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View Full Version : What Is The Right Way To Peel A Banana?


johnfowles
08-24-2006, 11:42 AM
To try to lighten things up a bit around here I present this topic for debate.
Having recently slipped badly on corfid on some banana skins I have just devoured a banana and remembered how amazed the members of my family were when I once peeled one from the non-stem end.
http://hometown.aol.com/Journals%20Editor/images/blogimages/050406Editor-Joe-With-Banana-B-400x300.jpg
Asked why I mumbled that somewhere I had read that that was the correct way to do it.
Thus reminded of that incident I googled for yes "peeling banana"
and found a surprising 300,000 results.
some of the first ones are quite amusing for example:-
1.
http://www.leadingtoday.org/Onmag/may01/hb-may01.html
headed:-
What Is The Right Way To Peel A Banana
which opens
"A number of years ago I was lecturing to a college class on the subject of paradigms."
and explains and demonstrates what a paradigm is by retelling the story of an international student from a small, tropical nation,who when he was a small boy his grandmother taught him the right way to peel a banana.
this story used in class to show that there are other ways of doing or thinking sbout things
2.
http://www.slate.com/id/2067407/
pokes much fun at economists and others
3.
http://www.boingboing.net/2006/01/21/peeling_bananas_from.html
which solemnly explains why
"Peeling bananas from the other end is easier"
the clincher has to be as reported on:-
4.
http://www.dashes.com/anil/2002/06/28/banana_peeling
"According to our two experiments, peeling from the non-stem end greatly increases the chance that those strings will stick to the skin and come away with it, obviating the need to remove them separately. The attendant reduction in labor input has been particularly persuasive to the development economists, who have also pointed to potential productivity gains from using the stem as a handle."
that actually is a direct quote from 2 above.
a random look at the 10th page of results revealed
5.
http://www.big.uk.com/newsletter/98_sum/shows_insp.htm
which contains this gem of an idea
"Self-peeling Banana - One from Tim Hunkin’s ‘Almost everything there is to know’. A small amount of meths is placed in a milk bottle and lit. The peeled end of a banana is stuffed in and as the air cools the banana is pushed in by atmospheric pressure. I’ve done this hundreds of times without trouble, but it just wouldn’t work for Maggie Philbin (name drop) we used 8 bananas before it went"

[ August 25, 2006, 08:51: Message edited by: johnfowles ]

johnfowles
08-24-2006, 12:07 PM
Maggie Philbin who she?
In her wiki it is said
"She is best remembered by many for her time on Tomorrow's World."
That is/was a long running example of the good things produced by the BEEB, being a weekly review of new inventions and ideas, hosted by a former Battle of Britain pilot, one-time Spitfire pilot Raymond Baxter and the ebullient James Burke, who I seem to remember presented the BBC's pre moon landing show in 1969
During that show as I have previously reported here in June at:-
http://www.corfid.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=2;t=000938
"I also clearly remember the words utterred by the late great Frank Muir who was one of a number of pundits brought in by the BBC to entertain viewers if and when things were slack.
He opined "that nearly everything the Americans did was on a vast scale whereas what the British did was usually half-vast". very few in the studio audience got it. Just say that to yourself"
John Fowles

Jesse Joe
08-26-2006, 05:43 PM
http://www.squatorange.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/18-monkey-with-banana.gif

johnfowles
11-01-2006, 01:38 PM
Originally posted by johnfowles:
hosted by a one-time Spitfire pilot Raymond Baxter (He was not in the B of B I see now and the ebullient James Burke, who I seem to remember presented the BBC's pre moon landing show in 1969
During that show as I have previously reported here in June at:-
http://www.corfid.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=2;t=000938
"I also clearly remember the words utterred by the late great Frank Muir who was one of a number of pundits brought in by the BBC to entertain viewers if and when things were slack.
He opined "that nearly everything the Americans did was on a vast scale whereas what the British did was usually half-vast". very few in the studio audience got it. Just say that to yourself"
John Fowles I was just having a Banana as a mid morning snack and thought that this topic never really attracted the response it deserved even if I say so myself, and I do.
Anyway since I wrote that Raymond Baxter (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/3416319.stm) has passed away
and I remember now that I was probably about 7 years old before I even saw a real banana
(Importing bananas was a very low priority cargo for wartime ships trying to avoid Hitler's U-boats!)
Indeed to get sales moving once supplies started again a very catchy advertising slogan was coined "Unzip a banana"
I have just googled for that and found another interesting BBC article at:-
I liked the slogan so much... (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/low/uk/1357091.stm)
it includes
"It is disappointing to see that this article missed out on two of the most catchy and impactful slogans of all times: ' A pinta milka day' and 'Unzip a banana'"
and this picture
http://news.bbc.co.uk/olmedia/1355000/images/_1357091_harmony150.jpg
There is another slightly naughty picture at:-
http://www.beachboogie.com/gallery/albums/album43/2CNV00006_unzip_a_banana.sized.jpg
and an even naughtier one (men only please) at:-
http://www.kauelc.blogger.com.br/1rs_animated.gif
Finally visit this site:-
WARNING
Please turn your speaker volume down first http://www.hopesworld.com/animated_cards/Banana.html

John Fowles

[ November 01, 2006, 12:51: Message edited by: johnfowles ]