Cody Gough and Ashley Hamer discuss the following stories to help you get smarter and learn something new in just a few minutes: The Hidden Differences Between American and British English Crime Shows Might Influence Real Criminal Trials Via the CSI Effect For more on how forensics can fail, check out "Inside the Cell: The Dark Side of Forensic DNA" by Erin E. Murphy. Swedish Lemon Angels Are the Dessert You Should Never Try to Make If you liked learning about Swedish Lemon Angels, then check out more from "Penn and Teller's How to Play with Your Food." You Shouldn't Rinse Your Dishes Before Putting Them in the Dishwasher Follow Curiosity Daily on your favorite podcast app to learn something new every day withCody Gough andAshley Hamer. Still curious? Get exclusive science shows, nature documentaries, and more real-life entertainment on discovery+! Go to https://discoveryplus.com/curiosity to start your 7-day free trial. discovery+ is currently only available for US subscribers.
Cody Gough and Ashley Hamer discuss the following stories to help you get smarter and learn something new in just a few minutes:
Follow Curiosity Daily on your favorite podcast app to learn something new every day with Cody Gough and Ashley Hamer. Still curious? Get exclusive science shows, nature documentaries, and more real-life entertainment on discovery+! Go to https://discoveryplus.com/curiosity to start your 7-day free trial. discovery+ is currently only available for US subscribers.
Full episode transcript here: https://curiosity-daily-4e53644e.simplecast.com/episodes/how-to-wash-your-dishes-british-vs-american-english-the-csi-effect-and-swedish-lemon-angels
[MUSIC PLAYING] CODY GOUGH: Happy Sunday. We've got four stories from Curiosity.com to help you get smarter in just a few minutes. I'm Cody Gough.
ASHLEY HAMER: And I'm Ashley Hamer. Today, you'll learn about the hidden differences between American and British English, why you shouldn't rinse your dishes before putting them in the dishwasher, why you should never try to make the dessert called Swedish lemon angels, and how crime shows might influence real criminal trials.
CODY GOUGH: Let's satisfy some curiosity. Have you ever heard of haggis, neeps, and tatties?
ASHLEY HAMER: I've heard of haggis. I have no idea what those last two are.
CODY GOUGH: You don't know what neeps and tatties are.
ASHLEY HAMER: Neeps are turnips. And tatties are potatoes.
ASHLEY HAMER: That's adorable.
CODY GOUGH: And in Scotland, haggis is often served with haggis, neeps, and tatties.
ASHLEY HAMER: Haggis, neeps, and tatties.
CODY GOUGH: Yes.
ASHLEY HAMER: Love it.
CODY GOUGH: I love haggis. You can only get it in Scotland. Like, I mean, there's, like, canned haggis, I guess, you could get at-- exactly. It's really bad. You've never had haggis.
ASHLEY HAMER: I never have. But now, suddenly I want it.
CODY GOUGH: I'm bringing this up because today, we're going to talk about the hidden differences between American and British English, and why they really matter. We didn't write about neeps and tatties today. But we do write about a lot of research that comes from a book called, "The Prodigal Tongue: the Love Hate Relationship between American and British English" by Lynne Murphy. And Murphy is an American linguist who has been living in England for more than 20 years and has been tracking the differences between American and British English on her blog, which is called, Separated By a Common Language. We'll link to the book and the blog in the show notes.
But why are little differences in language even matter? Like, what's the point of talking about this? Well, it's because they could mean that in a conversation, both parties think they understand each other perfectly well, when they are, in fact, operating according to totally different hidden assumptions and meaning.
So for instance, when Murphy first started living in the UK, people used to tell her that she spoke with an American twang. And twang has kind of an offensive connotation in the US. But in British English, it can just mean a slice of an accent without saying anything about this specific quality of that accent. Quite is also a quite big one.
ASHLEY HAMER: This one surprised me.
CODY GOUGH: Really?
ASHLEY HAMER: Yeah. But American English, quite means very. But in British English, quite means moderately. So saying someone is quite pretty is not quite so complimentary in England. And the list goes on. You can read more today on Curiosity.com. But the takeaway is that if you think you're an expert just because you know that fish and chips in England means fish and French fries in America, then you should probably think again. The rabbit hole goes a lot deeper and can tell us a lot about our assumptions and stereotypes on both sides of the pond.
