# Reverse the polarity!!!!!!! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 15, 2006, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reverse-the-polarity/348408 "2006-03-15T03:00:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![The\_Scrivener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@The\_Scrivener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Scrivener)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2006, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reverse-the-polarity/348408/21 "2006-03-17T02:23:21Z")
Thanks, **Frylock**! I feel… positively… _elevate_d. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![WotNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e19b73/32.png) [@WotNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WotNot)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2006, 9:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reverse-the-polarity/348408/22 "2006-03-17T09:28:05Z")
> [@marque elf](#): > > (small hijack) > > In \*The Right Stuff \* Tom Wolfe talks about Chuck Yeager’s flight that first broke the sound barrier. There was something in it about one of the early theories on how to do this involved reversing something, perhaps the direction of engine thrust, at the moment you hit the sound barrier. Supposedly the pilot who first tried it died . Is there anyone out there who remembers this and what exactly the pilot was supposed to reverse? I can’t find my copy of the book. > > (end hijack) I suspect you’re thinking of the reference in the book to the 1952 British film [The Sound Barrier](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0044446/?fr=c2l0ZT1kZnx0dD0xfGZiPXV8cG49MHxrdz0xfHE9dGhlIHNvdW5kIGJhcnJpZXJ8ZnQ9MXxteD0yMHxsbT01MDB8Y289MXxodG1sPTF8bm09MQ__;fc=1;ft=22;fm=1) which was made before Yeager’s breaking of the sound barrier was public knowledge. If I remember rightly, the test pilot in the film discovers that when approaching the speed of sound, the effect of the plane’s control surfaces is reversed, so that to pull out of a dive, he has to push the stick forward rather than pull it back. Bullshit, of course, but since Yeager’s flight was a military secret at the time, as far as the film makers knew, they were making a science fiction film. Speaking of early 50s British science fiction (and veering back on topic) – I have a vague but persistant memory that the phrase “reverse the polarity” (and I believe it may have been of the neutron flow) appeared in the 1954 film [Devil Girl from Mars.](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0046907/?fr=c2l0ZT1kZnx0dD0xfGZiPXV8cG49MHxrdz0xfHE9ZGV2aWwgZ2lybCBmcm9tIG1hcnN8ZnQ9MXxteD0yMHxsbT01MDB8Y289MXxodG1sPTF8bm09MQ__;fc=1;ft=21) ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2006, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reverse-the-polarity/348408/23 "2006-03-17T13:16:57Z")
Thanks, **Qaadcop** and **Frylock**. Didn’t recall that use. Not sure what it means here – it’s given just before the warning about sidearms, not as an order to do anything yet. It almost seems like slang for “bring her in for a landing”. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2006, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reverse-the-polarity/348408/24 "2006-03-17T14:13:13Z")
> [@The Scrivener](#): > > Not to reverse the polarity of this thread or anything, but in response to popular demand, here’s the [previous polarity thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=130145&highlight=polarity). 🙂 Man, that thread is funny! The post “I reversed the polarity on my desk lamp by pulling out the plug and putting the plug back in upside-down. Now the light bulb emits ANTI-photons!” has to rank among the great SDMB moments. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2006, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reverse-the-polarity/348408/25 "2006-03-17T14:16:34Z")
**2002**??? It was _that_ long ago? Jeez! ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2006, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reverse-the-polarity/348408/26 "2006-03-17T14:49:50Z")
When you reverse the polarity on Spaceball One, MightyMaid switches from “Suck” to “Blow!” ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2006, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reverse-the-polarity/348408/27 "2006-03-17T14:56:36Z")
[The Top 10 Things I Hate About Star Trek](http://www.happyfunpundit.com/hfp/archives/000514.html) ---
**Author:** ![dmatsch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3be4f8/32.png) [@dmatsch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dmatsch)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2006, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reverse-the-polarity/348408/28 "2006-03-17T17:27:52Z")
> [@Ukulele Ike](#): > > That’s the first thing I thought of when I saw this thread title. > > Who has time to look it up and provide a link? I’d do it myself, but I got a pie in the oven. Congratulations. When’s your due date? 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reverse-the-polarity/348408.md?page=1)