought it was I was reading about him and it’s just it’s a type of person. Well,
Bob Smith 13:09
I got a Japanese story too, but we’ll get to that in just a moment after we take a break. All right, take a break. I’m Bob Smith. Marcia Smith, you’re listening to the off ramp. Okay, we’re back. Marcia, we spoke recently of eating at the oldest restaurant in the world, the oldest continuously used restaurant in the world. A kitchen that began as a monastery in Austria around 800. Ad. But did you know there is a restaurant in Japan that’s been in the same family for 25 generations. Oh, Lord, really? In Japan? Yeah, it’s called itchy. Mon Jia was Suki in it’s a Japanese sweets shop in Kyoto. And it’s been in business since 970. Ad Wow. or 970 of the current era. Yeah, itchy. Mon Jia was Sookie Japan’s oldest confectioner. They’ve been in operation continuously for more than 1000 years. The business was passed down for 25 generations in the same family and listen to their specialty. It’s a brewery mochi warm sticky rice cakes on sticks. Okay, and the mochi are pounded rice is skewered and grilled over charcoal and doused in a sweet miso sauce. Sounds great, actually. And if you go there, be careful. You might make a mistake there longtime rival is just across the street. They’ve been in business for 400 years.
Marcia Smith 14:30
Okay, good. Okay, let’s move on. What’s the difference between theater ending in ER and theater ending in our E?
Bob Smith 14:39
That’s just a spelling from England is theater. Uh huh.
Marcia Smith 14:42
That’s right. It’s just Noah Webster.
Bob Smith 14:44
Over the dictionary guy. Yeah, yeah,
Marcia Smith 14:47
no Webster. He had a never ending attempts to try to get rid of criticisms. He called Oh, no kidding. He was always trying to fix it. So it was more American. And so you know, he changed words like we know color took the you out of color the CEOs. Oh, you are? Yeah, okay. Yeah. Are you out of there? I thought it was superfluous it is. It’s
Bob Smith 15:06
not necessary plow.
Marcia Smith 15:07
And those are two words that had Oh, you and it’s right. Because not all of his suggestions caught on. He did try to convince us Americans that the words tongue and women should be spelled tongue, T U N G, and women. W i m m e n. Nobody bought it. Women didn’t work. I liked that spelling. That’s good. That’s how Americans talk. That’s funny.
Bob Smith 15:35
Okay, Marsha. Here’s a question on art. Okay, how did the first painting acquired by the Museum of Modern Art? Influence cinema history? It’s an Edward Hopper painting.
Marcia Smith 15:48
Yeah. Was it that lunch counter there in the evening? Well,
Bob Smith 15:51
if it was lunch Nighthawks if it was Nighthawks, how did that influenced trying
Marcia Smith 15:55
to think to the film noir? No, I don’t know.
Bob Smith 15:59
The first oil painting acquired by MoMA by Edward Hopper was his 1925 painting house by the railroad. And if you look at it, it’s instantly recognizable as the inspiration for the Bates family home. In psycho, right? Yeah, the architectural style of the house the perspective the use of light, unmistakable, they all mirror what’s seen in Alfred Hitchcock’s film.
Marcia Smith 16:22
All right, Bob, a famous singer, dubbed Miss Piggy singing voice in the Muppet Movie,
Bob Smith 16:28
a famous singer. You mean Miss Piggy didn’t do it herself.
Marcia Smith 16:31
Who was it? Whose voice was single that
Bob Smith 16:34
would be singing in falsetto? Is it a man who sings? Yes.
Marcia Smith 16:37
Johnny Mathis.
Bob Smith 16:39
Oh, no. Johnny Mathis. Yeah, they’ve singing voice and Miss Piggy and the Muppet Movie. Yeah, we love that. Oh, I’ll be darned. That’s a great piece of trivia. I
Marcia Smith 16:54
think somebody hits us Miss Piggy.
Bob Smith 16:56
Oh, my goodness. That’s funny. Wonder why they went to him. I’m sure their character voice specialist could have done that. Why Johnny Mathis? Again? Not that nothing against Johnny Mathis.
Marcia Smith 17:06
That’s for sure.
Bob Smith 17:07
Okay. All right. Now, you know that there are US mints in various places in the United States. Yes. If you look at coins, some of the pennies you’ll find an S San Francisco Mint. So tell me why is there a US Mint in San Francisco, it was there for a specific reason. Because the gold. That’s right, the gold rush. When the Gold Rush hit, the US government wanted a branch there to buy the gold from the California gold miners. They wanted to get control of his gold. And the branch of the MIT opened in 1854. They paid miners the official rate of $16 per ounce. The gold could be sold higher on the open market, but the price could also go as low as $6 first year of operation, the San Francisco Mint produced $4 million in gold coins. That’s a lot. Within just two years time, it had produced $24 million in gold coins. That’s why they wanted a mint there. They wanted to get that money in the government. Can
Marcia Smith 18:07
you name all the richest countries in the world? Bob?
