WEBVTT - Why Are Legal Pads Yellow?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff, production of I Heart Radio. Hey

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<v Speaker 1>brain Stuff. Lauren Vogel, bamb Here, comedian Jerry Seinfeld, former

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<v Speaker 1>National security adviser John Bolton, and the late American author

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<v Speaker 1>Pat Conroy are just a few of its millions of devotees.

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<v Speaker 1>We're talking about the quintessential office supply, the legal pad,

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<v Speaker 1>those slightly larger the normal pads of yellow paper with

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<v Speaker 1>horizontal blue lines for writing and a vertical red line

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<v Speaker 1>marking the left margin, and pages that flip on the vertical.

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<v Speaker 1>It's simple, professional, cheap, and instantly recognizable. A part of

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<v Speaker 1>legal pads lure is the air of sophistication about them.

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<v Speaker 1>Legal is right there in the name. These things are

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<v Speaker 1>used by important people for important business, and perhaps the

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<v Speaker 1>most recognizable characteristic of a legal pad that yellow color.

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<v Speaker 1>But why are they yellow? Good question, and I'll warn

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<v Speaker 1>you that this is one of those mysteries of history

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<v Speaker 1>to which the best answer is a but let's look

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<v Speaker 1>into that history. The legal pad was invented by a

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<v Speaker 1>paper mill worker by the name of Thomas Holly in

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<v Speaker 1>Massachusetts around Holly came up with the idea of collecting

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<v Speaker 1>the tons of paper scraps off the floor of the

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<v Speaker 1>mill and stitching them together to make pads of paper.

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<v Speaker 1>Before long, his paper pad invention was a hit. Though

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<v Speaker 1>the paper in his pads was originally white. They were

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<v Speaker 1>so popular that Holly was able to quit his job

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<v Speaker 1>at the mill and form the American Pad and Paper

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<v Speaker 1>Company or am PAD, saving himself from having to pick

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<v Speaker 1>up all those scraps. But back to why legal pads

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<v Speaker 1>are yellow. There are lots of theories about that, but

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<v Speaker 1>no one really knows for sure. Some say they were

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<v Speaker 1>yellow from the beginning, that because the pads were originally

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<v Speaker 1>created using piece together scraps, they looked cheap in low quality,

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<v Speaker 1>so Holly dyed them to make them a classier, more

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<v Speaker 1>uniform yellow. This sounds reasonable, but it's probably not true.

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<v Speaker 1>Dying paper at that time would have been prohibitively expensive

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<v Speaker 1>and not worth cutting into profits. Other theories are from

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<v Speaker 1>a little later, probably after Holly's time. They include the

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<v Speaker 1>idea that yellow is easier on the eyes because it

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<v Speaker 1>doesn't create as much glare as white, and thus yellow

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<v Speaker 1>paper was the obvious way to go. Others have hypothesized

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<v Speaker 1>that yellow paper was beneficial because it didn't show age

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<v Speaker 1>like white paper. Still others think that Holly's pads went

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<v Speaker 1>from white to yellow because of a belief that yellow

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<v Speaker 1>stimulates the mind, including areas of recall and creativity. While

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<v Speaker 1>we may not know the real answer, we do know

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<v Speaker 1>the origin of illegal pad's margin. Around nineteen hundred, a

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<v Speaker 1>local judge asked Polly to add a vertical line down

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<v Speaker 1>the left side of the paper to create a margin

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<v Speaker 1>where he can make notes. Those margins, also known as

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<v Speaker 1>down lines, are always red and drawn one point to

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<v Speaker 1>five inches that's three point one centimeters from the left

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<v Speaker 1>edge of the page. That yellow paper, blue lines, a

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<v Speaker 1>red margin, and a gummed tear off top are all

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<v Speaker 1>required for a pad to qualify as a legal pad.

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<v Speaker 1>Any other colors of paper or printed lines, and that

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<v Speaker 1>pad is not legal. And one last fact for you,

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<v Speaker 1>Supreme Court Justice Warren Burger banned all legal sized documents

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<v Speaker 1>from federal courts. This policy is estimated to have saved

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<v Speaker 1>millions of dollars in storage space. Today's episode was written

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<v Speaker 1>by Meg's Barwick and produced by Tyler Clang. For more

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<v Speaker 1>in this and lots of other specific topics, visit how

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<v Speaker 1>Stuff works dot com. Brain Stuff is production of I

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