# Straight dopoe on the Fahrenheit scale **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [May 25, 2005, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/straight-dopoe-on-the-fahrenheit-scale/305493 "2005-05-25T21:29:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![wxwoman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/43a26b/32.png) [@wxwoman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wxwoman)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2005, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/straight-dopoe-on-the-fahrenheit-scale/305493/1 "2005-05-25T21:29:15Z")
Nice try, Cecil, but you missed it. The Fahrenheit scale was supposed to be a 100-degree scale, with zero being the coldest temperature Mr. Fahrenheit could create with salt and ice and 100 degrees being “blood heat;” i.e., body temperature. These were temperatures that could be reproduced anywhere, thus making his thermometer’s scale an international one. Alas, he missed it a bit on the upper end, but not by much, just 1.4 degrees. The boiling point of water at sea level just happens to be 212 degrees because that’s what it is with degrees of the “size” that Fahrenheit created with his 0-100 base scale. FYI, 0 degrees F is still the coldest temperature you can get with salt and ice, but it takes a lot of salt and a lot of stirring. There’s been a lot of silliness over this; the self-alleged “super-intellectual” Marilyn Savant (stage name if I ever heard one) even got it wrong in her column in Parade magazine. This is the Straight Dope. Guaranteed. I can cite chapter and verse if you really want to nail this down. ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2005, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/straight-dopoe-on-the-fahrenheit-scale/305493/2 "2005-05-25T22:33:54Z")
> [@wxwoman](#): > > I can cite chapter and verse if you really want to nail this down. Well, um . . . why didn’t you in the first place? Let’s see it. ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2005, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/straight-dopoe-on-the-fahrenheit-scale/305493/3 "2005-05-25T22:36:18Z")
Linkety-link: [On the Fahrenheit scale, why is 32 freezing and 212 boiling? What do 0 and 100 mean?](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a891215.html) ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2005, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/straight-dopoe-on-the-fahrenheit-scale/305493/4 "2005-05-25T22:37:19Z")
:smack: [On the Fahrenheit scale, why is 32 freezing and 212 boiling? What do 0 and 100 mean?](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a891215.html) ---
**Author:** ![Kat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b19c9b/32.png) [@Kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kat)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2005, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/straight-dopoe-on-the-fahrenheit-scale/305493/5 "2005-05-25T22:40:42Z")
I agree with **andros**. Let’s see the cites. ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2005, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/straight-dopoe-on-the-fahrenheit-scale/305493/6 "2005-05-26T16:06:40Z")
[/quote] Marilyn Savant (stage name if I ever heard one) [/quote] While you’re researching cites, find one for this, too. My understanding is that Marilyn Vos Savant actually _is_ her real name. ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2005, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/straight-dopoe-on-the-fahrenheit-scale/305493/7 "2005-05-26T16:07:59Z")
_sigh_ “Preview is my friend.” ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2005, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/straight-dopoe-on-the-fahrenheit-scale/305493/8 "2005-05-27T00:50:50Z")
> [@wxwoman](#): > > Nice try, Cecil, but you missed it. The Fahrenheit scale was supposed to be a 100-degree scale, with zero being the coldest temperature Mr. Fahrenheit could create with salt and ice and 100 degrees being “blood heat;” i.e., body temperature. These were temperatures that could be reproduced anywhere, thus making his thermometer’s scale an international one. > Alas, he missed it a bit on the upper end, but not by much, just 1.4 degrees. The boiling point of water at sea level just happens to be 212 degrees because that’s what it is with degrees of the “size” that Fahrenheit created with his 0-100 base scale. > FYI, 0 degrees F is still the coldest temperature you can get with salt and ice, but it takes a lot of salt and a lot of stirring. > There’s been a lot of silliness over this; the self-alleged “super-intellectual” Marilyn Savant (stage name if I ever heard one) even got it wrong in her column in Parade magazine. This is the Straight Dope. Guaranteed. I can cite chapter and verse if you really want to nail this down. Welcome! We don’t take _anyone_ at his or her word here. Let’s have a cite or two. Chapter and verse is fine, but we want the whole book to read our own selves! 😃 All seriousness aside, what is your source? Oh, and BTW, we don’t mention _that woman_ here. She has been know to contradict our beloved Cecil… and she was wrong! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2005, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/straight-dopoe-on-the-fahrenheit-scale/305493/9 "2005-05-27T19:10:05Z")
> [@](#): > > Oh, and BTW, we don’t mention that woman here. She has been know to contradict our beloved Cecil… and she was wrong! Eh, she’s not really wrong any more often than is Cecil. The difference is that Cecil doesn’t stay wrong. When he’s wrong, he admits it, and publishes a correction, whereas when Marilyn is wrong, she does the journalistic equivalent of sticking her fingers in her ears and chanting “La la la, I can’t hear you!”. ---
**Author:** ![GreyHawk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/278dde/32.png) [@GreyHawk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreyHawk)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2005, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/straight-dopoe-on-the-fahrenheit-scale/305493/10 "2005-06-10T13:39:23Z")
> [@ZenBeam](#): > Marilyn Savant (stage name if I ever heard one) [/quote] While you’re researching cites, find one for this, too. My understanding is that Marilyn Vos Savant actually _is_ her real name. [/QUOTE] Tangent, I know. I previously had no understanding of the reality of her name. I guess I just assumed it was a pseudonym. If you took the pseudonym theory, then Vos Savant = learned fox. She writes her name as “vos Savant” and not “Vos Savant”. “Vos” could indicate a middle name. But written “vos” it is a prefix to a surname such as “van”, “de” or “o”. I could find no listings anywhere of a “vos Savant” family. [Ancestry.com](http://Ancestry.com) and [Genealogy.com](http://Genealogy.com) pulls no findings of such names. [Ancestry.com](http://Ancestry.com) gives a definition and origin of the “Savant” family but designates there is no “vos Savant” family name. So, I won’t profess absolute knowledge, but I’ll present the following as evidence. Can’t find the last name on online phone directories (surely if there is a vos Savant family they don’t all have unlisted numbers), [ancestry.com](http://ancestry.com) and [geneaology.com](http://geneaology.com). If you google it, all you get is her name. That combined with the fact that “vos Savant” could be “learned fox” causes me to lean to the pseudonym side of the argument. ---
**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:** [June 13, 2005, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/straight-dopoe-on-the-fahrenheit-scale/305493/11 "2005-06-13T22:05:50Z")
Speaking of pseudonyms: **wxwoman** , is your username by any chance a reference to the wxWindows/wxWidgets application framework? ---
**Author:** ![El\_Zagna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d2c977/32.png) [@El\_Zagna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Zagna)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2005, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/straight-dopoe-on-the-fahrenheit-scale/305493/12 "2005-06-14T03:46:47Z")
According to [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marilyn_vos_Savant) > [@](#): > > Her last name “vos Savant” is her mother’s maiden name. I remember her writing about her name in one of her columns. As I recall the “Savant” part - or at least versions of it - come from two branches in her family tree that, except for her, of course, were completely unrelated. ---
**Author:** ![Mathochist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c89c15/32.png) [@Mathochist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mathochist)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2005, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/straight-dopoe-on-the-fahrenheit-scale/305493/13 "2005-06-14T18:40:39Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Eh, she’s not really wrong any more often than is Cecil. The difference is that Cecil doesn’t stay wrong. When he’s wrong, he admits it, and publishes a correction, whereas when Marilyn is wrong, she does the journalistic equivalent of sticking her fingers in her ears and chanting “La la la, I can’t hear you!”. I think more often Cecil explains how his answer can be thought of as being correct (albeit incomplete, based on incomplete/outdated information, etc.)