The Straight Dope 08/13/2004

The Straight Dope -- By Cecil Adams
http://www.straightdope.com

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THE STRAIGHT DOPE 08/13/2004

Dear Cecil:

In his book The Sexual Teachings of the White Tigress: Secrets of the
Female Taoist Masters, Hsi Lai writes that Mahatma Gandhi "periodically
slept between two twelve-year-old female virgins. He didn't do this for
the purpose of actual sexual contact, but as an ancient practice of
rejuvenating his male energy. . . . Taoists called this method 'using
the ultimate yin to replenish the yang.'" Now, far be it from me to
disparage anyone's best-intentioned efforts to have his yang
replenished. Still, I confess that this Gandhi-virgin-sandwich yarn
pushes the needle of my BS detector way into the red. Did Gandhi indeed
kip with preteen jail-quail? If so, what was his source of supply?
--David English, Somerville, Massachusetts

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Cecil replies:

Well, they weren't 12. They also weren't all virgins; so far as is known
they worked solo rather than in pairs; and Gandhi claimed he wasn't
trying to rejuvenate his manly energy but rather prove he had it under
control. In all other respects, however, the tome you cite
(whatsamatter, David, the bookstore was out of The South Beach Diet?) is
100 percent accurate: the leader of the movement to free India of the
British yoke did sleep with young females--and what's more, both parties
were often naked at the time. He was 77 when this odd practice came to
light, and from what we know sleeping was all they did. However, when a
renowned holy man of any age pulls a stunt like this, he takes the
chance that it'll turn up in a book with a title like The Sexual
Teachings of the White Tigress.

For more, see:
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/040813.html

STAFF REPORT

Dear Straight Dope:

You spend a fair portion of your time unraveling, debunking and
otherwise correcting "urban legends" (sometimes known as "urban myths,"
although there is a distinction). But . . . why urban? Do cockamamie
notions not occur in the sticks? Odd as city life can be, surely it gets
strange out there in the hinterlands too. Why, then, is this weird stuff
called urban? --Bill Althaus, Skopje, Macedonia

SDSTAFF bibliophage replies:

Sure, there are such things as rural legends, but they're mostly called
traditional legends or some such. In fact, from the beginning of the
systematic study of folklore until the almost the middle of the
twentieth century, they were just about the only kind that many
folklorists recognized. 

Folklorists in those days sought out the most remote, isolated, inbred,
illiterate enclaves they could imagine, apparently on the theory that
soap and folklore don't mix. Hence the prevalence in the annals of
folklore of places like Cousin Hump Cove and Squalor Holler (the names
have been changed to protect the incest). 

I'm being facetious, of course. 

For more, see: 
http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/murbanlegend.html


STRAIGHT DOPE CLASSIC - 06/14/1985

Dear Cecil: 

When Coca-Cola launched the ill-fated New Coke, news accounts said the
change in Coke's legendary flavor formula was the first in the company's
99-year history.  But back when Coke got started, the company led the
public to believe that the coca shrub-- the source of cocaine--provided
one of the ingredients, giving consumers that extra lift that we now
associate with mirrors, tiny spoons, and rolled-up hundred-dollar bills. 
Of course back then cocaine was legal and sold over the counter. So how
can Coke say the formula hasn't changed in 99 years? Has cocaine been
part of their formula up till now? Or were they misleading the public
back in 1886? Did they change the formula when cocaine became illegal?  
Personally I don't particularly care about cocaine one way or the other.
All I want to know is if Coke was then or is now fibbing.
 --Phillip F., Los Angeles 

Cecil replies:  

Depends on your definition of fibbing, Felipe. But here, let me tell
the whole sordid tale. 

Coke was originally formulated in 1886 by one John Styth Pemberton,
an Atlanta druggist and former Confederate army officer. Among other
things it contained (and presumably still contains) three parts coca 
leaves to one part cola nut.   

The new soft drink was one of many concoctions in that era containing 
cocaine, which was being touted as a benign substitute for alcohol. 
Coke, in fact, was promoted as a patent medicine, which would "cure all
nervous afflictions--Sick Headache, Neuralgia, Hysteria, Melancholy,
Etc...."   

How much cocaine Coke actually contained and how much kick you got from it . 
. .

For more, see:
http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_033.html

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