Answer Me This! - AMT273: Planet Names, Michelin Guides and Rap Battles

Episode Date: October 3, 2013

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Starting point is 00:00:00 If the strictly bank-covered bloodlines will apocalypse come Has to be this, has to be this Is there any way to escape Miley Cyrus' bomb? Has to be this, has to be this Helen and Ollie, has to be this Palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy There's vomit on his sweater already, mum's spaghetti I know what you're thinking, it's a question about Colchester
Starting point is 00:00:24 And you're right, it's a question about Colchester. And you're right. It's a question from Ed from Colchester, but it's about rap battles. That's why I was doing the Eminem thing. Right, but it was a bit slow really to seem like rap rather than just a description of a man with a dirty jumper.
Starting point is 00:00:35 This is why I'm Ollyman and he's Eminem, hello. Ollyman and Eminem, that's a mouthful, isn't it? Man-em-em-em-em. Eminem-em-em-man. Eminem-er-man. Eminem-er-man.
Starting point is 00:00:47 Sounds a bit like enema. It does. He's probably had to contend with that and that's why he's so angry a lot of the time again i think it's best we see man enema of the people anyway ed from colchester has written to us about rap battles right he says at school we had a talent competition i done a rap battle with a friend it went well i'm surprised because your linguistic skills don't suggest It would necessarily But one of the older teachers A certain Mr Foster Made a rap against us
Starting point is 00:01:14 What's Mr Foster Playing at trying to put the shoe on the other Foot is he trying to be a cool teacher Ed says it was Not that good and was a bit offensive Like most rap so says as i came up with a rap back uh and this is this is how it went i'm gonna try and emulate it for you in a rap style what's wrong foster you smell like a dead man in costa what wow as in costa coffee yeah i
Starting point is 00:01:37 think so weird wow you smell good man you're an imposter yeah harsh you taught my dad english old man come on let's hear your retirement plan now stop offending me i can beat you up like bruce lee like a dead man old man versus dead man the old man's gonna win i mean it's not bad if you'd come up with it on the spot but what concerns me actually is that ed's question is helen answer me this should i do it so in other words he's premeditated a rap battle, a freestyle rap battle. A rap that contains a threat of violence. The whole point of freestyling is that it is freestyling, right?
Starting point is 00:02:12 The moment has passed, Ed. Exactly, yeah. I think if you're going to spend as much time as Ed has already premeditating your battle raps, then they ought to be a little bit better than this. Exactly, because I mean, instantly now an audience is thinking, well, is Costa a place you typically see dead men? I've never seen that. Unless you're that kid in the sixth sense, because you i mean instantly now an audience is thinking well is costa a place you typically see dead men i've never seen that unless you're that kid in the sixth sense because
Starting point is 00:02:27 you see dead people everywhere that's true but would they smell differently you know with the lingering scent of custard creams in the air no it's just a dead man smells bad anyway they probably smell better in costa if anything yeah does mr foster smell have you just made that up for a convenient insult actually well i think this is a crucial part of this actually because mr foster he sounds quite game doesn't he he joined in with a rap battle even though he knew that he was going to lose that rap battle because the audience decide who wins in a rap battle and frankly the teacher's never going to win he still stepped in he still stepped in and took on the kids i think that shows sportingness nonetheless if your rap battle comeback is based around the fact that he
Starting point is 00:03:01 does actually smell that he has an unpleasant odor um that's the area you don't go into isn't it as a as a even a mouthy child we had a physics teacher who stank um and everyone used to make a joke about how the bunsen burners were stinking the room out but no one would ever actually tell him directly that he smelt because he really did also the line you know i want to hear your retirement plan sounds good because what you're saying is you're so old you should be retired, man. But actually, you're giving the opportunity there for Mr Foster to rap back, aren't you? A really boring rap as well. Well, I'm getting a timeshare in Yorkshire and I plan to do some walking.
