Bob Smith and Marcia Smith engaged in a lively conversation, covering topics ranging from astronomy to everyday life. Bob shared his knowledge of Neptune and Uranus, revealing that diamonds rain from the sky due to their extreme temperatures. Marcia inquired about US state capitals and peanut butter, discovering that Juneau, Alaska, is the smallest capital by landmass and a 12-ounce jar of Skippy peanut butter contains around 540 peanuts. Later, they delved into the origins and evolution of everyday expressions, such as ‘well heeled’ and ‘sticking out one’s tongue,’ and explored the connections between language, culture, and history.
Outline
Swearing habits in US cities.
- Marcia Smith: Columbus, Ohio swears the most (36 times/day), followed by Las Vegas (30) and Jacksonville (28).
- Men swear more than women, and younger generations use more vulgar language than older ones.
Diamonds, Looney Tunes characters, and word origins.
- Bob and Marcia discuss diamonds on other planets, including Neptune and Uranus.
- Marcia Smith and Bob Smith discuss Looney Tunes characters, with Marcia providing information on the number of characters and their origins.
- Bob Smith asks Marcia about the origin of the term “scapegoat,” which Marcia explains comes from the Bible and refers to a goat used to atone for sins.
- Bob Smith discusses the Escape Goat ceremony from the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur, where sins are symbolically transferred to a goat and then driven into the wilderness.
- Marcia Smith asks Bob about the speed of raindrops falling from the sky, and they discuss the range of 5-20 miles per hour, with larger raindrops falling faster.
Animal trivia, insurance history, and state capitals.
- Marcia and Bob discuss the history of car insurance, surprisingly originating from a concern for protecting horses from lawsuits.
- Marcia Smith discusses how Ancient Egyptians highly revered and trained baboons for various tasks.
- Bob Smith learns Juneau is closest US state capital to Canada, has largest capital landmass.
Famous people and their real names.
- Marcia Smith provides interesting facts about George Washington Carver, including his accomplishments as a scientist, inventor, and artist, as well as his role in promoting sustainable farming practices.
- Bob Smith shares a trivia question about Henry Ford’s early car, which lacked a steering wheel, reverse gear, or brakes, and was powered by a four-horsepower engine.
- Marcia and Bob discuss interesting facts and trivia, including the record for most children born to one woman (69) and the fact that Theodore Vasilev’s first wife had 18 more children after he remarried.
- Bob shares more famous people and their real names, including Coco Chanel and Theodore Vasilev.
Famous people’s names and origins.
- Bob Smith: Easily guessed William Bradley Pitt’s name, struggled with Rihanna’s stage name, and correctly identified Audrey Hepburn and Albert Brooks.
- Marcia Smith: Struggled with Rihanna’s name, correctly identified Audrey Hepburn, and was stumped by Albert Einstein’s name change to Albert Brooks.
- Marcia Smith explains the origin of the phrase “well heeled” and its evolution from a reference to cockfighting to a metaphor for financial well-being.
- Bob Smith asks Marcia about the meaning of sticking out one’s tongue, which she traces back to Tibetan culture and the beliefs of King Lang Dharma.
- Finland provides free maternity kits, known as “baby boxes,” to new mothers to reduce infant mortality.
Marcia Smith 0:00
What city curses more than any other?
Bob Smith 0:02
Oh yeah, well, who the hell cares?
