May 23, 2005

Answers
Everett

Well, the first batch of questions are in, and while most of them are inane, none of them are especially pedantic. Still, I feel obliged to answer them because I started this whole thing. If you're looking for a short read, I'd recommend skipping my answers to the first two questions.

-Who decided that women should shave their legs and not men?

To answer this question, we have to look first to 19th century France. During the mid-to-late 1800's, it became fasionable for women to wear nylon (I believe) stockings so as to make their legs appear sheer. I really can't say why it became fashionable, but it makes as much sense as just about any other fashion trend. Anyway, the fashion eventually crossed the Atlantic and the American continent. However, the stockings were expensive, and most women just couldn't afford to buy them. So, they decided to go for a cheaper solution: They shaved their legs, which achieved the same effect.

The reason this never caught on with men is that body hair indicates testosterone, and the higher a man's testosterone, the more likely he is to be able to find a mate. So, a lack of body hair indicates that a man is not fit to reproduce.

However, an interesting counter to this is that our societal standard of beauty has trended younger and younger for men as well as women (think of the rather pathetic clamoring for the Olsen twins to turn 18), meaning a balance has to be struck between youthful appearance and apparent sexual maturity. This means that a certain amount body hair is acdeptable, but it can also be overdone. Of course, I would also say that this obsession with things like body hair and physical attractiveness in general is indicative of excessive vanity in modern Western society.

-Why did it take several millenia for pants to be invented?

Because only the mind of Al Gore could have come up with something as brilliant as pants.

Actually, it probably didn't take that long for pants to be invented, assuming you start counting time from the point when clothing was invented. When clothing was first developed, presumably on the plains of Africa, conditions were (and still are) such that pants really wouldn't be very practical because they would trap too much heat. Loincloths, and later robes, on the other hand, provide sufficient coverage and/or support while still allowing for a cooling breeze to limit the amount of body heat trapped by the clothing.

However, once ancient man left the hot climes of Africa and the Middle East and arrived in places like Siberia and Northern Europe, pants or breecs were probably deveolped pretty quickly in order to trap more body heat and thus keep people warmer.

Incidentally, there are several reasons why pants have been worn predominantly by men. The first is that, as far as maintaining body temperature goes, men have greater need of clothing designed to trap body heat than do women. This is because while women rely on their higher percentage of body fat* to maintain body temperature, men rely upon higher metabolism**. Secondly, pants posed certain difficulties for women as regards things like pregnancy, childbirth and more discreet bodily functions. Thirdly, women traditionally didn't wear pants because women in pants tend to, shall we say, distract men.

-Why is the game Bingo called Bingo?

Because it rolls of the tongue more easily than "Eureka!"

-Hobbits may not be real any more, but they did exist at one point in Indonesia. I don't think they paid taxes.

-I thought everyone's feet sang songs to them, no matter what the circumstances. It can be rather inconvenient at times.

-The sound of a summer breeze rustling through the trees makes the color green.

-A "Lord of the Rings" vacation could be cool, but I wouldn't want to be the Boromir character.

-I hope Peter Jackson worries about "flops", at least to some extent. Otherwise he runs the risk of becoming the next George Lucas.

*The reason women tend to feel cold more easily than men despite trapping more body heat than men is that their body heat is trapped beneath the skin, so it never reaches the heat-sensing nerves in the skin.).

**This is also why men sweat more than women when engaged in strenuous physical activity.