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- Xref: sparky ba.general:5439 alt.folklore.urban:32321
- Newsgroups: ba.general,alt.folklore.urban
- Path: sparky!uunet!Cadence.COM!phz
- From: phz@cadence.com (Pete Zakel)
- Subject: Touching Tongue to Cold Metal
- Message-ID: <1992Dec30.230130.4909@Cadence.COM>
- Sender: usenet@Cadence.COM (Usenet News)
- Nntp-Posting-Host: cds709.cadence.com
- Organization: Cadence Design Systems, Inc.
- References: <1992Dec22.022526.23889@hpcvaac.cv.hp.com> <1992Dec22.061611.19511@gallant.apple.com> <1h7mqpINNqm1@morrow.stanford.edu>
- Distribution: ba
- Date: Wed, 30 Dec 1992 23:01:30 GMT
- Lines: 28
-
- In article <1h7mqpINNqm1@morrow.stanford.edu> karish@pangea.Stanford.EDU (Chuck Karish) writes:
- >Maybe this is "just another urban legend" to most of us,
- >but my great-uncle actually did have this problem about
- >110 years ago. He touched his tongue to an axe blade
- >during a Russian winter, and lost a few taste buds in
- >the process of freeing himself.
-
- Touching tongues to cold metal and having it freeze is NOT an urban legend.
- People in California don't have much experience with it, but in colder climes
- it is a fairly common cruel type of practical joke to get a little brother or
- sister to touch his or her tongue to a cold piece of metal (typically an
- outdoor tool shed or something) and having it freeze their.
-
- The best way to remove tongue from metal is by pouring warm water onto the
- join.
-
- As a matter of fact, this is even more of a problem in Antartica, where it
- frequently gets cold enough for one's bare hands to become frozen to bare
- metal (this happens occasionally when an unthinking researcher removes a
- glove to make handling easier). Since frostbite is a distinct probability
- in this situation, it is important to remove metal from skin as quickly as
- possible. I'll let you guess the obvious source of warm liquid that is
- recommended when one is far enough from the research facility!
-
- -Pete Zakel
- (phz@cadence.com or ..!uunet!cadence!phz)
-
- If God had intended Men to Smoke, He would have put Chimneys in their Heads.
-