Marcia Smith 0:05
Well, I do and I’m gonna find out if you know
Bob Smith 0:08
we’re okay. Okay, and my question is, aside from earth what other planets are home to diamonds? Hmm, get that spaceship ready we’re taking off I’m ready to go answers to those and other questions coming in this episode of the off ramp with Bob and Marsha
Marcia Smith 0:25
Smith
Bob Smith 0:42
Welcome to the off ramp. A chance to slow down steer clear of crazy take a side road to sanity and get some perspective on life. Well, Marcia, what Mergo finance city swears like reverse virtual
Marcia Smith 0:57
it’s hard to do, isn’t it? without actually doing it? Well, what friggin city Bob swears more than any other in the
Bob Smith 1:04
United States. Okay, you know, remember we had a question about the meanest city or the most rude city? Yeah, recently and I think it was Philadelphia. So I’ll go with Philadelphia. Yeah. Good guests. But no. Oh, okay. New York. New York City. Yeah,
Marcia Smith 1:19
no, not at all. Oh, okay. Chicago, you’re not gonna like Oh, all right. Let’s see your beloved Columbus, Ohio. What? i No, no, yes, that’s right. Got more potty mouths. They’re on average, they swear 36 times a day. Wow. That’s a lot. And second is Las Vegas at 30 times a day.
Bob Smith 1:39
That makes sense. People are losing money there. Yeah. And Jacksonville
Marcia Smith 1:44
comes in third at 28. Now on average, respondents swear 21 times a day in general averages. But younger generations are more likely to use swear words. Gen Z swears about 24 times a day and baby boomers swear only 10 times per day.
Bob Smith 2:03
Oh, we’re getting nicer as we get older. I think so. Also,
Marcia Smith 2:05
it’s more vulgar as you get older you think a bit more vulgar? I do. Although that doesn’t keep me from swearing. No, no, it doesn’t. Men swear more than women. Not in this house. And then.
Bob Smith 2:18
So anyway, the swearing a city is Columbus, Ohio. Yeah,
Marcia Smith 2:22
you’d have to think about that and get over I loved Buckeye State cities that are the lowest are number one Phoenix and Portland. Oh, people are happier. They’re apparently they come in at 14 times a day. And check this. No walk in Boston tied for second. Oh, my walkie Whoa. Yeah. We tried at 15. And third place was San Jose. They came in at 16. And just for interest New York City, they were fourth at 17. So they might be rude and nasty, but they don’t swear as much as those little kids over in Columbus,
Bob Smith 2:57
Columbus. Yeah, Josh, what’s going on in Columbus. Anyway, that was a survey and the survey again was from preply.com
Marcia Smith 3:04
they do nationwide studies on various fascinating things.
Bob Smith 3:08
preply sounds like they do toilet papers. Yeah, you
Marcia Smith 3:12
need the Charmin bears in this or something. Okay,
Bob Smith 3:15
okay, so if you got a question on swearing I’ve got a question on diamonds.
Marcia Smith 3:20
This is from my girlfriend Mary. Who loves her diamonds. And she has some beauties. Okay,
Bob Smith 3:27
well this comes from Britannica. The question is aside from earth what other planets are home to diamonds? I never heard of this before. This is interesting.
Marcia Smith 3:35
Well is Mars do they have diamonds? No.
Bob Smith 3:37
Apparently not. to other planets though. To other
Marcia Smith 3:42
other than Earth? Yes. That we know of? Yes. Okay. Pluto and Uranus.
Bob Smith 3:47
Well, it’s Neptune. Okay, and Uranus or Uranus as you want to say, because they are so hot and dense. The atmospheres of those two planets actually crushed carbon into diamonds and then they rain down from the sky. where Neptune and Uranus well sign me up Space X. Well don’t plan that mining expedition yet because the average temperature on Neptune is 373 degrees below Fahrenheit. Pretty cold, and it’s only slightly better on Uranus. Its average temperature is a frigid 353 degrees Fahrenheit.
Marcia Smith 4:23
It rains diamonds,
Bob Smith 4:24
it rains diamonds, but even if you could suffer those temperatures, the windchill factor would probably kill you average wind speeds on Uranus are 90 to 360 miles per hour. Let’s be a heck of a mining outpost. But there are diamonds on both those planets right
Marcia Smith 4:40
okay, who knew? Not me? Okay. Ba Bugs Bunny, huh? What type that you go see I give you these gifts once in a while. How many Looney Tune friends does Bugs Bunny have?
