# Golden Age \_The Flash\_: why "hard water"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 8, 2004, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/golden-age-_the-flash_-why-hard-water/278710 "2004-12-08T06:43:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2004, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/golden-age-_the-flash_-why-hard-water/278710/1 "2004-12-08T06:43:20Z")
I’ve just picked up a reprint anthology of the _Flash_ comics from the Golden Age (1940s). As DC afficionados know, Barry Allen wasn’t the first man to be called “The Flash”. That moniker was first bestowed on Jay Garrick, a mild-mannered college student who was lousy at football until he accidentally inhaled some distilled fumes from **“hard water”**. When I first read this on the page, I couldn’t help but guffaw. _ **Hard water?!** _ You mean, the city water with mineral impurities that people install water softeners in their houses to fix? The scientist in the comic book claimed that “hard water makes a person act much quicker than ordinarily,” which made me wonder whether “hard water” was slang for water laced with amphetamines or something. But it did get me to wondering. This **was** 1940, after all. Was there some news, or perhaps propaganda, that had come out in the late 1930s that linked hard water with improved reflexes? Was there a specific reason why the comic book writers chose hard water instead of, say, Mystery Chemical Z or a glow-in-the-dark X-ray machine? ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2004, 7:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/golden-age-_the-flash_-why-hard-water/278710/2 "2004-12-08T07:28:07Z")
Maybe they were thinking of heavy water, deuterium? ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2004, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/golden-age-_the-flash_-why-hard-water/278710/3 "2004-12-08T07:45:07Z")
Maybe they meant “Heavy Water”, which was an essential element for producing Atomic Weapons at the time(when the manhatten project got up to speed)? Granted, being exposed to it still won’t make you super fast, but it makes slightly more sense then “Hard Water”. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2004, 8:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/golden-age-_the-flash_-why-hard-water/278710/4 "2004-12-08T08:59:59Z")
Or, maybe they just thought ‘Hard Water’ sounded suitibly fantastic for a superheroic origin. Remember, the other major speedster of the time got his speed by reciting the formula ‘3X2(9YZ)4A’, so Flash’s ‘Hard Water’ isn’t too out there, relatively speaking - it’s at least vague enough to not be quite so instantly obvious. ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2004, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/golden-age-_the-flash_-why-hard-water/278710/5 "2004-12-08T12:16:48Z")
> [@Tengu](#): > > Or, maybe they just thought ‘Hard Water’ sounded suitibly fantastic for a superheroic origin. > > Remember, the other major speedster of the time got his speed by reciting the formula ‘3X2(9YZ)4A’, so Flash’s ‘Hard Water’ isn’t too out there, relatively speaking - it’s at least vague enough to not be quite so instantly obvious. And a third speedster at the time (The Whizzer) got his powers from a transfusion of mongoose blood. Not radioactive mongoose blood or magical mongoose blood, mind you. Just any old mongoose blood will do. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2004, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/golden-age-_the-flash_-why-hard-water/278710/6 "2004-12-08T13:02:21Z")
I believe that they intended to say “heavy water”. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2004, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/golden-age-_the-flash_-why-hard-water/278710/7 "2004-12-08T13:46:33Z")
No, it was hard water. Remember, it was the “fumes” that caused the change, not the water itself. But this was in the 40s. No one cared about scientific plausibility when it came to creating superheros (and how is “heavy water” any more plausable as an origin than “hard water”? As a matter of fact, what exactly is scientifically plausible about any super-powered hero?). Plastic Man fell into a vat of acid, for instance. ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2004, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/golden-age-_the-flash_-why-hard-water/278710/8 "2004-12-08T14:17:50Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > As a matter of fact, what exactly is scientifically plausible about any super-powered hero?). Plastic Man fell into a vat of acid, for instance. Spoken like someone who’s never irradiated a spider and then had it bite him. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have these web-shooters to work on. I think it won’t be easy going, since I graduated high school sixteen years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2004, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/golden-age-_the-flash_-why-hard-water/278710/9 "2004-12-08T15:01:40Z")
> [@Maus Magill](#): > > Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have these web-shooters to work on. I think it won’t be easy going, since I graduated high school sixteen years ago. Pffft. Mechanical web shooters are _so_ over. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2004, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/golden-age-_the-flash_-why-hard-water/278710/10 "2004-12-08T15:34:16Z")
> [@Maus Magill](#): > > Spoken like someone who’s never irradiated a spider and then had it bite him. > > Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have these web-shooters to work on. I think it won’t be easy going, since I graduated high school sixteen years ago. You know, the word “maus” is German for “mouse”. Maaaaybe it _wasn’t_ a radioactive _spider_ that bit you. In which case, that _ain’t_ a long, stickey string of webbing coming out of its @ss. :eek: 😛 :eek: 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2004, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/golden-age-_the-flash_-why-hard-water/278710/11 "2004-12-08T15:48:46Z")
