WEBVTT - 9 Ridiculous Thanksgiving Facts to Pass Around the Table 0:00:21.880 --> 0:00:24.560 Hey, their podcast listeners, Welcome to Part Time Genius. I'm 0:00:24.560 --> 0:00:26.600 Will Pearson and as always I'm joined by my good 0:00:26.640 --> 0:00:29.680 friend man guest Shot Ticketer. Although today we're in different 0:00:29.720 --> 0:00:33.640 places because it's Thanksgiving. Happy Thanksgiving, Mango, they will so 0:00:33.800 --> 0:00:35.680 I'm in a house full of family and kids, so 0:00:35.720 --> 0:00:38.839 hopefully my Henry and Ruby won't start banging the piano 0:00:38.960 --> 0:00:42.680 during this, but Happy Thanksgiving to YouTube, well we'll We'll 0:00:42.800 --> 0:00:45.360 roll with it either way. And good news Mango guests 0:00:45.360 --> 0:00:48.120 who finished that Thanksgiving sweater he's been knitting for like 0:00:48.159 --> 0:00:51.200 what three weeks now? I think no way, Tristan actually 0:00:51.280 --> 0:00:53.680 finished it. That's right, Yeah, that's the man on the 0:00:53.680 --> 0:00:56.279 other side of the soundproof glass, our friend and producer 0:00:56.320 --> 0:01:00.480 Tristan McNeil and Mango. It really is actually a beautiful sweater. 0:01:00.560 --> 0:01:03.600 It's this it's a turkey reading on top of this 0:01:03.760 --> 0:01:08.200 cornucopia and under it it says gobbled book. I don't 0:01:08.200 --> 0:01:10.480 I don't fully get it, but I'll send you a 0:01:10.480 --> 0:01:15.759 picture that sounds glorious. And joining us for the second 0:01:15.800 --> 0:01:18.160 time on Nine Things and actually her third time on 0:01:18.200 --> 0:01:20.319 the show is the brilliant co host of food Stuff, 0:01:20.400 --> 0:01:24.240 Lauren Vogelbam, Lauren, welcome back. Oh, thank you so much. Well, 0:01:24.319 --> 0:01:29.000 welcome to your own show too. Happy Thanksgiving, Happy Thanksgiving. Alright, 0:01:29.040 --> 0:01:31.319 so it's no surprise that our facts today would be 0:01:31.319 --> 0:01:34.440 focused on Thanksgiving. So let's let's get straight to them 0:01:34.440 --> 0:01:36.960 so everybody can start feasting. Lauren, you want to kick 0:01:37.040 --> 0:01:41.200 us off, Yeah, absolutely, so, Okay, my first fact is 0:01:41.240 --> 0:01:44.560 about what the Pilgrim's probably eight, because you know, like 0:01:44.600 --> 0:01:47.000 that that's a good first question to kick us off, like, like, 0:01:47.040 --> 0:01:50.240 what was the original Thanksgiving about? Uh? Short answer is 0:01:50.280 --> 0:01:52.560 that no one really knows. Long answer is that it 0:01:52.880 --> 0:01:58.080 might not have been turkey but instead el huh yeah, 0:01:58.120 --> 0:01:59.640 I mean you know, like like maybe turkey too, but 0:01:59.680 --> 0:02:02.160 it probably wasn't the focus of the feast. There's probably 0:02:02.160 --> 0:02:05.400 eels and lobster, clams and muscles, maybe some venison and 0:02:05.440 --> 0:02:09.040 stuff like that. No potatoes, though potatoes hadn't even made 0:02:09.040 --> 0:02:12.280 it to North America, neither white potatoes nor sweet potatoes. 0:02:13.120 --> 0:02:14.640 We have a little bit of time to try to 0:02:14.639 --> 0:02:17.640 pull together some some eel for this, so thank you 0:02:17.720 --> 0:02:19.400 very much for that first fact. That's a good one, 0:02:19.400 --> 0:02:22.480 all right, Mango, what's your first factum? My first facts 0:02:22.480 --> 0:02:25.600 about plumbers. So if you think Black Friday is bad 0:02:25.600 --> 0:02:27.280 because all the clogging at the malls, you should be 0:02:27.280 --> 0:02:30.760 glad you're not a plumber. According to Rotor Ruter, the 0:02:30.840 --> 0:02:34.360 day after Thanksgiving is referred to as Brown Friday because 0:02:34.360 --> 0:02:40.680 it's year. Plumbers are actually twice as busy on Brown Friday, 0:02:40.720 --> 0:02:44.360 and emergency calls go out all weekend. And while some 0:02:44.440 --> 0:02:46.960 of the work is definitely bathroom related, you know, having 0:02:46.960 --> 0:02:50.359 more guests does tend to overwork the toilets, the majority 