The Straight Dope 06/04/2004

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

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THE STRAIGHT DOPE 06/04/2004

Dear Cecil:

Now, I'm no Holocaust denier. I firmly believe the Holocaust occurred
and the Nazis committed great atrocities during WWII. What I have a hard
time believing is the accusation that Nazis made lampshades from human
skin. Genocide is repulsive, but making lampshades out of human skin is
more in line with what crazy serial killers do. I can see Nazis
experimenting on Jews for their research and stealing their gold teeth
for money, but what would they do with a lampshade made from human skin?
Bring it back home as a gift to the hausfrau? Is this just an urban
legend born out of Allied propaganda, or is there any truth to this?
--Andres, via e-mail

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Cecil replies:

At first I was skeptical about your skepticism, Andres. You're saying
that methodically exterminating five to six million people, performing
bizarre experiments on them, and plundering their bodies is, at some
level, comprehensible, but making lampshades out of their skin--now
that's crazy. Personally I wasn't seeing any great leap, depravitywise.
However, on investigation, I think you may be right. While the Nazis
kept many grisly mementos of their victims, including tattooed skin, the
lampshade claim may be a myth.

By far the best-known account of human souvenirs comes from the camp at
Buchenwald. Here's the story as best I can piece it together:

For more, see:
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/040604.html


STAFF REPORT

Dear Straight Dope:

I spent my formative years in Missouri, and one of our expressions for
"quick" was "lickety-split." I still hear it occasionally, even in this
modern age. Recently, when I stopped to consider the phrase, it occurred
to me that perhaps it wasn't an expression for kids after all. I'm sure
I'm wrong, so where does the expression come from? --Paul Medlock,
Baltimore, MD

SDSTAFF Dex replies:

Boy, thanks for planting that visual in my head, Mr. Mind-in-the-Gutter.
While I share your conviction that you're wrong, the origin of this
expression isn't entirely clear. 

"Lickety-split," meaning fast or quickly, apparently arose in the 1830s
and 1840s. One reference said that the term had been used by the
Puritans back in the 1600s but gave no cite. I doubt it   the earliest
known appearance of lickety-split in print is 1843.  "Lickety click,"
"lickety cut" and "lickety switch" were other terms from the 1840s
meaning the same thing.

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

STRAIGHT DOPE CLASSIC - 11/30/1972

Dear Cecil: 

How was gas rationing handled during World War II? --Bob M., Phoenix

Dear Bob:

Poorly. Actually, gas wasn't what they were rationing at all. The main
purpose of the restrictions on gas purchasing was to conserve tires.
(And you thought those bureaucrats were stupid.) Japanese armies in the
Far East, you see, had cut the U.S. off from its chief supply of rubber.

There were four rationing classifications. An "A" classification, which
could be had by almost anyone, entitled the holder to four gallons a
week. A "B" classification was worth about eight gallons a week. "C" was
reserved for important folk, like doctors, and the magic "X" went to
people whose very survival required that they be able to purchase
gasoline in unlimited quantities--rich people and politicians, for
example.

For more, see:
http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_382b.html

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