Starting point is 00:03:33 Well, you're also doing your GCSEs, kid. Yeah, exactly. I'm expecting full state pension in every dimension. So I think you're inviting your own rap battle slam down comeback there from Mr Foster again. I'm going to retire early for fun, then I'm going're inviting your own rap battle slam down comeback there From Mr Foster again I'm gonna retire early for fun Then I'm gonna fuck your mum Again Bitch Zingo
Starting point is 00:03:51 You'd probably be quite good at rap battles though The thing is I love to extemporise lyrics But I don't really have the necessary rhythm or speed But I think because you're physically surprising Because A you're a lady And B you don't look like other lady rappers. No, most of them don't look like rotund white women. I think you'd instantly get the crowd on side just by like...
Starting point is 00:04:13 It's a bit like when the teacher joins in. That's exactly the vibe you give off. It'd be like if Sandy Toksvig did a rap. Exactly. People would just be naturally warm to that. Maybe. You know. Is that an unfair advantage, though?
Starting point is 00:04:23 I think it is. Using my physique. And this is the problem with when Vernon Kaye used to do funny Maybe. You know. Is that an unfair advantage though? I think it is. Using my physique. Like, and this is the problem with when Vernon Kaye used to do funny dancing on telly. Why, too good looking?
Starting point is 00:04:30 Yeah, it's just like, well, he's the kind of guy you'd expect to do serious dancing. Do you know what I mean? And so him doing cheesy dancing, oh, look at me, aren't I zany and wacky? It's like, well, not really.
Starting point is 00:04:38 No, because you don't, if you were Johnny Vegas, it would be funnier, wouldn't it? Do you know what I mean? Like, you're just like, oh yeah, well, of course you can dance,
Starting point is 00:04:44 you're Vernon Kaye. I think also the problem was that he was Vernon Kaye and nothing he does is inherently interesting. Worth holding on to that kind of observation for your epic rap battle though. Yeah. You're like Vernon Kaye in that nothing you do is inherently interesting. Slam! Bitch. Vernon Kaye is not
Starting point is 00:04:59 the best. Where is the interest? My name's Katie, I'm calling from Christchurch and last night, I had a party, as I sometimes do. But my parties tend to be pretty low-key because I like to go to bed at 10. And my question is really, how do you get people to leave your house when you're hosting them? It's happened a lot. Not just when I want to go to bed at what might be an unreasonable hour for normal people. But you have know, you have a party and you think it might be a few hours long and then there are people still there and you love them.
Starting point is 00:05:31 They're great people, but you really want to get on and do other stuff. And last night I really wanted to get on and sleep. So, Helen Nolley, answer me this. How do you get people to leave your house nicely? Thank you. Okay. Since you put in the proviso nicely, I'm going to have to revise what I was going to say, because you could start turning all the lights up very bright, turning the music off, starting to clean up, coming out in your pyjamas
Starting point is 00:05:54 yawning. Those are a little passive-aggressive, aren't they? Well, yes they are, but they work, don't they? What essentially you're describing there is the technique of emulating what you see in a professional establishment, where a bouncer might come up to you and be like lads drink up bars closing now yeah yeah all that lights going up like you say chairs on tables yes you can i think in your own house party have an element of that but you can't shut the bar and you can't
Starting point is 00:06:17 start flushing the lights well you can take the wine and spirits and put them in the kitchen yeah but everyone's in the kitchen you can get the hoover out that's a pretty clear indication isn't it but i've got a couple of ideas for you katie and i think i'm on your side because uh i am rubbish at parties and i think one of the things would be when you invite people give them a time say you know you know how people say carriages at 8 p.m yeah carriages that's funny i mean his carriage is wanky, but... It's wanky, but it's also, like, if you do it in an ironic way... Faux wanky. It's funny, yeah. Faux wanky, yeah.
Starting point is 00:06:47 You're on side there. Yeah. Or have a tea party, because then people might have supper plans they need to leave anyway. And even if the party's a rager and goes on for 10 hours, it's still bedtime at a reasonable hour, because it was a tea party. You do seem incredibly square, though, don't you? I don't. Not you.