0:02:50.360 --> 0:02:54.679 of the work is actually about cleaning out clogged up sinks. Okay, wow, 0:02:54.760 --> 0:02:58.760 Brown Friday, I had never heard that before. All right, well, 0:02:58.919 --> 0:03:03.360 my first facts be King of Leftovers. Actually, the first 0:03:03.400 --> 0:03:06.639 frozen dinner was created because of Thanksgiving leftovers. This was 0:03:06.680 --> 0:03:10.320 back in nineteen fifty three. Someone at Swanson Foods ordered 0:03:10.320 --> 0:03:13.080 a little too much turkey. Now we're talking two hundred 0:03:13.080 --> 0:03:16.480 and sixty tons of excess bird to be exact on this. 0:03:16.880 --> 0:03:18.600 So they had to find a way to use that meat. 0:03:18.880 --> 0:03:21.840 So enter a salesman named Jerry Thomas, and he ordered 0:03:21.880 --> 0:03:25.800 five thousand aluminum trays. Then he pulled together this assembly 0:03:25.840 --> 0:03:28.840 line of people to scoop cornbread, dressing and peas and 0:03:28.840 --> 0:03:31.919 sweet potatas into the trays, you know, along with all 0:03:31.960 --> 0:03:35.320 that turkey and the frozen dinner was born like that. 0:03:35.960 --> 0:03:38.600 Al right, so you're second fact, Lauren, what you got? 0:03:38.760 --> 0:03:42.400 Oh okay about the wishbone? You know, the tradition of 0:03:42.440 --> 0:03:46.360 splitting the wishbone over the dinner table. Yeah, that actually 0:03:46.400 --> 0:03:53.000 stems from an ancient Etruscan ritual. Trust. Yeah, they believe 0:03:53.080 --> 0:03:56.200 that chickens were oracles that could predict the future. Obviously, 0:03:56.880 --> 0:03:59.800 and there's a word for this, it's called electriomancy or 0:04:00.280 --> 0:04:03.280 rooster divination. Yeah. They would they would put a chicken 0:04:03.480 --> 0:04:05.160 in the middle of the circle that they had drawn 0:04:05.160 --> 0:04:07.040 in the on the ground, and that was divided up 0:04:07.040 --> 0:04:09.960 into wedges, and based on where the chicken pecked, they 0:04:09.960 --> 0:04:13.080 would they would translate that into these messages about what 0:04:13.160 --> 0:04:16.640 to do, uh, you know, how to answer their big questions. 0:04:16.800 --> 0:04:19.720 And because chickens don't last forever, they would also when 0:04:19.760 --> 0:04:22.560 the chicken, you know, when the oracle chicken passed, they 0:04:22.600 --> 0:04:24.720 would take the wishbone and dry it out and preserve 0:04:24.760 --> 0:04:27.400 it so that they could have access to that poultry power. Later. 0:04:27.760 --> 0:04:31.640 Supposedly they passed this onto the Romans and at that point, 0:04:31.720 --> 0:04:33.960 the chicken supply was kind of dwindling, so they had 0:04:33.960 --> 0:04:36.920 a tradition of breaking the wishbone in two to you know, 0:04:37.000 --> 0:04:39.840 pass the past the magic along to more people, and 0:04:39.920 --> 0:04:41.680 the Romans brought it to the British aisles and the 0:04:41.680 --> 0:04:44.919 British brought it here. Wow, it's funny that that's one 0:04:44.960 --> 0:04:46.960 of those things that got passed down for so long. 0:04:47.040 --> 0:04:49.200 I had no idea the origin was so far back. 0:04:49.240 --> 0:04:52.560 That's really good. All thanks to Rooster Nancy. That's that's right, 0:04:52.600 --> 0:04:56.560 that's right. Alright, mango, what's your next fact? So this 0:04:56.640 --> 0:04:59.920 is one of Thomas Jefferson, So you know, as admire 0:05:00.000 --> 0:05:02.000 it as Jefferson was, did you know that he actually 0:05:02.040 --> 0:05:08.080 refused to acknowledge Thanksgiving that yeah, friendly, I mean, you know, 0:05:08.320 --> 0:05:10.920 now everyone knows that Lincoln is one who actually made 0:05:10.920 --> 0:05:14.240 it a federal holiday, but before that, every president kind 0:05:14.240 --> 0:05:17.400 of had to declare the celebration every year, and Jefferson 0:05:17.520 --> 0:05:20.320 just refused. I mean, historians think it was because he 0:05:20.360 --> 0:05:22.599 was so committed to the idea of separation of church 0:05:22.640 --> 0:05:27.400 and