Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Question of the Week Vol 2

Thank you for your comments from last week's question.  The answer to which of the foods would sustain life for year if you could only have one food (from the options provided) is hot dogs or milk chocolate.  This question is part of a survey done by Paul Rozin of UPenn (Holla), when he was trying to get at a common misconception we (Americans) have today.  We have become so accustomed to the "Fat, all fat, any fat is bad bad bad" mentality, fed to us by "Low Fat" foods every which way we turn, and how the food industry breaks down food into individual nutrients and calls one good and another bad and seemingly switches it nearly every month, but much of what we have come to believe about food is all wrong and totally absurd.  For a year on a desert island, you be needin some fat.  None of the other foods would sustain life.  In fact, some (such as most of the foods) eaten by themselves and in large quantities would actually hurt you because they would cause the runny runs.  If you know what I mean.  In any event, having just read Michael Pollan's 'In Defense of Food' (highly recommend it) in which he asks this question, I thought I would see what my readers thought.

Now this week's question, or should I say questionS- there aren't "right" or "wrong" answers to these, but these are more to understand personal/regional differences in how people refer to various things.  
1) What do you call the substance that accumulates in the corner of your eyes near your nose while you are asleep?
2) What do you call the shoes you wear on your feet while doing athletic activities?
3) What do you call the caffeinated carbonated beverage which includes such varieties as Sprite, Root Beer, and Pepsi?   

Please tell the readers where you are FROM and/or where you currently LIVE at the end of your responses.

Thanks for playing.  I'll share my answers next week with next week's question.

7 comments:

sjweathy said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Balayne said...

(I'm so happy to be the first to answer this week's!!) I'm originally from "the west" and now live in "the east" haha ...

1) I affectionately call that stuff "eye goobers" ... although I've heard many people refer to it as "sleep" which I find kinda weird actually ... and when I was little my best friend called it "sand from the sandman" which I found kinda cute.

2) I call said shoes any number of things ... tennis shoes or sneakers mostly, though.

3) SODA!!! ... It really bothers me when people call all carbonated beverages "coke" ... Coke is a brand. Show some awareness! And of course "pop" is acceptable, but not recommended cause it makes you sound under the age of 10.

Hahaha that's my snide commentary for the evening. MISS YOU!!!

Anonymous said...

1) Sleep
2) Tennis shoes
3) Pop!

From the Midwest...
-ACM

Preethi said...

a) Eye goop or sleep. But mostly eye goop.

b) Sneakers or tennis/running shoes.

c) Soda. But in my former Alabama life, totally called everything Coke, and would ask people what kind they wanted. I was really weirded out that Utahns said "pop."

Anonymous said...

1) Definitely eye boogers
2) If I'm running - running shoes or tennis shoes; if I'm playing soccer - cleats or boots (really I say cleats, but I like saying boots because it is cheeky and British)
3) It is SODA ... not "pop", not "coke" ... SODA

pferree said...

1) When I was little, "sleepies." Now I call it "sleepy gunk." Not that it's any more mature.
2) Sneakers.
3) "Soda" is the general term, but why ask for anything other than COKE!!!

From Atlanta, live in DC.
--Paul

Lorrie Veasey said...

1) I think the technical term is eye snot.
2) High heels..I mean, f-me heels. That's how I work out.
3) Tooth rot..or: what Bobby Jean puts in her kid's baby bottle.

I found your blog through your comment on Dooce. I know how much you enjoyed viewing her movie about cooking and eating edamame. You can view the East Coast video response to that cinematic masterpiece at www.ournameisblog.blogspot.com We hope you will leave a comment...I am so sure you will have something snarky to say!