The Straight Dope 04/08/2005

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

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THE STRAIGHT DOPE 04/08/2005

Dear Cecil:

Is it possible to be dyslexic in Chinese? Surely someone
with dyslexia wouldn't be likely to misconstrue a word's
meaning if that word were represented as a distinctive
symbol as in Chinese, right? I mean, if you were to show
a dyslexic a picture of a house, that person would still
easily recognize it, even though he might have trouble
deciphering the written word. Or am I totally in the dark
about dyslexia? --Rudy, Vallejo, California

PS: Is it true that the order of letters in a word is
unimportant in reading, aside from the placement of the
first and last letter? I have tried this and it seems
pretty plausible.

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Cecil replies:

One thing at a time, bud. Your postscript refers to a bit
of e-mail lore making the following contention:
"Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it
deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are,
the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat
ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl
mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm." This
gave rise to a lively Internet debate, the upshot of
which was that (a) the poeple at Cmabrigde had nveer
haerd of tihs, and (b) the scrambling has to be done
carefully if the text is to remain intelligible. (For one
thing, you mix up key consonants at your peril.) To which
I might add (c) none of this has jack to do with
dyslexia--the fact that a normal reader can decode
scrambled words tells you nothing about what a dyslexic
would make of them. That said, (d) scrabmling ltteers
wihle stlil pordcuing a radeable stneence is kidna
fun.

For more, see:
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/050408.html

STAFF REPORT

Dear Straight Dope:

I've heard rumors on and off for years about Walt Disney.
I've heard suggestions that he was a fascist, a
communist, a racist and an antisemite. The first two are
of course contradictory. Web searches didn't help to
straighten out anything in my mind. Was he a political
nut? Did he hate blacks and Jews? Or are these typical
malicious lies we like to tell about great men so we
don't have to feel so unaccomplished? --Joseph Kenner,
North Hollywood, CA

SDSTAFF Eutychus replies:

Hold it there, hoss. That's a lot of accusations for one
letter. Let's try to break it down a bit and see if we
can sort some things out here.

One of the more curious charges against Disney was that
he was a secret Nazi. A few white supremacist groups
still cherish this notion. Their best evidence is a
misreading of the short film "Der Fuehrer's Face" (1943),
in which Donald is seen in a Nazi uniform, swastikas and
all. In the end we find out it's all a nightmare, but
that doesn't dissuade the racists. A lesser-known short
sometimes cited is 1932's "The Wayward Canary," in which
Mickey is seen using a cigarette lighter with a swastika
painted on the side.

This is all circumstantial at best, but other suggestive
details have come to light. 

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

STRAIGHT DOPE CLASSIC - 05/22/1987

Dear Cecil: 

Where does the expression "the whole nine yards" come
from? Even Walter Payton had to make ten yards for a
first down. Since when does nine yards equal 100 percent
effort?   I trust your answer is not sexual. No enhancer
I've ever seen advertised promises anything like that.
--Russell E., Chicago  

Cecil replies:  

Don't get smart,  Russell. Not that there's any great danger. 

The usual authorities are silent on this topic, so Cecil has
been trolling for leads on radio talk shows. This has turned
up numerous theories. Some are pretty ingenious, in a
demented sort of way.  

One guy told me that the expression comes from the nautical
term "yard," meaning one of the horizontal poles that hold up 
the sails on a square-rigged sailing ship.   A typical ship, he
claimed, would have three masts with three yards apiece, or
nine yards in all. A captain who had sent up all the canvas he
could in order to squeeze out max velocity would thus be
said to be giving it "the whole nine yards."   

Could be, but I doubt it. For one thing, sailing ships often had
12, 15, or even 18 yards. For another, "whole" in this
context is a funny choice of words. "All nine yards"
would make more sense. 

For more, see:
http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_252.html

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