The Straight Dope 05/07/2004

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

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THE STRAIGHT DOPE 05/07/2004

Dear Cecil:

A friend of mine told me that if I wanted a low calorie snack, I should
eat celery because it actually has negative calories. He claimed this
meant that I would burn more calories chewing and digesting the celery
than I would actually get from it. Is what he claims true? Are there any
other negative-calorie foods? Oh, and you wouldn't happen to know a good
low calorie dip for the celery, would you? --Christopher Moore, via the
Internet

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Cecil replies:

Cecil has been hearing this for years, and for just as long has been
disinclined to believe it. Nosing about on the Web, however, I started
to wonder. As you might expect, you find quite a few hucksters touting
the benefits of alleged "negative calorie" foods, including not just
celery but asparagus, broccoli, lettuce, grapefruit, and a long list of
other fruits and vegetables--and for a small fee these helpful folks
will reveal to you their foolproof fat-burning diet plans. More
scientifically minded parties dismiss these schemes, but tend to do so
in such sniffy terms that one suspects they haven't really considered
the question of negative-calorie foods on its merits. Moreover, one
usually reliable source, the Urban Legends Reference Pages at
www.snopes.com, says that while the negative-calorie shtick on the whole
is a crock, what you've heard about celery is true. However, no
corroboration of this statement is supplied.

Our mission therefore was clear: Time to conduct another experiment in
the Straight Dope Kitchen of Science.

For more, see:
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/040507.html

STAFF REPORT

Dear Straight Dope:

Any chance you can dig up the derivation of "bury the hatchet"?
--Michael Wallace

SDSTAFF bibliophage replies:

"Bury the hatchet" is an Indianism (a phrase borrowed from Native
American speech). The term comes from an Iroquois ceremony in which war
axes were literally buried in the ground as a symbol of newly made
peace. The other two languages spoken by Europeans in close contact with
the Iroquois in and around what is now New York state also use the
phrase: enterrer la hache de guerre and de strijdbijl begraven. (I leave
it as an exercise for the reader to determine which is French and which
is Dutch.) 

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

STRAIGHT DOPE CLASSIC - 07/30/1976

Dear Cecil: 

This may seem like a silly question but it's important to me. I have
always wondered if the animals used in movies and television are really
killed in "death scenes," or whether they are trained. Also, when two
animals are fighting on a television program, such as you used to see on
Walt Disney, are they really fighting or is that also the result of
training? How do you train a dog and a snake to fight but not kill each
other--that is, to pretend viciousness? It's hard to believe it's all
faked. --Peggy M., Chicago

P.S.: How would you like to get together some time and talk about animal
instincts?

Dear Peggy:

Your library or mine?

Practically all American film and television producers cooperate with
the American Humane Association's program to curb deliberate violence
against animals. When any potentially dangerous scene is being filmed, a
representative of the AHA is on the set to make sure nothing untoward
happens.

For more, see:
http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_370b.html

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