Bob Smith 18:10
Well, you always think United States is one of those
Marcia Smith 18:14
2022 numbers here. Okay, what are their China is number one with 113 trillion net worth? Wow, I know. It’s more than twice the United States, which is 50 trillion. And then tie for third and fourth is Germany and France both at 14 trillion. So it’s China, the US? And then what are the other two? Germany and France which tie for prayers?
Bob Smith 18:38
That’s surprising. I don’t don’t think of France as an economic powerhouse. I think of Germany that way.
Unknown Speaker 18:43
Yeah. They’re close. Yeah.
Bob Smith 18:44
Interesting is remember when Alfred Hitchcock had that show on TV, and sometimes in his movies, there would be this famous signature line drawing of his profile. What artist did that? Oh, that’s
Marcia Smith 18:57
an interesting question. Was it a fine artist? Or was it somebody like the guy over at New York Magazine,
Bob Smith 19:04
who was a famous guy had an art background? It was Hitchcock himself. Oh, yeah. He his background included drawing painting and advertising graphics. And he was an art director in early silent films.
Unknown Speaker 19:18
He did his little did his own file,
Bob Smith 19:20
his own profile. He started out doing title cards in silent films in Britain, the cards they used to put in their dialogue. That’s how he got his start.
Marcia Smith 19:29
And that funny, that’s how people break into different fields like that. Yeah. Okay, we’re talking nicknames. There’s top 10 nicknames of all time. Well,
Bob Smith 19:39
Bob has got to be number one. Yeah.
Marcia Smith 19:40
I’m gonna give you the nickname of a few people and you tell me who it is the bard of Avon? Bill Shakespeare. Yeah.
Bob Smith 19:49
William Shakespeare.
Marcia Smith 19:50
And here’s one you should know the Wizard of Menlo.
Bob Smith 19:53
Oh, that’s Thomas Edison. Correct.
Marcia Smith 19:55
The dopey one, the dopey one and Miss stir dullard Mr.
Bob Smith 20:01
Dollard elbowed me when I keep thinking of Snow White in the Seven Dwarfs Albert
Marcia Smith 20:06
Einstein dopey one Yeah,
Bob Smith 20:09
that was his nickname. Yeah,
Marcia Smith 20:10
well, that was those were nicknames yes that he had. Yeah.
Unknown Speaker 20:14
Why? Oh
Marcia Smith 20:15
no chairman of the board. Not a hard one Frank Sinatra. Yeah. Oh, blue eyes the Sultan of swans will Natraj and the voice he had a lot of them.
Bob Smith 20:23
I saw one of Swan. You
Marcia Smith 20:24
know this one. I did. The little sparrow.
Bob Smith 20:27
The little sparrow this must be a it’s a female who sang. I don’t know who it would be Edith Piaf. Oh, the French singer. That
Marcia Smith 20:36
Shan tus. That was another nickname for okay. And this one you’ll should know. He was called the little tramp.
Bob Smith 20:44
Oh, that’s Charlie Chaplin course.
Marcia Smith 20:47
And this one. I like the professional virgin. The
Bob Smith 20:53
professional virgin.
Unknown Speaker 20:56
Who is that? Doris Day? Oh, okay.
Marcia Smith 20:59
And and one I’ll just give you a few of his names. You should get it Mr. warmth. Mr. Potatohead. The Merchant of venom. Oh,
Bob Smith 21:07
that is Don Rickles. That’s it. That’s it. Okay, Mr. Potatohead? Because he played Mr. Potatohead in the Toy Story Toy Story. Yeah. Very good. Okay, names. We know that. l Frank Baum got the name eyes for his stories by looking at a file cabinet drawer labeled Oh dash z. Right. You had that the week. Okay. Now, how did wicked the author of wicked which was the recent play musical on on eyes? How did wicked author Jeffrey McGuire pay homage to L Frank Baum by naming the witch. Now here’s the name of the witch he chose the name? Elphaba. Elphaba? Elphaba. How does that relate to L? Frank Baum?
Marcia Smith 21:52
Oh, I had initial Yeah. Oh, that’s cute.