ASHLEY HAMER: Cody, do you watch any crime shows?
CODY GOUGH: Do you? I don't.
ASHLEY HAMER: I used to love Law and Order. I watched it every day.
CODY GOUGH: Really?
ASHLEY HAMER: Yeah, during college.
CODY GOUGH: Why?
ASHLEY HAMER: I don't know. It was just ding, ding, like, just comforting.
CODY GOUGH: Do you listen to true crime podcasts?
ASHLEY HAMER: No, I'm not really a true crime person. It was just really Law and Order: SVU. That was my jam.
CODY GOUGH: All right.
ASHLEY HAMER: But today, we're going to learn about a little psychological effect that might happen from crime shows. And they call it the CSI effect. It may mean something for courtrooms everywhere. Basically, the CSI effect says that because of crime shows, some jurors have an unrealistic idea of what forensic science can do.
The term first popped up in an article in USA Today in 2004, which was talking about some possible influences in the courtroom. Some of those effects were positive, like, how talking about science in the courtroom used to be super boring for jurors. But once those shows became more popular, some jurors were a lot more open to listening to stuff about science. So that's good.
But there might also be drawbacks. Like, juries asking for DNA evidence when they don't really need it. Some courts started to worry about this so much that they started asking potential jurors about their TV watching habits.
CODY GOUGH: Wow.
ASHLEY HAMER: Yeah. But don't panic, it turns out that the CSI effect isn't as bad as people originally thought. Studies over the past decade have looked at CSI effects from a scientific point of view. And if anything, they found evidence that this gives the prosecution an advantage, not a disadvantage.
The real problem is in how much jurors trust the actual science. In 2009, the National Academy of Sciences took a close look at forensic techniques in its report, "Strengthening Forensic Science in the United States, a Path Forward". They found that a lot of techniques are less effective in real life than they are on TV. Go figure, right.
Arson evidence, bloodstain, and bite mark analysis, fiber evidence, they're all far from perfect. And even fingerprint and DNA evidence can be flawed. Although, they're getting better all the time. You can read the details today on Curiosity.com and on the Curiosity app for Android and iOS. And if you want to read a lot more on how forensics can fail, check out, "Inside the Cell, the Dark Side of Forensic DNA" by Aaron E. Murphy. We'll put a link in the show notes.
CODY GOUGH: Ashley, what's your favorite dessert?
ASHLEY HAMER: I really like lemon bars.
CODY GOUGH: Me too.
ASHLEY HAMER: Nice.
CODY GOUGH: Yeah. Lemon is good. And do you eat a dessert called a Swedish lemon angel?
ASHLEY HAMER: It sounds delicious.
CODY GOUGH: Well, today, we wrote about this dessert, quote, unquote, "because nobody has ever successfully followed the recipe". Yeah. See if you can figure out why. Here are the first few steps of the baking directions. In a small bowl or measuring cup, beat an egg until it's foamy. Add buttermilk and vanilla and blend well. Add baking soda one teaspoonful at a time. Sprinkling it in and beating until the mixture is smooth and the consistency of light cream. Add the lemon juice all at once and blend into the mixture. Stir, do not beat. OK, what's wrong?
ASHLEY HAMER: I think it's the fact that you're adding lemon juice to baking soda.
CODY GOUGH: Correct. If you try to follow this recipe, your kitchen will be beyond repair once you add the lemon juice. And its simple science. Lemon juice is an acid. Baking soda is a base. When you put them together, you get a fizzy, foamy explosion. It's a classic acid-base reaction that results in the release of carbon dioxide gas, which quickly bubbles out of your mixing bowl.
So why was this recipe invented in the first place? Well, it comes from the book, Penn and Teller's "How to Play With Your Food".
ASHLEY HAMER: Oh, that makes sense.
CODY GOUGH: Yeah. If this is your style of humor, then you can find a link in the show notes to pick it up. Also, fun fact, Teller of Penn and Teller has been adapting works of Shakespeare with American playwright and theater director Aaron Posner. And I actually saw Macbeth at Chicago Shakespeare Theater last week. And I saw the 2015 production of "The Tempest".
