# What classic question do you use to illustrate what the SD is all about? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 9, 2002, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-classic-question-do-you-use-to-illustrate-what-the-sd-is-all-about/131470 "2002-10-09T02:33:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![screech-owl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@screech-owl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/screech-owl)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2002, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-classic-question-do-you-use-to-illustrate-what-the-sd-is-all-about/131470/21 "2002-10-09T15:24:52Z")
Depends on the person and the conversation: “Why does Hawaii have interstate highways?” “Why did kamikaze pilots wear helmets?” “Where are all the baby pigeons?” “What is a mojo anyway?” “Why does sour cream have an expiration date?” “Why is shit brown?” (Some of these are from the books, but hey, if I get them interested and thinking, I’ve done part of my job. If I eradicate any ignorance, an angel gets his/her wings.) ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2002, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-classic-question-do-you-use-to-illustrate-what-the-sd-is-all-about/131470/22 "2002-10-09T15:38:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Biggirl \* > \*\*Because I’m into the classics and because I’m a little strange: What is it about Gerbils? (or something like that.) where good ole Cec lists the things found up people’s butts in emergency rooms. \*\* I second this one. The part about the jewlers saws does it for me. I also like the one about eating placenta. * * * I’m not as stupid as you look. ---
**Author:** ![Mullinator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c2a13f/32.png) [@Mullinator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mullinator)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2002, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-classic-question-do-you-use-to-illustrate-what-the-sd-is-all-about/131470/23 "2002-10-09T16:56:31Z")
I end up using 2 questions, just to explain the breadth of topics discussed. Why are there interstate highways in Hawaii? Does a pig have a corkscrew shaped penis? I have found that most of life’s questions fall somewhere in between those two. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2002, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-classic-question-do-you-use-to-illustrate-what-the-sd-is-all-about/131470/24 "2002-10-09T23:46:17Z")
Depends on to whom I’m talking. If I know the individual and know they can tolerate off-color material, I’ll use the “calories in an ejaculation” example. Otherwise, I go with an innocuous alternative that nonetheless exemplifies what I think of as the Straight Dope’s genius: Here’s a piece of information that you didn’t know you didn’t know, and explains a question you didn’t know you had, but that provides an illuminating “Ah!” and gets filed away. To wit, why did frozen orange juice cans have the plastic tear-off strip that released the end of the can many years before frozen lemonade cans introduced the same feature? As far as the fascination of the message boards, I use the thread from maybe a year ago, “How to engineer a train-sized cockroach,” as my best generic example of why this place is so cool. ---
**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2002, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-classic-question-do-you-use-to-illustrate-what-the-sd-is-all-about/131470/25 "2002-10-10T02:05:32Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by hawthorne \* > \*\*The duck’s quack, the Korean grocery stores and the Mohawk skyscraper workers. \*\* What is the Korean grocery store question? ---
**Author:** ![Stccrd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8797f3/32.png) [@Stccrd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stccrd)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2002, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-classic-question-do-you-use-to-illustrate-what-the-sd-is-all-about/131470/26 "2002-10-10T02:13:55Z")
Catherine and the horse! ---
**Author:** ![iampunha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/74df32/32.png) [@iampunha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iampunha)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2002, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-classic-question-do-you-use-to-illustrate-what-the-sd-is-all-about/131470/27 "2002-10-10T02:51:27Z")
Caloric content of sperm, kamikaze pilots wearing helmets, Schrodinger’s cat and … crap, there’s one more… Ah, hell. Interstates in HI is as good as anything else. ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2002, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-classic-question-do-you-use-to-illustrate-what-the-sd-is-all-about/131470/28 "2002-10-10T02:57:13Z")
hate to be unoriginal, but the caloric content of sperm is the one that I usually use as an intro. ---
**Author:** ![plnnr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2002, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-classic-question-do-you-use-to-illustrate-what-the-sd-is-all-about/131470/29 "2002-10-10T12:51:25Z")
The question re: all of the Chiinese people jumping off chairs at the same time. That one, and Cecil’s answer, sums it all up for me and is, I think, representative of the place. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2002, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-classic-question-do-you-use-to-illustrate-what-the-sd-is-all-about/131470/30 "2002-10-10T12:58:47Z")
The one about the gerbils “And then he lists everything that’s been taken out of where the gerbil was. After reading that, you’ll never look the same way again at a bottle of Mrs. Butterworth’s syrup.” And the person is totally nonplussed. To explain the SDMB, I say that someone once said “That’s digusting. Is anything too sick for you people to discuss.” And someone replied “Too sick, no. Too stupid, yes.” That says it all. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-classic-question-do-you-use-to-illustrate-what-the-sd-is-all-about/131470.md?page=1)