Starting point is 00:07:01 She does anyway. No, I am. She does anyway. I am square. I'm saying this from the point of view of a fellow square. it's good in a way that you're right to have an end time because if someone said i'm having a house party between 8 and 11 p.m yeah there'd be none of this crap about like oh it says 8 so people won't start arriving till 9 i'll get there about 10 30 because then of course you're gonna be there till 1 in the morning but if you knew it finished
Starting point is 00:07:20 at 11 you would get there at half 8 wouldn't you yeah it would resolve the other issue for the person holding the party which is that the people you don't really know very well usually the neighbor and a friend of a friend turn up first yes and you're not drunk and you have to make small chat with them all and they don't get on now the tricky thing i have though is when everyone leaves at a very obliging time of the party except for one or two people and they stay for hours and they're not necessarily the people you have the most amount of chat with and they might have red wine mouth i suppose actually if the person that's like falling asleep and still hanging around is so drunk they won't remember what they're doing you could book them a taxi and then just say oh the taxi you booked is outside they won't remember
Starting point is 00:08:00 whether they have or haven't booked a taxi and they'll probably be grateful that you flagged it up to them because they wouldn't want to miss their taxi. Or you just need to wait until all of your friends are parents and they have to go home because the babysitter is 15 and they need to go home because it's a school night. Here's a question from Toby from York who says, Helen, answer me this. Have you ever used one of the spare buttons
Starting point is 00:08:20 that comes with every shirt and jacket you buy? Yes. Next question. Yeah, I'd say yes as well but he goes on oh uh it's occurred to me that the clothing industry could save millions of pounds yes a plausible amount by accepting the fact that people don't sew buttons onto their shirts anymore that's a very blanket statement that i object to that's right indian children do and it would what they do and it would also make ironing easier as those buttons attached to labels on shirts get on my nerves. Well, Toby, when you get the shirt,
Starting point is 00:08:49 cut it off and put it in your button jar. Yeah. And then when your shirt loses a button, think, well, this is a good shirt. I shouldn't dispose of it as the clothing industry does take a great environmental toll and waste is terrible and someone probably slaved in a sweatshop to make this shirt.
Starting point is 00:09:03 It's my duty to wear this shirt until it falls apart on my back sew the button on it takes two minutes to sew a button on um but do you think that um toby thinks that uh you are in fact supposed to leave the buttons sealed on the shirt and therefore is he the kind of person that also leaves the silica gel in the shoes and walks around with that as well and he also leaves his jacket pocket sewn up hell why don't you cut off all the buttons of the front of your shirt as well to make the ironing even easier i personally actually have never sewed a button on i'd like to do that yeah that doesn't surprise me though because in many ways ollie you're unreconstructed go on i think in some ways you're a surprisingly feminist and feminine man
Starting point is 00:09:40 but this strikes me as the kind of way in which you're a 70s man you think it's because i expect my girlfriend or mother to do it for me no i just think you don't expect yourself to do it and you haven't delegated it to your girlfriend or your mother because you're not that kind of sexist yes but you have not assumed the mantle of a button so honor i think that's probably it yeah i think that's accurate i mean what i do is is i take it to oxfam when the button falls off and i think, there's a woman there I could deal with. So that is pretty...
Starting point is 00:10:07 Do you give them the spare button? I don't know. I don't think about that. I just assume there's a button jar in Oxfam. I don't think about it. I don't think, Helen. That's what we're learning. I don't think.
Starting point is 00:10:14 If you've got a question Email your question To answer me This podcast at googlemail.com Answer me This podcast at googlemail.com. Answer me, this podcast at googlemail.com. Here's a question. So, retrospectives, what historical events are we ticking off on this week's run of Today in History?
