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To: NicknamedBob

Are you laughing, or did you say, “The cat is in the refrigerator?”


1,565 posted on 03/20/2009 5:56:54 PM PDT by Tax-chick ("I always expect the worst from the RATS and they always deliver." ~ rrrod)
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To: Tax-chick; sionnsar; optiguy; Monkey Face
Are you laughing, or did you say, “The cat is in the refrigerator?”

Did you hear that Shrödinger crossed his cat with Heisenberg's?

Nobody knows what the result was. It won't come out of the box.

1,568 posted on 03/20/2009 6:10:13 PM PDT by NicknamedBob ("Of what possible use is it to BE a genius, if you can't even get a bottle of beer open?" NnB to Tn1)
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To: Tax-chick; Monkey Face
Are you laughing, or did you say, “The cat is in the refrigerator”?

"Tha an cat ann an Frigidaire."

The simplicity of this sentence disguises an significant cultural complexity. To begin with the Scottish Gaels, though today lumped in with their Pictish-descended neighbors to the East as Scots, are really the original thrifty Scots. (Yhey were also the original Scots, because that's the name of the group that came from Ireland to invade the west of Scotland, pushing the Picts to the East.) The descendants of the Picts acquired some of the habits of the Scots/Gaels, and that's in part how they ended up being Scots.

Of course, being Scots and miserly (when you have very little money you don't have much say in the matter), there was always a great concern over energy conservation. This found expression in many ways. For example, "does the light go out when you close the door?" was of great concern (if it doesn't not only are you burning a lightbulb uselessly but you have to pump THAT heat out of the refrigerator also). Many would-be refrigerator salesmen failed this first test in Scotland.

Worse, they were dead on the starting line on the second test, in the very word REfrigerator. Everyone knows Scotland is cold. Very cold. So you only need to KEEP things cold, not make them cold again. The hint that you needed to expend electricity to make that which was already cold (not including the Scots themselves who like the cold), cold again, was a losing proposition.

This is where Frigidaire won the day. Marketing fridges (NOT REfrigerators) with light bulbs removed, and emphasizing their more energy-efficient name, they soon captured the entire Scottish market -- Gaels and Picts, Scots all, alike.

Hence: “The cat is in the refrigerator.” is translated into Scots Gaelic as: "Tha an cat ann an Frigidaire."

And now you have the rest of the story. Believe It or Not.

Cool, no? *\;-)

1,576 posted on 03/20/2009 6:22:18 PM PDT by sionnsar (Iran Azadi | 5yst3m 0wn3d - it's N0t Y0ur5 (SONY) | "Tax the rich" fails if the rich won't play)
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