Refrigerators in Alaska

[Mike Salovesh]

Bapopik at AOL.COM quotes:

> --------------------------------------------
> SELL A REFRIGERATOR TO AN ESKIMO
>
>    20 August 1953, NEW YORK TIMES, pg. 33:
>    This outstanding individual is, according to the old hands in the sales management game, a salesman who can sell a refrigerator to an Eskimo. Yesterday Admiral Corporation, a leading appliance manufacturer, gave out some information relevant to the old bromide.  Admiral says it is no trick these days to sell a refrigerator or a home freezer to an Eskimo.  The two appliances are in heavy demand in Alaska and other northern climes.
> --------------------------------------------

Barry:

"Selling a refrigerator to an Eskimo" only sounds odd if you're locked
into our own traditional culture. It assumes, among other things, that
Eskimos don't have access to electricity -- which is a bad guess in the
first place.

Worse yet, even somebody off the electrical grid would find a
refrigerator extremely handy when oudoor temps are way below zero.  All
the insulation that helps keep the inside cold in a lower 48 summer heat
wave provides a WARM spot to keep your thawed foods when it gets really
cold out.

-- mike salovesh    <m-salovesh-9 at alumni.uchicago.edu>    PEACE !!!

P.S.: I'm not even going to touch the question of why so many Inuit
object to being called "Eskimos" in the first place.