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Odd Facts/Stories


rico

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Don't how my Dad got to talking about this...but once he left I looked it up.  The old man had his years confused but he was spot on concerning the ban on sliced bread...

During 1943, U.S. officials imposed a short-lived ban on sliced bread as a wartime conservation measure.[6][7] The ban was ordered by Claude R. Wickard who held the position of Food Administrator, and took effect on January 18, 1943. According to The New York Times, officials explained that "the ready-sliced loaf must have a heavier wrapping than an unsliced one if it is not to dry out." It was also intended to counteract a rise in the price of bread, caused by the Office of Price Administration's authorization of a ten percent increase in flour prices.[8]

In a Sunday radio address on January 24, New York City Mayor LaGuardia suggested that bakeries that had their own bread-slicing machines should be allowed to continue to use them, and on January 26, 1943, a letter appeared in The New York Times from a distraught housewife:

I should like to let you know how important sliced bread is to the morale and saneness of a household. My husband and four children are all in a rush during and after breakfast. Without ready-sliced bread I must do the slicing for toast—two pieces for each one—that's ten. For their lunches I must cut by hand at least twenty slices, for two sandwiches apiece. Afterward I make my own toast. Twenty-two slices of bread to be cut in a hurry![9]

On January 26, however, John F. Conaboy, the New York Area Supervisor of the Food Distribution Administration, warned bakeries, delicatessens, and other stores that were continuing to slice bread to stop, saying that "to protect the cooperating bakeries against the unfair competition of those who continue to slice their own bread... we are prepared to take stern measures if necessary."[10]

On March 8, 1943, the ban was rescinded. While public outcry is generally credited for the reversal, Wickard stated that "Our experience with the order, however, leads us to believe that the savings are not as much as we expected, and the War Production Board tells us that sufficient wax paper to wrap sliced bread for four months is in the hands of paper processor and the baking industry."[8]

Edited by rico
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1 minute ago, 5fouls said:

Alaska is the most Northern, Western, and EASTERN state in the U.S.  

How is that possible?  The dividing line between the Eastern and Western hemispheres goes through the Aleutian Islands, which are part of Alaska.

 

So your saying that driving to the highest point in Acadia National Park is not where you can watch the first sunrise in America? What propagandists they are! 

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5 hours ago, mrflynn03 said:

KFC slogan "finger lickin good" translates to "we'll eat your fingers off" in Chinese. 

True or not, that's damned funny!

All sorts of bad translations cause marketing nighmares:

Chevy couldn't sell the Nova in Mexico (Literal translation of "no va" in Spanish:  It doesn't go).

Coca Cola used Chinese Mandarin so that when the Chinese read the label on a Coke, they would literally say "Coca-Cola".  The only problem was, the literal translation was "bite the wax tadpole".

  • Haha 3
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  • rico changed the title to Odd Facts/Stories

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