Bob Smith 4:53
What do you mean? How many Looney Tune friendly Looney
Marcia Smith 4:55
Tune characters are there?
Bob Smith 4:56
Oh, how many were there?
Marcia Smith 4:58
No it just around about guests.
Bob Smith 4:59
I would say they’re at least a dozen. Yeah, and Mel Blanc did almost all of them. Yeah, amazing.
Marcia Smith 5:05
It is amazing but know how many 105 You’re kidding over time. Yeah, primary and secondary characters but the general lists, taps 200 characters. Wow. But we’re talking Daffy Duck Porky Pig, Tweety Bird Road Runner. You know, can I hear Elmo the Fudd bomb.
Bob Smith 5:24
I taught I taught booty to
Marcia Smith 5:28
Tasmanian devil Yosemite Sam Speedy Gonzalez Pepe LePew and you’re right old Mel Blanc did a lot of it. Well,
Bob Smith 5:35
is that was cool. You
Marcia Smith 5:36
have it and what was on his tombstone? Mel Blanc
Bob Smith 5:40
sat on his tombstone. Yeah, that’s all folks, right
Marcia Smith 5:43
that we were there. That was cool
Bob Smith 5:44
at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery
Marcia Smith 5:47
and the cartoon studio was founded in 1929. By Hugh Harmon and Rudolph icing. They were friends of Walt Disney. Oh, no kidding. Okay. I don’t think they were after they opened up this place. But the first Looney Tune character was a guy named Bosco BLS K. Oh, he was sort of a human version of Mickey Mouse. Oh, really? Okay. And he wore a bowler hat and had a falsetto voice. Oh, that’s funny. He made his debut in 1930 in a little vignette called thinking in the bathtub. So I don’t remember that. But then Mel
Bob Smith 6:23
joined with all those voices and they started making characters based on his voices and say, you sound you know all these things. He was amazing. Okay, Marcia, you know, we do have word origins. I’ve got one here to ask you today. Where did the term scape goat come from? Well,
Marcia Smith 6:41
how curious that you should ask. Oh, really? Yes. You
Bob Smith 6:44
know the answer? No. Oh, okay. I’ll give you a hint. It does come from the Bible. Not Shakespeare.
Marcia Smith 6:50
Yeah. Those are the two big word origin things, aren’t they? Well, it was about a goat. That goat you escaped. Who had scape? It’s a form of further disease. All right, Toki. I
Bob Smith 7:04
think I better handle this before it goes crazy. Okay, okay. The term scape goat was first used in the Book of Leviticus. It described an ancient Yom Kippur ceremony where sins were symbolically transferred to an actual goat. Which was then it’s convened. Yeah. Which was then driven into the wilderness. It became the Escape Goat. I’ll be darned. I don’t know if skate meeting landscape or what but that’s where it came from. So the animal took on all your sins and then you’re okay, but that animal is driven off into the wilderness. Interesting.
Marcia Smith 7:34
Okay, Bob, according to the physics Fact Book, which I read daily, when it gets how fast raindrops fall?
Bob Smith 7:43
how fast they fall? Yeah. How fast raindrops we’re
Marcia Smith 7:47
talking miles per hour here. Oh,
Bob Smith 7:49
man. Okay. You can give a range. Okay. Let me see. I’m just thinking of them falling down. And I bet it’s faster than I think it is. Not 10 miles per hour or anything. It’s like 40 miles an hour. No, not that much. It’s 30 miles now. Well,
Marcia Smith 8:02
it’s between five and 20. Okay. Yeah. Larger raindrops fall faster than small ones. And a large raindrop is around the size of a house fly. And but I don’t know, 20 miles an hour, don’t you think? Anything hitting you on the head at 20 miles an hour? That’s
Bob Smith 8:19
pretty hefty. Yeah. If it was, well, if it wasn’t water, you could be in big trouble. Yeah, that’s what I thought. 20 miles for five to 20 miles per hour is the speed of rain when it falls from the sky. Yeah.
