The Straight Dope 09/29/2006

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

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THE STRAIGHT DOPE 09/29/2006

Dear Cecil:

This morning as I was shaving in the shower I read the ingredients list
on my can of shaving cream and was astounded to see nonoxynol-9 among
the various other chemicals (stearic acid, sodium laureth sulfate,
etc.). I happen to know that nonoxynol-9 is the spermicide usually
applied to condoms. What's the deal? Are millions of American men
slathering their mugs every morning with spermicide? --Doug Farmwald,
via e-mail

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Cecil replies:

I initially hazarded the guess that you were a Gillette man, since that
seemed to be the most popular brand of shaving cream that had
nonoxynol-9 (N-9) in it. You're right, N-9 is used as a spermicide, but
no, they don't put it in shaving cream to ward off pregnancy caused by
acts involving your beard. As it turns out, Gillette no longer puts it
in at all. A spokesperson informs me that Gillette did use N-9 as a
fragrance stabilizer and surfactant in some of its Foamy products, but
they decided to switch to something else, formulas change all the time,
no big deal. Still, you have to wonder whether there's more to this than
meets the eye.

Whatever value there may be in having your fragrance stabilized, a
surfactant is definitely a good thing to put in shaving cream. Generally
speaking, facial hair becomes softer and easier to shave if you can get
the surface of the hair wet. That's tougher than you might think. What
stands in the way is . . . 

For more, see:
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/060929.html

STAFF REPORT

Dear Straight Dope:

After reading the names of the entrants of the recent Kentucky Derby
(the horses, not the jockeys), I wondered: Why do race horses have such
unusual and whimsical names? If it's a tradition, where does the
tradition come from? --Berry Berkley  

Guest contributor EddyFreddyTeddy replies:  

One tradition comes out of a bottle, a friend in standardbred racing tells
me--a bunch of horsemen sit around getting plastered and tossing out
names. My friend swears that's how a horse from the line of No Nukes
(sired by Oil Burner) could get named Nuke Skywalker, or Nuke The 
Bunny (who, alas, decisively lost the race I bet him in).  

You don't need to be drinking to see another pattern here: using part of
the sire and/or dam's name in the foal's handle. It's a way of pointing
out the pedigree to those who'd know and care. For example, a number
of thoroughbred horses have "Dance" or "Dancer" in their names 
because they're descended from the great racehorse Northern Dancer, 
whose maternal grandsire was Native Dancer, sired in turn by Polynesian
out of the mare Geisha. . . 

For more, see: 
http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mhorsename.htm

STRAIGHT DOPE CLASSIC - 05/03/1991

Dear Cecil: 

Do other languages have vulgarities and obscenities that are used in
conversation as they are in English? My husband worked in his youth with
Italian-speaking laborers and says the worst he ever heard them say in
Italian was "fangooloo." (He says that, contrary to popular impression,
this means only "make a tail," in other words, "show me your back," or
"go away."

I'm sure we've all heard of "merde," but do people speaking other
languages ever say anything stronger? If so, what? In particular, does
the now-common "F-word" have a counterpart in other languages? --Sally
B., Boston

Cecil replies:

Honestly, Sally, were you raised in a convent? English obscenities are a
pale shadow of the invective used in other languages. The F-word is the
least of it. If there's a language that doesn't have an equivalent, I've
yet to hear about it. Poles have pierdolic, the French foutre (from the
Latin futuere), Soviet Georgians secems ... you get the idea.

As for fangooloo (in my neighborhood we pronounced it fongool) . . .

For more, see:
http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_238.html

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