# Factoids that sound right, for a moment... **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 27, 2011, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/factoids-that-sound-right-for-a-moment/569234 "2011-01-27T20:49:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2011, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/factoids-that-sound-right-for-a-moment/569234/101 "2011-02-02T05:48:55Z")
> [@Arglefraster](#): > > There is a direct correlation between ice cream sales and murder. (The actual cause is the weather. The hotter it gets, the more people buy ice cream, and the more likely people are to lose their tempers. So people who are borderline-homicidal are more likely to snap when it’s super hot out.) I always heard it as more ice cream = less murder because poor people shoot each other while rich people eat ice cream. > [@BACI](#): > > Pens down, everyone. > > We have a winner. And that would be…whom? I’m voting for **Hampshire** , myself. ---
**Author:** ![Crowbar\_of\_Irony\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f08c70/32.png) [@Crowbar\_of\_Irony\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crowbar_of_Irony_3)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2011, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/factoids-that-sound-right-for-a-moment/569234/102 "2011-02-02T11:49:09Z")
20% of the dopers are responsible for 80% of the threads. 80% of the pit threads are targeted at 20% of the dopers. ---
**Author:** ![lemac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f19dbf/32.png) [@lemac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lemac)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2011, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/factoids-that-sound-right-for-a-moment/569234/103 "2011-02-02T12:17:41Z")
Africa is the poorest country in the world, while Europe is one of the richest. St Nicholas, on who Santa Claus is based, was a Turk. Tigers face extinction in most of the world, except in Uganda, which has managed to preserve much of its wild tiger population. ---
**Author:** ![Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulf_the_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2011, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/factoids-that-sound-right-for-a-moment/569234/104 "2011-02-02T19:48:01Z")
> [@flight](#): > > I will buy that you are more likely to be injured by a dull knife than a sharp one as there are just so many more dull knives out there. Have you seen the condition of most people’s knives? There must be more than 50 crappy dull knives in the world for every sharp one. Hell, almost everyone I know tosses them in a drawer, puts them in a dish washer, and never sharpens them. All this stuff about dull vs. sharp knives does make me wonder: anecdotal evidence aside, and we should pretty much always set anecdotal evidence aside, how could we possiblky know the answer to this, and so how could we possibly determine whether the claim is true or false? What constitutes sharp, and what constitutes dull, and is there an in-between or isn’t there? And exactly who gathers these statistics, anyway? and why? FTR, I went to the ER once with a (self-inflicted while chopping up peppers) knife cut. No one asked me whether it was a sharp or a dull knife. And I had other things on my mind than noticing. ---
**Author:** ![flight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bbce88/32.png) [@flight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flight)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2011, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/factoids-that-sound-right-for-a-moment/569234/105 "2011-02-02T19:49:58Z")
> [@lemac](#): > > Africa is the poorest country in the world, while Europe is one of the richest. > St Nicholas, on who Santa Claus is based, was a Turk. > Tigers face extinction in most of the world, except in Uganda, which has managed to preserve much of its wild tiger population. Wait a second, isn’t the middle one true? At least wasn’t he born in what is currently Turkey? ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2011, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/factoids-that-sound-right-for-a-moment/569234/106 "2011-02-02T20:54:23Z")
> [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](#): > > All this stuff about dull vs. sharp knives does make me wonder: anecdotal evidence aside, and we should pretty much always set anecdotal evidence aside, how could we possiblky know the answer to this, and so how could we possibly determine whether the claim is true or false? What constitutes sharp, and what constitutes dull, and is there an in-between or isn’t there? And exactly who gathers these statistics, anyway? and why? > > FTR, I went to the ER once with a (self-inflicted while chopping up peppers) knife cut. No one asked me whether it was a sharp or a dull knife. And I had other things on my mind than noticing. IMO if a knife is sharp enough to cut me, it is a sharp knife. > [@flight](#): > > Wait a second, isn’t the middle one true? At least wasn’t he born in what is currently Turkey? Not only that, he lives in Turkey now. The winters at the Pole got to be a little much for the old guy, ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2011, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/factoids-that-sound-right-for-a-moment/569234/107 "2011-02-02T21:07:35Z")
> [@flight](#): > > Wait a second, isn’t the middle one true? At least wasn’t he born in what is currently Turkey? Sort of true. Nicholas lived in what is now Turkey. But he lived back in the third and fourth century, which was about seven hundred years before the Turks were around. At the time Nicholas was alive, the area he lived in would have been considered part of Roman Empire, the local culture was Greek, and the Turks were still living in Central Asia. ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2011, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/factoids-that-sound-right-for-a-moment/569234/108 "2011-02-02T23:06:59Z")
I’ve been both a professional chef and home cook, and I’ve literally never seen anyone cut themselves with a newly-sharpened knife. I think it’s hilarious that anyone would even think them to be more dangerous in the kitchen. ---
**Author:** ![flight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bbce88/32.png) [@flight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flight)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2011, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/factoids-that-sound-right-for-a-moment/569234/109 "2011-02-03T20:15:57Z")
> [@Labrador\_Deceiver](#): > > I’ve been both a professional chef and home cook, and I’ve literally never seen anyone cut themselves with a newly-sharpened knife. I think it’s hilarious that anyone would even think them to be more dangerous in the kitchen. I can see them being a problem for those not use to them. As I said before, most people use really terrible knives, and as another poster said, it was home cooks for whom he sharpened knives who then cut themselves on them. For example, if you are peeling a piece of fruit with a paring knife it would be very easy to send the knife into your thumb if you expected to have to put a lot more pressure on it than you do with a sharp knife. ---