Marcia Smith 8:29
Oh, okay. All right. Take that to the bank.
Bob Smith 8:33
Well, I’ve got something about not a bank but a dome. A question about a dome, the US Capitol dome. envision that that big white dome, right in DC. Yeah. Okay. What color was it from? 1959 through 1960. It wasn’t white. Wasn’t it gold? No. No, it wasn’t gold black. No, it wasn’t
Unknown Speaker 8:53
black, white gold black.
Bob Smith 8:55
What is what is that dunk? What is the domain of its iron? Oh, workman was special pneumatic hammers removed the paint from the dome, which was then sandblasted, and since that bare iron does oxidize quickly, it had to be treated, and they treated it with a red protective rust primer. Okay, so, yes, so the Capitol dome was read for a period of time 1959 and 1960. You can find pictures of it online. And then the work done on the dome, they had to do the corroded and cracked metal repair and they fixed the loose bolts and missing bolts and new bronze window frames and supports but during that time, it was red. And I think it’s funny because it kind of coincides with the Red Scare, you know? 50s Here’s our capitol dome. It’s red. Oh, my God is red.
Marcia Smith 9:44
The red scare? I never thought of that. Yeah, that’d be funny. Okay. All right. But what commonplace animal is born blind and stays that way for two or three months? Really?
Bob Smith 9:57
Yeah. Is it a is it a mammal? Yeah, I did. It’s okay. I can’t have a monkey or something like, oh, it’s something
Marcia Smith 10:02
that’s around the house all the time mammal around the house. Wow, what is it? Squirrel? Oh, they’re
Bob Smith 10:09
born blind babies.
Marcia Smith 10:11
You know what the little babies are called by scientists. They’re called kits, kittens. Kitzur kittens, they’re born blind. And they stay that way for several months, so they don’t leave their mother very often. That’s why we don’t see him eating our walnuts. Because they can’t see them, but mother’s taking them through our attic to the nest.
Bob Smith 10:32
Hopefully, that’s not gonna happen again. That’s funny. That sounds like maybe it was a biological reason for the animal to stay with the mother. It’s like, well, though, it’d be blind for a while. So it’d be dependent on them. Yeah, yeah. Okay. All right. I have a question. I have an insurance question, Marsha. Okay, actually interesting. The world’s first car insurance. And what do you think that was first issued?
Unknown Speaker 10:54
Well, the first car 1898 Yeah.
Bob Smith 10:57
But it had nothing to do with accident protection or death. What was the first car insurance policy written for? What was the reason for it?
Marcia Smith 11:05
Oh, guy was going five miles an hour? No, no. What is it? It’s,
Bob Smith 11:11
it’s kind of funny. It had to do with horses, believe it or not? Oh, really? Yeah. Dr. Truman J. Martin of Buffalo, New York took out the first auto insurance policy in Buffalo, New York to protect him from any damages horse owners might claim if they sued the doctor saying that the machine scared their animals.
Marcia Smith 11:29
Oh, see, I would think they would scare Horses, Don’t she? Oh,
Bob Smith 11:33
they did? Yeah.
Marcia Smith 11:34
How long did they have to coexist? It wasn’t easy.
Bob Smith 11:37
No. city streets. Yeah, that’s why they had blinders. You know? Yeah. them from what’s what’s coming around the corner and everything.
Marcia Smith 11:45
I wouldn’t have guessed that it was for somebody’s horse. All right, Bob, think about this. What animal was highly trained and revered by Ancient Egyptians. Now I’m not talking about cats. They always like cats. And they domesticated them. Yeah. Or birds or Eagles or something. But this was an animal that they actually trained to do a variety of amusing thing. amusing things. I think it’s amusing by today’s standards, not doing useful tasks. If you call dancing and waiting on tables are useful that is useful.
