The Straight Dope 03/18/2005

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

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THE STRAIGHT DOPE 03/18/2005

Dear Cecil:

Is brainwashing possible? How does it work? Does the
government really use it? How would I go about
brainwashing someone? --JRMecca, via e-mail

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Cecil replies:

Let's define our terms. If by brainwashed you mean
"presenting a zombie-like appearance and having no
interest in normal human contact," all you have to do is
sit your subject down with a Game Boy. However, if you're
looking for something a little more advanced, e.g., a
preprogrammed assassin as depicted in the 1962 movie and
2004 remake The Manchurian Candidate, that could be a
little tougher to deliver on. As with many manifestations
of cold-war paranoia, brainwashing was about 80 percent
fantasy and 20 percent fact.

For more, see:
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/050318.html

STRAIGHT DOPE CLASSIC #1 - 02/15/1985

Dear Cecil:

All of us old enough to be allowed to walk down the
street by ourselves have experienced that peculiar
encounter with an oncoming stroller characterized by
dance-like and indecisive movements from side to side, as
each participant helplessly fences with the other in an
effort to avoid a head-on collision. This raises not one
but three questions: (1) is there a word for this type of
encounter, and if so, (2) what is it? (3) Whatever
happened to "keep to the right" as a guiding principle
for pedestrian traffic? Your answers to these questions
will help immeasurably in my personal campaign to
re-educate the public in the niceties of moving right
along. Think how I will impress total strangers if I can
emphasize to them the value of keeping to the right in
order to avoid "----ing." --J.G., Chicago  

Cecil replies: 

Let's keep this talk of "----ing" to a minimum, J.; we're
trying to run a family column around here. I am pleased
to report that at least one attempt has been made to give
a name to the little two-step you describe:
shuggleftulation, "the actions of two people approaching,
trying to get around each other, and muttering 'thanks
for the dance'." My source here is Rich Hall's Sniglets
(Collier Books, 1984), a sniglet being "any word that
doesn't appear in the dictionary, but should." Other
sniglets, as long as we're on the subject, include
elecelleration, "the mistaken notion that the more you
press an elevator button the faster it will arrive," and
pupkus, "the moist residue left on a window after a dog
presses its nose to it." Worthy though these efforts may
be, I can't help thinking "shuggleftulation" doesn't
quite cut the mustard, so I've trying to think up
something better. The possibilities so far include
sidewaltz, minueticate, and (my personal favorite) doing
the concrete quadrille. No sensitive person can fail to
be impressed by the poetry of these suggestions. However,
if anyone has ideas of his or her own, and is desirous of
seeing same immortalized in print, I am invite you to
submit them forthwith. 

For more, see: 
http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_241.html

STRAIGHT DOPE CLASSIC #2 - 12/25/1987

Dear Cecil: 

I'm sure you've seen those clear plastic glass containers
filled with a liquid and tiny flakes of "snow" or some
other material. When you turn or shake them, you create a
"snowstorm" inside. My question is, what do you call
these things? I feel so inadequate when I'm trying to
describe that scene in Citizen Kane. --Larry Raymond,
Richardson, Texas  

Cecil replies:  

Get ready for this, Lar. You call them "shake-'em-ups." 
You were expecting maybe rhombicosidodecahedron? 

For more, see:
http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_243a.html

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