99.44% pure

[Dave Wilton]

It was "busted."

They tested pastrami (wet) and crackers (dry) on various surfaces at two and
six seconds of contact. They then incubated the cultures they collected and
counted the bacteria. The pastrami picked up more bacteria than the
crackers. Also important was the location where it was dropped (some floors
are cleaner than others; interestingly, a toilet seat was cleaner than most
floors) and the amount of food surface area that touched the floor. But time
was not a factor. It didn't make a difference whether the food was left on
the floor for two seconds or for six.

(Episode 39, 19 Oct 2005)

--Dave Wilton
  dave at wilton.net

-----Original Message-----
From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of
Mullins, Bill AMRDEC
Sent: Tuesday, December 26, 2006 9:15 AM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: 99.44% pure

The tv show _Mythbusters_ on the Discovery Channel did a "study" on the
five-second rule.  I don't recall if they found the myth to be "busted"
or "confirmed".

> That's the five-second rule.
>
> There was a newspaper article earlier this year about a study
> debunking the rule. The upshot was that dry food/dry floor
> OK, but if there's something wet involved, not okay. And
> that's regardless of one second, five seconds or 30 seconds.
> I can't find this article with my primitive news searching tools.
>
> I found another article about another study at:
>
> http://scienceline.org/2006/12/11/ask-leach-fiveseconds/
>
> I think this rule was also featured in a commercial this
> year. Something about "now you're parent, deciding the
> five-second rule" (probably badly mangled).
>
> Benjamin Barrett
> Orange Text
> message accomplished!
>

> >
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> > ---------
> >
> >
> > Isn't there also a saying used by Northern whites, WRT to the same
> > subject, to the effect that, if dropped food is picked up off the
> > floor within a certain brief span of time, it's okay to eat it?
> >
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org