Unknown Speaker 12:17
Were they were they monkeys? Yeah. Really? Yeah.
Marcia Smith 12:21
They were baboons. Well, they were much beloved by Ancient Egyptians. Those guys were real Cracker Jacks, were they, they were trained to do a variety of things that we can see in their ancient artwork. Now, some of this, I gotta think is like the onion magazine. Right? I mean, are those pictures with the dog sitting around the poker table? Yes, yes, yes, yes. Yeah. Because they had, they had these baboons dancing, waiting on tables, harvesting crops, and they were even put on leashes and taken out to apprehend criminals. Oh, my goodness. Yeah. And they’d come and they’d bite at the bad guys. Oh, wow. So it they saw the baboons as the embodiment of Thoe T H. o t h, a God of the moon and wisdom. They had a God for everything and an animal to go with it. And that was the baboon. That’s
Bob Smith 13:15
the monkey business of ancient Egypt. It is okay. All right. I think it’s time to take a break. Okay. You’re listening to the off ramp with Bob and me. And, and Marsh Smith. Yeah. We’ll be back in just a moment. Of course, here you with a B. And we’re back. You’re listening to the off ramp with Bob and Marsha Smith. Marcia. We had a question on national capital. Now. I have a question on state capitals. Okay. Don’t imagine the map of the United States, which state capital is closest to Canada? Okay, Bismarck, Lansing, Juneau, or Montpelier, Vermont? No.
Marcia Smith 13:59
Okay. I was gonna say Augusta. So Augusta, Georgia, Maine.
Bob Smith 14:03
Oh Augusta, Maine. Okay.
Marcia Smith 14:05
Isn’t that the capital of Maine? What are the choices again?
Bob Smith 14:08
Bismarck, Lansing, Juneau, or Montpelier? Juneau? That’s it? That’s it. And I asked you this because I thought it’s kind of a trick question in a way because you’re always thinking well, the border let’s see. Bismarck. That’d be close to the border. Okay. No, you’re right, Juneau. It’s the only one that shares its border with another country today. Yeah. Okay. Juneau was bordered to the east by the Canadian province of British Columbia, which makes it the closest state capitol to our northern neighbors. Now, the other cities, Montpelier, Vermont, it’s 52 miles from the border. Lansing, Michigan is 81 miles away from Canada. Really? You only think about going over there to Detroit so you don’t think about that getting to Canada from there. So Juneau is the closest US state capitol to Canada. What other distinction does Juneau have in terms of size?
Marcia Smith 14:57
It’s the smallest city In Alaska, it’s
Bob Smith 15:01
a small city. Yes. But it’s the largest capital in the United States by landmass. Oh, that makes sense. Interesting. Yeah. The city limits are so large they could contain the entire state of Delaware.
Marcia Smith 15:13
Really? Yeah. Oh, okay. Okay, let’s talk peanut butter. My Bob likes peanut butter. Oh, yeah. Yes, you do. And you know that by law. jar of peanut butter has to be 90%. Peanuts. No, I didn’t know that. Yes. Well, that’s why I’m here to enlighten you
Bob Smith 15:27
how much of the percentage of it is glass now? Glass jar? Oh, you mean what’s in the jar?
Marcia Smith 15:32
Oh, god. Okay, so my question for you, Bob. How many peanuts Do you think go into a 12 ounce jar of Skippy.
Bob Smith 15:40
Wow. Skippy, Jiffy, any of those? I’ll bet it is huge. I bet it’s six or 700. Peanuts.
Marcia Smith 15:49
Yeah, well, you’re not too far. It’s 540. It’s Wow, very precise. This all comes from the National Peanut Board website, of course, which was full of fun facts about the peanut and who and this one you should know because we all learned this a long time ago, who is considered the father of the peanut industry.