state, because Thanksgiving this more religious and uh, prayer 0:05:27.440 --> 0:05:30.720 filled holiday back then. But he actually called Thanksgiving quote 0:05:31.160 --> 0:05:37.080 the most ridiculous idea ever conceived, it's not actually been. 0:05:38.279 --> 0:05:40.159 Before we go on. I I did want to say 0:05:40.440 --> 0:05:42.320 Stacy told me that fact, but she actually brought me 0:05:42.360 --> 0:05:46.279 this extra fact nugget on presidents, and it's about William 0:05:46.279 --> 0:05:49.680 Howard Taft and that he preferred to serve roasted possum 0:05:49.800 --> 0:05:56.880 with quote decorative potatoes in their mouths potato. I don't 0:05:56.880 --> 0:05:58.520 know about you, guys, but I'm glad I'm not eating 0:05:58.560 --> 0:06:03.839 eel and decorative tatoes inside a possum today. So alright, Well, 0:06:03.880 --> 0:06:06.640 my next fact also has to do with a um 0:06:06.640 --> 0:06:09.839 with a president. So from nineteen thirty nine to nineteen 0:06:09.960 --> 0:06:14.000 forty one, we actually had Frank's Giving, and I'll explain why. 0:06:14.080 --> 0:06:17.760 In nineteen thirty nine, FDR moved Thanksgiving up a week. 0:06:18.200 --> 0:06:21.000 This because it had previously been on the last Thursday 0:06:21.080 --> 0:06:23.880 of the month, and in nineteen thirty nine that happened 0:06:23.920 --> 0:06:26.240 to fall on the very last day of the month, 0:06:26.240 --> 0:06:29.840 and that made retailers really anxious and angry because they 0:06:29.920 --> 0:06:32.919 knew that that would be cutting into the holiday shopping season, 0:06:33.240 --> 0:06:35.120 and so he decided to move it up by a week. 0:06:35.400 --> 0:06:38.200 Well you think, maybe no big deal, but actually many 0:06:38.279 --> 0:06:42.200 of FDR's political foes were furious about this. In fact, 0:06:42.240 --> 0:06:44.640 one of them even compared him to Hitler. There's a 0:06:44.720 --> 0:06:48.239 quote from the Kansas governor at the time, Alf land 0:06:48.320 --> 0:06:52.000 and who who happened to be FDR's political opponent for 0:06:52.080 --> 0:06:55.600 the nineteen thirty six election. But he said quote, more 0:06:55.640 --> 0:06:57.720 time should have been taken in working it out so 0:06:57.760 --> 0:07:01.400 as to assure wholehearted cooperation, and instead of springing it 0:07:01.520 --> 0:07:05.080 upon an unprepared country with the omnipotence of a Hitler. 0:07:05.640 --> 0:07:11.400 Pretty strong words there, Wow. Yeah. Yeah. So anyway, so 0:07:11.480 --> 0:07:15.120 until it was officially signed into legislation as the fourth 0:07:15.160 --> 0:07:18.400 Thursday of November, there were a couple of years where 0:07:18.440 --> 0:07:22.600 states and conservative control continued to celebrate Thanksgiving on the 0:07:22.680 --> 0:07:25.239 last Thursday of the month, and then the New Dealers 0:07:25.240 --> 0:07:28.600 celebrated it the week before, so the earlier holiday was 0:07:28.680 --> 0:07:33.240 actually known derisively as Frank's Giving. All right, we've got 0:07:33.240 --> 0:07:37.120 one more fact each, Lauren, Okay, this one is about 0:07:37.200 --> 0:07:40.400 Julia Child. If if any of y'all part time genius 0:07:40.400 --> 0:07:43.240 listeners out there, uh, listen to food stuff as well, 0:07:43.240 --> 0:07:45.280 you'll know that she's kind of one of my personal heroes. 0:07:45.560 --> 0:07:48.440 And this this is so charming. So even during the 0:07:48.480 --> 0:07:50.760 height of her fame in the nineteen seventies and eighties, 0:07:51.120 --> 0:07:55.640 Julia Child kept her home telephone listed in the phone 0:07:55.680 --> 0:08:00.240 book in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and she would answer calls from 0:08:00.280 --> 0:08:03.239 people who were wondering what to do, like having trouble 0:08:03.280 --> 0:08:06.000 with a recipe up to an including on Thanksgiving, like 0:08:06.040 --> 0:08:09.240 she would be cooking dinner and uh, someone would call 0:08:09.280 --> 0:08:11.679 in panicked about their turkey. She would hand her whisk 