The Straight Dope 01/16/2004

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

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THE STRAIGHT DOPE 01/16/2004

Dear Cecil:

I've heard from all sorts of places that it takes 43
muscles to frown and only 17 to smile (the numbers vary),
but I can tell you from experience that spending half
an hour grinning is a lot more tiring than half an hour
of not smiling, which is pretty much the same as
frowning. Is the whole idea bogus?
--Ella, via the Internet

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Cecil replies:

I've been hearing this for years. Supposedly it takes
fewer muscles to smile than to frown; ergo, you should
smile. Happiness, it seems, is the lazy person's emotion.
Time to put this platitude to rest. I arrived at the
following detailed accounting of the relevant muscles
with the aid of David H. Song, MD, FACS, plastic surgeon
and assistant professor at the University of Chicago
Hospitals. Song, among other things, reconstructs faces--
in short, he ought to know. My apologies if this list
seems obsessive, but we're going to settle this once and
for all. Caveat: Deciding which of the 53 facial muscles
are important in smiling or frowning is a bit arbitrary--
many make only minor contributions, and depending on the
intensity of the expression may not be involved at all.
I've listed here the ones Song feels are important, as
corroborated by other sources.

Muscles involved in a "zygomatic" (i.e., genuine) smile . . .

For more, see:
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/040116.html

STAFF REPORT

Dear Straight Dope:

What's the story behind Johnny Appleseed? Did some guy
really wander around spreading apple seeds? Where did
he get all the seeds? Are any of his trees still left?
--M. Crawford

SDSTAFF Dex replies:

I've been accused of being long winded, so here's the
short answer: 

The story of Johnny Appleseed is intimately tied to the
domestication of America. In the early 1800s, he wandered
what was then the frontier, planting apple seeds and
helping to make the wilderness a home for the advancing
pioneers. He planted over a hundred thousand square miles
of apple orchards in western Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Indiana. 

Some of the orchards are well documented and still exist.
The trees in the orchards may well be descended, by seed
or by grafting, from the ones he planted.

Johnny Appleseed was, to put it kindly, eccentric . . .

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

STRAIGHT DOPE CLASSIC - 06/22/1973

Dear Cecil: 

Ever since I heard the Willie Dixon tune Hootchie Cootchie
Man with the lyrics:  I've got a black cat's bone I've got
a mojo tooth I've got a John the Conqueroo I'm gonna mess
with you  ... I've been obsessed with a craving for a John
the Conqueroo. Where can I get one? -- Wesley R., Chicago

Dear Wesley:

A "John the Conqueroo," also known as a "High John de
Conquer," is the root of the St. John's-wort plant. In
southern American black folklore, this root is used to
cast or break evil spells-- thus all the references to
"root rubbing" in blues songs.

Where do you get one? . . .

For more, see:
http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_318.html

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