Bob Smith 16:08
Let’s see. That was the black scientist. What was his name? Come on. Come on. He was famous and he made a lot of things out of peanut
Marcia Smith 16:16
think of the first President George
Bob Smith 16:18
Washington Carver. Thank you naming Yes,
Marcia Smith 16:22
he was born into slavery in around 1864. And he had an amazing, fruitful life. Among other things. Before sustainability was a pop culture top topic covered promoted responsible farming practices, like planting peanuts in rotation with cotton. They didn’t do rotation before George came up with it. And he was the first African American to enroll at Iowa State University. He received his bachelor’s and his master’s degree from there. In 1916, he published a bulletin How to Grow peanuts in 105 ways of preparing it for human consumption. He advised Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi on matters of agriculture and nutrition. It’s the list goes on. I didn’t know that he was an excellent scientist and inventor and an accomplished painter and pianist. This guy, this guy was a renaissance. polymath, they called it Yeah, amazing. Yeah. And he published 44 Practical bulletins for farmers. And yeah, he really did useful things, that’s for sure. And he invented peanut butter. Let’s write the most useful of all and that’s where I got that from the good ol peanut butter
Bob Smith 17:33
stuff. He couldn’t figure out a way to keep it from sticking to the top of your mouth. Well
Marcia Smith 17:38
put in a loaf of white bread. Wipe it out,
Bob Smith 17:41
okay, from above the same era Henry Ford. Another great inventor. What did Henry Ford’s first car lack that we now expect? multiple choice question with these potential answers. Thanks, Bob. Lights steering wheel brakes. Reverse. What did his car lack that we now reverse? That’s exactly right. It didn’t have a steering wheel. It did have a tiller though. You know that was one of those. But he didn’t have reverse. This is from his 1896 quadricycle, which rode on for bicycle wheels and was powered by a four horsepower engine. Okay, the gearbox only had two forward gears with no reverse. Just add a reverse to the car there
Marcia Smith 18:24
and come on, Henry. We need to back up come on. How you gonna go back? Go in circles Majan trying to park that’s
Bob Smith 18:32
an interesting fact from a new trivia site I found called Coco trivia.com. Co CEO of trivia, yeah, Coco Chanel, like Coco Yeah. Coco Chanel.
Marcia Smith 18:42
Okay. What is the only letter in the alphabet Robert? With more than one syllable?
Bob Smith 18:48
The only letter that has more than one syllable. Go ahead. I’ll wait. W
Marcia Smith 18:53
that’s. I had to go through the whole alphabet.
Bob Smith 18:59
JK LMNOP okay, it could be LMNOP but that’s more than one. Yeah.
Marcia Smith 19:03
Did you just have that at the top of your head? Yeah, I did. That’s ugly. Oh, very good. Yeah. Okay. According to my Guinness Book of World Records. What is the greatest number of children born to one woman?
Bob Smith 19:15
Oh, wasn’t something like 15 children? No new new this poor woman? Did she have more than one husband that put her through the No, no, no. Oh my goodness. Okay, well, 69 Oh, my goodness.
Marcia Smith 19:32
It’s the first wife of Theodore Vasilev Wait a minute. The first one yes, I’ll get to that poor soul whose name is believed to be Valentina poor woman in the Book of Records. They didn’t even put her name down, but they think it’s Valentino. They were Russian peasants. What? Better occupation to have 69 children. Oh, my God was in the 1700s and she gave birth to 16 pairs of twins, seven sets of triplets. and four sets of quadruplets. A total of 27 pregnancies and amazingly enough 67 of those 69 Babies survived infancy. Wow. Well, she probably died from exhaustion and Kitty and hubby Theodore. remarried. And guess what had at Marquette.
Bob Smith 20:19
Oh no. His wife had 18 More kids hubby didn’t have any kids. I
Marcia Smith 20:23
know. And that’s I added I added them up. That’s 87 Kids worth of child support. Geez.
