# elephant shrew?? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 7, 2001, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elephant-shrew/71640 "2001-07-07T22:38:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mescalito](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e8c25b/32.png) [@mescalito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mescalito)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2001, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elephant-shrew/71640/1 "2001-07-07T22:38:20Z")
did you know the elephant shrew never closes it’s eyes true or false? did you know rats can’t be sick… true or false?? did you know there’s no proper name for the back of the knees? true or false? ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2001, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elephant-shrew/71640/2 "2001-07-08T00:44:01Z")
> [@](#): > > did you know the elephant shrew never closes it’s eyes > > true or false? [Charles R.](http://www.centralia.wednet.edu/title/ElephantShrew.html) of Centralia, WA researched this question and reportedly found it to be false. > [@](#): > > did you know rats can’t be sick… > > true or false?? Nah, definitely false. See [rat bacterial diseases](http://netvet.wustl.edu/species/rats/ratbact.txt), [infectious agents of rats](http://www.afip.org/vetpath/POLA/99/LaAnInfDzRa.htm), and a few hundred other pages. Ever hear of a “lab rat”? If they couldn’t get sick, they’d be pretty useless as laboratory animals. Especially for testing the toxicity of things–“Well, we fed the new Arsenic-O’s breakfast cereal to rats, and _they_ were OK, so go ahead and ship it to the grocery stores”. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2001, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elephant-shrew/71640/3 "2001-07-08T01:17:54Z")
He probably means that rats can’t vomit, which I was skeptical of the first time I heard it, but have heard confirmed more than once from decent-seeming sources. They can certainly get diseases and display other symptoms. The inability of rats to vomit is why some sorts of poisons are particularly effective on them. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2001, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elephant-shrew/71640/4 "2001-07-08T02:38:21Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by mescalito \* > **did you know there’s no proper name for the back of the knees?** The original meaning of the word **ham** was “the back of the knee.” This meaning is now archaic, and the word more often means the thigh or the back of the thigh. [The American Heritage Dictionary](http://www.bartleby.com/61/64/P0446400.html) uses the phrase **the ham of the knee**. In an old medical dictionary, I found **poples** (plural **poplites** ) that means “the back of the knee,” but you won’t find it in most dictionaries. The adjective form **popliteal** is in most good dictionaries. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2001, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elephant-shrew/71640/5 "2001-07-08T02:50:31Z")
[Rat & Mouse Gazette](http://www.rmca.org/Articles/qna6_99.htm) says > [@](#): > > I will quote the paragraph that addresses the reason why rats do not have the ability to vomit from _Laboratory Animal Medicine_, Editors James G. Fox, Bennett J. Cohen, and Franklin M. Loew. It is as follows. > > > [@](#): > > > > “The stomach of the rat is divided into two parts; the forestomach (nonglandular) and the corpus (glandular). The two portions are separated by a limiting ridge. The esophagus enters at the lesser curvatrue of the stomach through a fold of the limiting ridge. This fold is responsible for the inability of the rat to vomit.” ---
**Author:** ![mescalito](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e8c25b/32.png) [@mescalito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mescalito)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2001, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elephant-shrew/71640/6 "2001-07-08T19:38:36Z")
ok you chaps seem to know your stuff… looks like i’ll have to think of something else… chin chin… ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2001, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elephant-shrew/71640/7 "2001-07-09T00:13:56Z")
I’ve always used the term ‘Kneepits’. My wife seemed amused. Maybe it’ll stick. Then again, how often do you need to refer to your kneepits? ---
**Author:** ![StephenG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7feea3/32.png) [@StephenG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StephenG)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2001, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elephant-shrew/71640/8 "2001-07-09T03:10:48Z")
Wasn’t there an episode of _Ally McBeal_ that discussed kneepits? I think Ling’s were an erogenous zone for her… ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2001, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elephant-shrew/71640/9 "2001-07-09T03:41:11Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by mescalito \* > \*\*ok you chaps seem to know your stuff… > looks like i’ll have to think of something else… > chin chin… \*\* This is **not** the “stump the teeming millions” forum! This is for legitimate questions you want answered. Kindly post this sort of stuff in MPSIMS next time. ---
**Author:** ![dweebers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9c0ed/32.png) [@dweebers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dweebers)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2024, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elephant-shrew/71640/10 "2024-02-28T12:27:26Z")
Twenty three years later, I am here to tell you… @mescalito was referencing Viv Stanshall’s “Sir Henry At Rawlinson End”.