0:08:11.720 --> 0:08:14.080 off to somebody else and just kind of talk them 0:08:14.080 --> 0:08:16.560 down like whether or not it was actual like like 0:08:16.640 --> 0:08:19.000 recipe advice or just going like, I don't know, now, 0:08:19.040 --> 0:08:21.320 it's totally turkey, doesn't even have to be served warm, 0:08:21.360 --> 0:08:24.120 do whatever you want, and just just you know, making 0:08:24.120 --> 0:08:27.560 everyone's day a little bit nicer. And she she refused 0:08:27.600 --> 0:08:30.360 to turn off the phone for for anything. She just 0:08:30.440 --> 0:08:35.040 always always would try to help people out. That is unbelievable. Yeah, 0:08:35.080 --> 0:08:37.120 that's a great fact. Well, you know, I know we 0:08:37.120 --> 0:08:39.640 don't have Julia Child to call anymore, but we do 0:08:39.800 --> 0:08:42.160 still have the butter Ball hot Line. Now, I'm assuming 0:08:42.200 --> 0:08:45.520 most of our listeners are aware of the Butterball hot Line, 0:08:45.520 --> 0:08:48.400 but just in case they aren't, it's been an operation 0:08:48.440 --> 0:08:50.840 for more than thirty years now, and so in November 0:08:50.880 --> 0:08:54.280 and December they're about fifty or sixty experts that are 0:08:54.320 --> 0:08:56.880 on the lines to answer the more than one hundred 0:08:57.040 --> 0:09:00.520 thousand questions that come into the hot line. People call 0:09:00.600 --> 0:09:03.960 one eight hundred butter ball. And the most common question, 0:09:04.000 --> 0:09:06.679 of course, is my turkey is still frozen, so what 0:09:06.720 --> 0:09:09.000 do I do? But the reason I wanted to point 0:09:09.000 --> 0:09:10.720 this out is I always like looking at the list 0:09:10.760 --> 0:09:13.400 of the weirdest questions that come in, and there was 0:09:13.440 --> 0:09:15.960 one that came in recently that was I left my 0:09:16.000 --> 0:09:18.120 turkey in a snow bank to keep it cold, and 0:09:18.160 --> 0:09:22.480 now I can't find it. What should I do? There 0:09:22.520 --> 0:09:28.640 are for turkeys? Is that A that's a good question. Alright, Well, mano, 0:09:28.720 --> 0:09:30.160 Sorry I had to jump in front of you there, 0:09:30.160 --> 0:09:32.560 But after she shared the a Julia Child fact, I 0:09:32.600 --> 0:09:34.559 just thought it was time to talk about butter ball. 0:09:34.640 --> 0:09:38.120 So you've got you've got one more fact. Yeah, and 0:09:38.120 --> 0:09:40.840 and it's a good one. So, um, did you realize 0:09:40.840 --> 0:09:44.120 that Big Birds costume is entirely made of turkey feathers? 0:09:45.600 --> 0:09:48.560 According to CNN, those beautiful big feathers come from the 0:09:48.640 --> 0:09:51.120 rear end of a turkey and Sesame Street actually has 0:09:51.160 --> 0:09:55.240 strict approval on what feathers get used. Apparently one out 0:09:55.240 --> 0:09:58.840 of ten feathers gets rejected. And also to make that 0:09:58.880 --> 0:10:03.319 beautiful plumage, it about several thousand feathers, along with extras 0:10:03.360 --> 0:10:06.480 for when the costume woltz. And uh, just to be clear, 0:10:06.559 --> 0:10:09.200 one of the many things I'm thankful for is big bird. 0:10:09.760 --> 0:10:15.559 Oh absolutely, Ah, that's pretty great and it may be 0:10:15.720 --> 0:10:18.600 my favorite fact for today. And and I kind of 0:10:18.640 --> 0:10:20.600 want to name you the winner, but I actually feel 0:10:20.600 --> 0:10:23.880 like Tristan Sweater is stolen the show, so I think 0:10:23.880 --> 0:10:25.640 I want to give him the trophy. Are you guys 0:10:25.640 --> 0:10:28.200 okay with that? Totally? I'm here, I'm here with him 0:10:28.200 --> 0:10:30.360 in the studio, and I've got to say it's it's 0:10:30.360 --> 0:10:32.120 actually glowing a little bit. I'm not sure how he 0:10:32.200 --> 0:10:37.200 did that. Man. Well, congratulations Tristan, and listeners were certainly 0:10:37.240 --> 0:10:39.680 thankful for you, and hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving. 0:10:39.880 --> 0:10:41.840 We'll be back with a full length episode tomorrow.