Bob Smith 21:56
l f. B. So he called her Elphaba. I’d say yeah, just an homage just as pay tribute. Yeah. To where this came from. I like I thought that was cool, too. I knew about the eyes. But I didn’t know that Elphaba got the name that way. All right, you’d like covered bridges. And now that springs coming people will be going out to we’ve got a covered bridge in our area here, one of the few in this part of the Midwest. But where is America’s oldest covered bridge? What state? Is it located in? I’ll give you four. Is it Connecticut? Vermont, New York or Massachusetts?
Marcia Smith 22:28
My first thought was Massachusetts. That’s what I would have thought.
Bob Smith 22:32
But it’s actually in New York. We always think of New York is New York City. But of course New York. Upstate New York is like Wisconsin and Michigan. It’s you know, it’s pretty rural. And this one is near Cooperstown, New York, the oldest covered bridge still standing. How old do you think it is?
Marcia Smith 22:51
Well, I’ll say 200.
Bob Smith 22:53
It’s close to 200. It was built in 1825. So we’re coming up on the 200th anniversary. It’s located outside of Cooperstown. It’s called the Hyde Hall bridge. And it was named for a mansion. It once led to it’s 53 feet long. And it’s the only covered bridge in a stego County. It’s also distinctive because most of the covered bridges have vertical boards on the side of the bridge, you know, from the ceiling to the floor. This has horizontal real long horizontal citing, anyway, almost 200 years old and scars could still go across it and everything amazing. Yes,
Marcia Smith 23:26
it is. Why do we call an unstable person? A basket case?
Bob Smith 23:31
A basket case? That’s a good question. Because he had to carry him out in a basket.
Unknown Speaker 23:38
Why would that be?
Bob Smith 23:39
I don’t know. I don’t know. Where does it come
Marcia Smith 23:40
from? Yeah, it comes from World War One. Oh, yeah. And if shell shocked or badly maimed, they couldn’t contain the soldiers in on a stretcher. They had to take them out in a basket. Oh, dear. Yeah, it’s very sad. And so anyway, that began the term basket case. And it was cruelly applied to anyone with an impairment either physical or mental. Well, here’s a different one. Okay. Okay. I’m just gonna give you what was the original napkin Bob?
Bob Smith 24:11
The original napkins? Yeah, manners. The butler. Remember that guy? Yeah. See, that was a character and Kleenex commercial. So what was the original napkin? Yeah,
Marcia Smith 24:20
what did people use? I think it was part of their clothing was No, no, no. Okay. Well, I have a feeling back wave sleeves. I mean, what was it I’m sure certain periods of time but the original purpose for a tablecloth was for wiping the diners fingers and hands. Oh, after eating. Really? Yeah, that was the original use for a tablecloth is something to wipe yourself up with.
Bob Smith 24:44
That’s what kids do when they’re really it’s always do that. Okay, I got one thing to end with. All right. That’s fun. In Arizona, there’s a town called why. How did it get its name and guess what? It lost its meaning.
Marcia Smith 24:59
Oh, Is it was it at the end of a road shape like a y. That’s exactly what it was. And the highway came through and straightened out that road. And now it’s no longer why
Bob Smith 25:09
originally it was called y like the letter Y in the alphabet, because it was the Y shaped intersection of highways 85 and 86. And for years, the town was simply known as the y. But they changed the intersection from the Y to a T shape intersection for safety reasons. So it totally lost its meaning, but it’s still called why why Arizona? What if
Marcia Smith 25:28
it were one of those roundabouts and B, the O, the O is next to y. Okay, I’m going to finish up with a quote from Socrates 400 BCE. Okay. All right, ancient wisdom, ancient wisdom. Children today are tyrants. They contradict their parents, they gobble their food and tyrannized their teacher, I despair for the future.
Bob Smith 25:55
The more things change, the more they’re the same. Nothing ever changed. Wow, that’s 400 BC. So there’s just no way to fix this problem. Apparently, we just have to live with it. Oh, that’s great. All right. We want to remind you, we appreciate it when people give us interesting facts and figures and ways to stump one another. And you can do that by going to our website, the off ramp dot show and going to contact us and just filling out the information and giving it to us. We’d love that we’d love to hear from you. And we’d love to hear where you’re listening from to. So, with that, I’m going to close the show Marcia? Hi, Bob Smith, I’m
Marcia Smith 26:32
Marcia Smith.
Bob Smith 26:33
We hope you’ll join us next time when we return with more interesting fun facts and sometimes scary sometimes scary wins on the off ramp.
The off ramp is produced in association with CPL radio online and the Cedarburg Public Library Cedarburg, Wisconsin.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