Bob Smith 20:29
Oh, yeah. Well, that’s. That’s the difference between those days and now
Marcia Smith 20:33
everybody got a potato for Christmas. Oh
Bob Smith 20:35
my god. If they got that. How can he? Oh, Lord, that poor first woman all those children? No wonder she died. And then he went on and married another woman.
Marcia Smith 20:46
Yeah. Can you imagine you’re the woman? You’re dating a guy? Yeah. You have kids? Oh, yeah. I got 69
Bob Smith 20:51
of them. What? Okay, Marsha speaking of children and naming them, I’ve got more of these famous people and what their real names are. Want you to guess? Sure. Okay. This is an easy one. Okay. This is a gentleman who was born William Bradley Pitt. You might call a bill Pitt, but we call him
Marcia Smith 21:12
Wild Bill Hickok.
Bob Smith 21:14
Brad Pitt, Marcia. Oh, William Bradley Pitt,
Marcia Smith 21:18
I think. Well, that was my first test. That
Bob Smith 21:21
was the easy guess. Mark. That was my first thought. Oh, that was supposed to be the easy one. Okay, well, give me the hard it’s getting harder now. Okay, here’s one. Her name is Robyn Rihanna, Fenty.
Unknown Speaker 21:34
Her real name, though. Now.
Bob Smith 21:35
She goes by her middle name. Rihanna. Oh, Rihanna. Yeah. Is that what you said? Yeah, Rihanna. She’s an actress singer from Barbados. I
Marcia Smith 21:44
would have known that I didn’t understand what you were saying.
Bob Smith 21:46
I said her name was Robin Rihanna. Fenty. What’s her stage name? Rihanna. Yeah. Okay. She told Rolling Stones that her family and friends to call her by her first name. Robin. When I hear Robin I pay attention. Okay, okay. Tell me who this person was. Okay. This is an actress. She was very famous in the 50s and 60s. Okay. Audrey Kathleen Reston. She was baptized at a Kathleen Hepburn. Rusta.
Unknown Speaker 22:15
I think I got it. Okay. What’s
Bob Smith 22:17
her name? Audrey Hepburn? Oh, Audrey Hepburn? Yes, that’s right. This isn’t that hard. But the first one was very easy. And you couldn’t get I thought
Marcia Smith 22:25
it was too easy. So I went for something. All right. Let’s
Bob Smith 22:28
do one more. All right. All right. Let’s see if you can get it. Okay. All right. Albert Einstein. Yeah. What did he have to change his name to?
Marcia Smith 22:36
He changed it from Albert Einstein as an
Bob Smith 22:39
actor whose real name
Marcia Smith 22:41
oh, was Albert. Albert Brooks.
Bob Smith 22:43
That’s right. Okay, that’s right. And he actually comes from a showbusiness family. His mom was a singer. His father was a comedian on the radio. His brother, Bob Weinstein, was also a producer. He didn’t have to change his name, but Albert’s had to change his name. So he changed it to Albert Brooks.
Marcia Smith 23:00
I’m a big fan of his Yeah.
Bob Smith 23:01
Can you imagine being born Albert Einstein? Hey, Einstein, you should know the answer to this one.
Marcia Smith 23:07
guy never heard that one. All right. Last question before my quote. Why do we say someone with money is well heeled?
Bob Smith 23:15
Oh, I’m sure it has to do with the fact that you could afford better shoes.
Unknown Speaker 23:19
Yeah, you think so? But no, no, it’s
Bob Smith 23:22
not. well heeled. Wait a minute, give me a moment. well heeled so something about is it something about the physical body the heel now? Not something about your foot now? Oh, okay. Not about your foot. What is the answer before cockfighting
Marcia Smith 23:36
was banned in 1849 individual birds were often outfitted with little sharp steel spurs, giving them an advantage in Mortal Kombat. Oh, no kid, they’d put little spurs on their, their feet above their feet. So they’d be well heeled. Yes, they were well heeled, and in the 19th century, the expression became slang for anyone armed with a weapon. But then around 1880 That term began to mean anyone who was well off financially and could overcome any obstacle with money instead of a weapon. Wow, that’s a strange is the journey that is so it started out in cockfighting.