**Author:** ![cuauhtemoc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecb155/32.png) [@cuauhtemoc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cuauhtemoc)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2011, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/factoids-that-sound-right-for-a-moment/569234/110 "2011-02-03T20:57:25Z")
I was born in a kitchen and spent the first twelve years of my life testing cutlery for the Ginsu company, then I studied at L’Institute Culinaire de Lyon under the great chef Jacques de la Foofoo for six years until they made me a professor and I used to fuck Julia Child and I say without a doubt that it is easier to cut yourself with a turkey baster than a box of raisins. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2011, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/factoids-that-sound-right-for-a-moment/569234/111 "2011-02-03T21:08:58Z")
> [@flight](#): > > For example, if you are peeling a piece of fruit with a paring knife it would be very easy to send the knife into your thumb if you expected to have to put a lot more pressure on it than you do with a sharp knife. I think this adage takes it as a given that you are going to consciously keep your flesh out of the intended and expected path of the knife. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2011, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/factoids-that-sound-right-for-a-moment/569234/112 "2011-02-03T22:44:33Z")
> [@cuauhtemoc](#): > > I was born in a kitchen I was born in the wagon of a travelling show, my mama used to dance for the money they’d throw, Papa would do whatever he could; preach a little gospel; sell a couple bottles of Doctor Good. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2011, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/factoids-that-sound-right-for-a-moment/569234/113 "2011-02-04T00:47:23Z")
> [@cuauhtemoc](#): > > I was born in a kitchen and spent the first twelve years of my life testing cutlery for the Ginsu company, then I studied at L’Institute Culinaire de Lyon under the great chef Jacques de la Foofoo for six years until they made me a professor and I used to fuck Julia Child and I say without a doubt that it is easier to cut yourself with a turkey baster than a box of raisins. I dunno. It’s possible to get a hell of a “paper” cut from a raisin box, but short of the turkey baster getting shattered in to sharp pieces, I see no method of cutting one’s self with one. Oh, I guess that’s why it sounds right for a moment, but isn’t… 😃 ---
**Author:** ![BACI](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ce73a5/32.png) [@BACI](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BACI)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2011, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/factoids-that-sound-right-for-a-moment/569234/114 "2011-02-04T01:58:11Z")
Perhaps one is more likely to cut oneself whilst in the act of using the knife for its intended purpose (ie whilst actually cutting or carving a food item) if it is dull, but more likely to injure oneself handling the knife (ie not whilst actually cutting or carving a food item) if the knife is sharp… ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2011, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/factoids-that-sound-right-for-a-moment/569234/115 "2011-02-04T03:41:11Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > I was born in the wagon of a travelling show, my mama used to dance for the money they’d throw, Papa would do whatever he could; preach a little gospel; sell a couple bottles of Doctor Good. The original chorus to that song went “Gypsies, chimpanzees!” until a group of Roma protested. Unfortunately, the musician changed the wrong lyric, and by the time the mix-up was discovered it was too late to re-press all the records. ---
**Author:** ![Rich\_Mann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ce73a5/32.png) [@Rich\_Mann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rich_Mann)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2011, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/factoids-that-sound-right-for-a-moment/569234/116 "2011-02-04T07:23:55Z")
Next time someone asks you for directions, tell them, “You can’t get there from here.” It’s amazing how many people will accept that, at least for a moment. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2011, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/factoids-that-sound-right-for-a-moment/569234/117 "2011-02-04T17:23:46Z")
If humans evolved from dinosaurs, how come there are still dinosaurs? ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2011, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/factoids-that-sound-right-for-a-moment/569234/119 "2011-02-06T11:29:58Z")
Google is the new [yahoo](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=596072), right? ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2011, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/factoids-that-sound-right-for-a-moment/569234/120 "2011-02-06T12:57:22Z")
In serious car accidents, people wearing seat belts are more likely to require medical care than those who don’t. ---
**Author:** ![Harborwolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Harborwolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harborwolf)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2011, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/factoids-that-sound-right-for-a-moment/569234/121 "2011-02-06T13:43:09Z")
I’ve also spent years in a kitchen, and I also think that a dull knife is more likely to cut me than a sharp one. Even chopping an onion, the sharp knife goes right in and cuts easily while the dull one is far harder to control, tending to slip off the skin or slide around. More force is used to chop things, so if I’m not careful I’m putting a lot more energy into my finger. And in my experience the cuts from the sharp blade heal more quickly. Doctors agree as well. I cut my finger on a freshly sharpened meat slicer and the doctor and the nurse said that it would heal faster because it had been sharpened. Now I’ve never cut myself with a knife bad enough to need stitches, but I’d imagine the principal is pretty much the same. ETA: I have a fair amount of experience with both sharp and (relatively) dull knives. I sharpen my work knives every morning before I do anything. Not exactly as diligent at home. My knives are never really dull, but the difference is noticable. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/factoids-that-sound-right-for-a-moment/569234.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/factoids-that-sound-right-for-a-moment/569234.md?page=7)