Starting point is 00:10:36 On Monday, we bring you the real story of the mutiny on the bounty. On Tuesday, the anniversary of the day somebody invented the meatball, but who? On Wednesday, the iconic British car that ripped off an iconic American car. On Thursday, how American airlines invented air miles. And on Friday, the UFO sighting that gripped colonial America. We discuss this and more on Today in History with The Retrospectors. Ten minutes each weekday, wherever you get your podcasts. Question from Daniel in West Sussex.
Starting point is 00:11:04 He says, Olly, answer me this. Why do Michelin give out stars to restaurants and things when Michelin is a tyre company? Why should people trust a tyre company about good places to eat? Okay, before I answer the question, I'm just going to say you did very well with your pronunciation. Michelin. Very nice.
Starting point is 00:11:21 Michelin. I am going to be saying Michelin for the rest of this because I'm English. Michelin. It's Michelin, isn't it? It's Michelin. Is Michael in? very nice i am going to be saying michelin for the rest of this because i'm english michelin it's michelin in it it's michelin is michael in that is how i say it yeah but i it's always very difficult that i think because you there's the danger of sounding pretentious isn't there by saying things saying something properly in french oh yeah it's awkward isn't it when people over pronounce yeah those things they're like i'm joined by michelle on the phone who says this and you're like oh come on you're english you're english
Starting point is 00:11:48 don't do that but you did very nicely it's very nice i just well i'm embarrassed i couldn't do that um so is it is this just a marketing wheeze by michelin to distinguish them from the other tyre companies yes essentially right i mean it's a very clever bit of brand association when you think about it because it came they came up with it in 1900 wow so probably before the nude pirelli calendar to distinguish them from tire companies that don't send out post calendars of naked models yes i think that's right yes because i think a nude calendar in 1900 would look rather different to the 1960s calendar we know and love it would have just been pictures of marble statues wouldn't it or bits of ankle yeah steady pretty strong stuff wrists um back of neck i suppose the the implicit um advertising message behind them distributing what was then a free guide to france for the
Starting point is 00:12:34 motorists uh was motorists get around and about they go to the best places they didn't have trip advisor then either so you could check on a smartphone on the road where to go correct you had to plan so uh it was kind of saying look you know with public transport you're limited to the places you can go with a car you can go to all these exciting places places in towns you've never been to before we're going to tell you about where all those places are with and it was a bit more car focused in the initial days so it had maps in it and it had lists of retailers and stuff that sold car accessories all very useful um and so they were saying like you know this is the indispensable guide to be a motorist in france and i guess the brand association is if you're a motorist in france you indispensably need michelin tires
Starting point is 00:13:12 so that's basically what they were doing um but then the the restaurant bit of it kind of got a bit of a reputation i guess because it's french and the french like their food a lot and they like ranking uh restaurants as it turned out and so that became the most uh high profile bit that the guide did and over time people forget the fact but actually still it's a guide for hotels and restaurants everyone forgets about the hotels they almost might as well not bother making tires anymore i'm not sure how much money they actually make from the guide though and i'm sure they make quite a lot of money from the tires because i've got michelin tires on my car and uh it's your four tyres are not going to keep them in food. Not convinced about that, Helen.