> [@Bosda Di'Chi of Tricor](#): > > You know, the word “maus” is German for “mouse”. > > Maaaaybe it _wasn’t_ a radioactive _spider_ that bit you. I knew there was a reason I’m so good at running and hiding. ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2004, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/golden-age-_the-flash_-why-hard-water/278710/12 "2004-12-08T16:38:59Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > No, it was hard water. Remember, it was the “fumes” that caused the change, not the water itself. Yep. Here’s a webpage with some scanned images of the crucial comic book panels from that Jay Garrick _Flash_’s origins: [http://moviepoopshoot.com/comics101/15.html](http://moviepoopshoot.com/comics101/15.html) > [@](#): > > But this was in the 40s. No one cared about scientific plausibility when it came to creating superheros True – and to some extent, that’s still true today. What I’m wondering about is if they specifically chose “hard water” because, perhaps, hard water was a new thing that was in the news a lot in those days. Had water softeners just been invented or something? ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2004, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/golden-age-_the-flash_-why-hard-water/278710/13 "2004-12-08T17:03:54Z")
> [@tracer](#): > > True – and to some extent, that’s still true today. Don’t forget that Iron Man’s original armor was transistor- **powered**! That’s like saying something is vacuum tube-powered! **Fenris** , that’s damned funny. I wonder if a transfusion of dog-blood would make my sidekick more loyal? ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2004, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/golden-age-_the-flash_-why-hard-water/278710/14 "2004-12-08T17:10:11Z")
> [@BMalion](#): > > Don’t forget that Iron Man’s original armor was transistor- **powered**! > > That’s like saying something is vacuum tube-powered! That’s no worse than Microsoft’s second “Windows CE” logo that had to appear on all devices that ran Windows CE. Said logo proclaimed that the device was, quote, **Windows Powered.** ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2004, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/golden-age-_the-flash_-why-hard-water/278710/15 "2004-12-08T17:11:35Z")
> [@BMalion](#): > > I wonder if a transfusion of dog-blood would make my sidekick more loyal? It might – but you also run the risk of transforming him into … Butt-Sniff Boy! ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2004, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/golden-age-_the-flash_-why-hard-water/278710/16 "2004-12-08T20:10:50Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > (and how is “heavy water” any more plausable as an origin than “hard water”? . Because heavy water is related to processing Nuclear Material, and Nuclear Material/Radioactivity can make animal grow gigantic sizes or give people super powers(being bitten by a radioactive animal can give you super powers). Unless you’re adam west, who just got Lymphonia. ---
**Author:** ![Find\_Friends](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c37758/32.png) [@Find\_Friends](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Find_Friends)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2004, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/golden-age-_the-flash_-why-hard-water/278710/17 "2004-12-08T20:19:59Z")
> [@tracer](#): > > I’ve just picked up a reprint anthology of the _Flash_ comics from the Golden Age (1940s). Oh? Was it hard-cover? I’ve come across ten-issues-per-volume anthologies of the first Spiderman issues, and various other volumes, DC and Marvel. Are they available at Barnes & Noble? Borders? Other chains? (That first Flash story was peculiar in several ways. And I think the artist was dozing in class all the days they covered perspective.) * * * True Blue Jack ---
**Author:** ![Find\_Friends](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c37758/32.png) [@Find\_Friends](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Find_Friends)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2004, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/golden-age-_the-flash_-why-hard-water/278710/18 "2004-12-08T20:26:27Z")
> [@tracer](#): > > When I first read this on the page, I couldn’t help but guffaw. _ **Hard water?!** _ You mean, the city water with mineral impurities that people install water softeners in their houses to fix? The scientist in the comic book claimed that “hard water makes a person act much quicker than ordinarily,” which made me wonder whether “hard water” was slang for water laced with amphetamines or something. And don’t forget that Mon-El turned out to be vulnerable to lead. Specifically, _LEAD RADIATIONS_ !!! Things had not gotten much better by 1960. Oh, and only the presence of Kryptonite can neutralize the effects. Cute. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![capacitor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e47774/32.png) [@capacitor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capacitor)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2004, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/golden-age-_the-flash_-why-hard-water/278710/19 "2004-12-08T21:11:24Z")
So, if I wash my clothes in hard water, without detergent, I can become the Flash, too? My aunt will love that. ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2004, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/golden-age-_the-flash_-why-hard-water/278710/20 "2004-12-08T21:29:58Z")
> [@capacitor](#): > > So, if I wash my clothes in hard water, without detergent, I can become the Flash, too? Yes, as long as the clothing is in the washer and not on your body, you are _The_\* Flash\*\*er!\* [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/golden-age-_the-flash_-why-hard-water/278710.md?page=2)