ASHLEY HAMER: Wow.
CODY GOUGH: Yeah.
ASHLEY HAMER: No, Teller is a genius. Have you heard his this American life interview?
CODY GOUGH: No.
ASHLEY HAMER: He's amazing.
CODY GOUGH: Yeah. And the theater productions are amazing because, of course, they incorporate magic into Shakespeare.
ASHLEY HAMER: That's so cool.
CODY GOUGH: It's really, really interesting. So if you are ever visiting Chicago or you want to look into Teller's Shakespeare, then I highly recommend checking that out online.
ASHLEY HAMER: All right, Cody, are you a fastidious dishwasher loader? Like, do you have weird habits?
CODY GOUGH: I have a system, I have a system.
ASHLEY HAMER: OK, what's your system?
CODY GOUGH: It's start loading in the back. Always put all the glasses and everything between the prongs, not over the prongs. Put some bowls on the top.
ASHLEY HAMER: Good, good.
CODY GOUGH: Yeah, I try to pack as much as I can in there.
ASHLEY HAMER: Wow, you and I are very similar in our dishwashing habits. But do you rinse them first?
CODY GOUGH: Yes, it depends. It depends on how much is on them.
ASHLEY HAMER: Sure. Well, I've been rinsing them a lot less since I wrote this article. Because today, we're talking about why you should not rinse your dishes before putting them in the dishwasher.
CODY GOUGH: You've got my attention.
ASHLEY HAMER: Here's why. Modern dishwashers have a sensor that measures the amount of food debris floating around at the start of the cycle. And it adjusts as necessary. So if most of your dishes have been rinsed, guess what happens to all that cheese caked on to that one baking dish you didn't scrub. It won't trigger the sensor, which means your dishwasher will run a shorter, lighter wash cycle, regardless of which setting you choose.
Yeah. You might think, oh, well, my dishwasher isn't a modern dishwasher, it's years old. Well, when we say modern dishwashers, we actually mean most dishwashers purchased in the last five years for more than $500. But lots of dishwasher detergent manufacturers give the same warning. Procter & Gamble, the maker of cascade detergent says that enzymes in their detergent are designed to attach themselves to food particles. And with no food particles, the enzymes have nothing to attach to.
And, of course, there are other benefits to not pre-washing. You'll save time, and you'll save water. You could waste more than 10 gallons of water in just 5 minutes of rinsing dishes. Of course, we're not saying put an entire plate of food in your dishwasher. Huge food particles are still not good for your dishwasher. So maybe scrape off the big stuff before you put anything in the dishwasher. Scrape, don't rinse, right.
And remember to clean your dishwasher's filter, so you don't cause a clog. That's important too. We have a ton of other tips today on Curiosity.com. So check out the full write up for more info. But here are a few guidelines about how to actually load your dishwasher. Glasses go between the prongs, not over the prongs. So good, Cody.
CODY GOUGH: Yes.
ASHLEY HAMER: On the top rack. And utensils will get clean, whether they're handle side up or down. But know that general electric recommends handles up for safety.
CODY GOUGH: So that's it for this Sunday edition of the Curiosity Daily. We want to know what you think. And we want you to email us to let us know at podcast@curiosity.com. We've said before we were going to answer some questions, but we haven't gotten any questions yet. So now is your chance to tell us what you're curious about. Let us know. And Ashley might answer your question on a future episode. Because we want to get some trivia on this Sunday.
ASHLEY HAMER: We do. I love answering your questions.
CODY GOUGH: Yeah. And if not, maybe we'll just play some games. I don't know. Look, we're still trying new stuff. Like, this is your chance to help shape the podcast. What do you want to hear? What's fun? What's your favorite thing that we do? We can't read your mind.
ASHLEY HAMER: We're playing it fast and loose here. Anything can happen. Join us again tomorrow for the Curiosity Daily and learn something new in just a few minutes. I'm Ashley Hamer.
CODY GOUGH: And I'm Cody Gough.
ASHLEY HAMER: Stay curious.
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