Sardinian scientists believe they've traced the roots of the 'death-defying' sardonic grin...

ANSA ^ | May 15, 2009 | unattributed

[SunkenCiv]

Sardinian scientists believe they've traced the roots of the 'death-defying' sardonic grin to a water plant commonly found on the Italian island.

Greek poet Homer first used the word, an adaptation of the ancient word for Sardininan, to describe a defiant smile or laugh in the face of death. He was believed to have coined it because of the belief that the Punic people who settled Sardinia gave condemned men a potion that made them smile before dying.

The association with Sardinia has often been disputed, but Cagliari University botanists think they've settled the case - and the plant in question could have beneficial properties too. The plant, tubular water-dropwart (oenanthe fistulosa), is common in Sardinia, where it is popularly known as 'water celery'.

"Our discovery supports what many cultural anthropologists have said about death rituals among the ancient Sardinians," said Cagliari University Botany Department chief Mauro Ballero. "The Punics were convinced that death was the start of new life, to be greeted with a smile," he said.

Ballero's team, whose work appears in the latest edition of the US Journal of Natural Products, have established that a toxic substance in the dropwart plant does, in fact, cause facial muscles to contract and produce a grimace or rictus. The discovery could have a brighter side, he said, leading to drugs that might help certain conditions where parts of the face are paralysed.

[SunkenCiv]

Dead link.

Full headline: Sardinian scientists believe they've traced the roots of the 'death-defying' sardonic grin to a plant commonly found on the Italian island

[SunkenCiv]

Indispensible — tubular water-dropwart topic. :’)

[SunkenCiv]

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[bigheadfred]

Totally tubular. Like tripendicular, man.

I always thought they named sardines after Sardinia. And anyone who could keep a smile on their face after downing a few had to be one tough SOB.

Too bad Euell Gibbons died without knowing...

[Krankor]

[JoeProBono]

[HowlinglyMind-BendingAbsurdity]

[bert]

The writer screwed up............
Gogle knows

“Did you mean: tubular water-dropwort”

as do us botanists, even semipro types

[Free State Four]

gave condemned men a potion that made them smile before dying.

It's just gas.

[RichInOC]

Going back to the early days of the Batman comics, part of the Joker’s MO was to poison people such that they’d die with a grin on their face. Interesting to see that that was actually possible.

[Pharmboy]

Here's a link that works...

[SunkenCiv]

Gogle?

;’)

[SunkenCiv]

yeah, not sure why the one I used died out; maybe it got pulled (due to age), perhaps the file was renamed. :’)

[SunkenCiv]

and thanks!

[null and void]

Gogles for a one eyed man...

[Pharmboy]

Geez...hope I don’t get pulled because of age.

[visualops]

According to ancient reports, the plant was used in pre-Roman Sardinia for the ritual killing of elderly people who were unable to support themselves.

A burden to society, the people "were intoxicated with the sardonic herb and then killed by dropping from a high rock or by beating to death," Giovanni Appendino of the University of the Eastern Piedmont, and Mauro Ballero, of Cagliari University in Sardinia, and colleagues wrote in the latest issue of the U.S. Journal of Natural Products.

[NonLinear]

** Self ping **

[P H Lewis]

See what’ll happen to you if you leave your teeth whitener in your mouth too long? Sheesh!