Bob Smith 24:20
well heeled Yeah, so we could get by it could do anything because it had this weapon on its heels. Yeah. Okay. All right, Marcia. Where are you sticking out your tongue a common greeting other than the house you grew up?
Marcia Smith 24:32
Yeah, yeah. Yeah. No, they weren’t that kind. My older brothers
Bob Smith 24:36
were is sticking out your tongue a common Oh, reading and why?
Marcia Smith 24:40
It’s, it’s not anywhere near here. No,
Bob Smith 24:43
it’s another culture.
Marcia Smith 24:44
Is it in Africa? No, it’s
Bob Smith 24:45
not an affricate. Tell me it’s in Asia. Okay. Okay. It’s in Tibet. Yes, it goes back to Lang Dharma who is a ninth century King remembered as one of the cruelest leaders in Tibetan history. He had a black tongue And because many Tibetans believe in reincarnation, after he died, they began sticking out their tongues when meeting new people to prove I’m not lying dharma. I’m not even related to laying dharma. I got a normal tongue. I got nothing to hide. I haven’t got a black tongue. Yeah. Yeah. Tibet. Oh, isn’t that interesting? And so that’s like 1400 years ago, they were sticking out there. Wow. So as the gesture evolved as the centuries past, some Tibetans also started using it to indicate agreement or even respect. Stick your tongue out as a common a common greeting or friendly greeting. Yeah. Okay. Okay. And here’s one that comes from a listener in England, Margaret de ah, right. And she asks what country delivers a baby box to expectant mothers?
Marcia Smith 25:46
What do you mean a baby box?
Bob Smith 25:47
Well, for more than 75 years, this country has sent a maternity kit with sheets, clothing, diapers, and start are close to expectant mothers for free and their goal to reduce the infant mortality rate. What country would be there? Oh,
Marcia Smith 26:02
is it a Scandinavian Scandinavian country? Okay, I’ll say I’ll say Denmark. It’s
Bob Smith 26:07
Finland. Now. The tradition began in 1930 with low income families. But it became so popular every expectant mother was receiving one and expected to receive one by 1949. The baby box that not only includes necessities, but also toys, outdoor gear, body suits, and a picture book. It even turns into the baby’s first bed. The box does. Oh, really, it turns into a bed with a mattress and quilt included. And it seems to have worked Finland’s infant mortality rate is now one of the lowest in the world at 2.5 deaths per 1000 births. The baby bucks.
Unknown Speaker 26:44
Thank you, Margaret de Thank you, Margaret. Yeah, that
Bob Smith 26:47
was pretty cool. Okay.
Marcia Smith 26:48
All right. This first quote is from Ludvig Earhart, ah, he says a compromise is the art of dividing a cake in such a way that everyone believes he has the biggest piece.
Bob Smith 27:01
Well, that is true. Isn’t that is he was I think was seeing the German Chancellor Ludovic Earhart. I don’t think so. Yeah. Look
Marcia Smith 27:08
it up. And here’s one more quote from Bruce Lee.
Bob Smith 27:11
Oh, the late great martial arts actor. Correct. Okay. He
Marcia Smith 27:14
said, he said, I’m a philosophy major who knew? Hmm. That means I can think deep thoughts about being unemployed.
Bob Smith 27:23
And he probably did. Yeah, but not for long. Oh, dear Lord. All right. That’s my old boyfriend. Okay, well, let’s wrap it up. That’s it for this week. We hope you’ve enjoyed our show and hope you’ll join us next time. When we return. I’m Bob Smith. I’m Marcia Smith. You’ve been listening to 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