Starting point is 00:13:48 It was quite a lot of money. I expect, actually, the Michelin guide itself costs quite a lot to upkeep because they send these anonymous inspectors. The restaurants tend to be quite expensive. They do. And yes, the inspectors pay for their own meals. But one whistleblower,
Starting point is 00:14:04 who had previously served as a Michelin inspector wrote an expose about this about a decade ago saying essentially they use that reputation that you just mentioned the fact that they always pay for meals no one knows who they are to actually cloak over the fact that there aren't really nearly as many inspectors
Starting point is 00:14:18 as they say there are oh really a lot of the information is out of date and the point is there's a real bias towards a certain kind of French food there is a lot of flack against the Michelin Guide, actually, for being food conservative, isn't there? And it's not all French-style stuff,
Starting point is 00:14:32 but I have noticed a certain similarity in the Michelin-starred establishments that I have eaten in. Oh, how many have you been to? It turns out, and I was surprised it was this many, I've been to seven. Crikey, I've only been to four, and I would argue More into eating out
Starting point is 00:14:46 Than you are You are And you're a lot more Fancy than I am I thought she was Going to say fat there No Fancy
Starting point is 00:14:50 You live the life But the thing they all Have in common Is that at the time I thought the food Was really good And immediately afterwards And ever since
Starting point is 00:14:57 Couldn't remember Anything about it Okay well One of the four That I've been to Is the Fat Duck And I could tell you In quite a lot of
Starting point is 00:15:04 Vivid detail Every course That I had at the Fat Duck The little whiskey fat little whiskey bottle i won't because it gets boring to anyone who hasn't been there but that's they just hit you over the head and then uh play you a tape of things you ate and then wake you up and you think you've had it all but also that costs as much money and takes almost as long as a mini break so that is a bit like me describing my holiday rather than just going out for a meal. I've been to Petrus, which is widely regarded to be one of the absolute number, even on TripAdvisor,
Starting point is 00:15:29 Petrus is the number one restaurant in London. By the way, number two restaurant in London, according to TripAdvisor, is a fish and chip shop called Bailey's in Fulham. So that shows where the crowdsourcing differs from the Michelin Guide. But I can't remember anything that I actually ate at Petrus. Whereas at that fish and chip shop,
Starting point is 00:15:42 you ate fish, you ate chips. You'd remember the fish and chips you ate. Yeah, all I remember from these michelin style places is that i had a very long thin piece of pork crackling like a knitting needle oh that sounds good that was good but not good if you've ordered it that's often the case isn't it small portions i know that's the stereotype but very often nuval cuisine places it is the case that it sounds great on the menu because the description is five sentences long and you order it and it is the size of a thumbnail and it's just like can i just take this opportunity to air one of my myriad linguistic bugbears go on it's when people over describe food when they're ordering it so they didn't just say i'll have the lamb they'll say i'll have the kentish marsh fed
Starting point is 00:16:19 lamb with the cream potatoes and the tender stem broccoli and the thing garnished with things. You see, now this to me sounds like inverse snobbery because the people that are doing that, they're trying to be aspirational. They're trying to match the standards that are given them by the menu. Or they're just unaccustomed to eating at Post Western. And then it's reading from the menu. It's you, Martin! Exactly, I'm just reading from the menu. I'm unaccustomed
Starting point is 00:16:40 to eating at Post restaurants and I would stop after the lamb. Yeah. Because I know that the waiter's time is not infinite. But then it is the fault of the restaurants for using such florid language. I mean, what is a jus? It's meat juice. Why not just say...
Starting point is 00:16:53 Meat juice. I suppose if you say meat juice, it doesn't sound very nice, does it? Meat juice. But why say it at all? Like, it makes no difference. You don't know, oh, now it's got jus on it,
Starting point is 00:17:01 I'm going to order it because I wasn't going to order it before. At the far end of the florid menu description syndrome is ones like St John's where it's just like meat, turnips. And firstly, you don't really know what you're getting. And secondly, when a plate of meat and turnips turns up, you're a little disappointed that it's just meat and turnips. And yet that is what they told you you were having.
Starting point is 00:17:17 I don't think I've ever been to a really good restaurant and had something that didn't taste good. That's the idea. That's my Michelin review. Tastes good. What's the best meal you had? Is it a fat duck? Well, I would have to say
Starting point is 00:17:28 the Edgware brunch of Nando's followed by the fat duck. No, I think... Do they give you macho peas? I don't know if the fat duck is the best meal I've ever had. It's like the most entertaining experience I've ever had eating
Starting point is 00:17:37 but that's something a bit different really. It's amazing but it's an experience. If I had to choose a dish that I'd have every day for lunch it wouldn't be something from the fat duck because it's all quite rich and weird.
Starting point is 00:17:46 Of course. It's more of a cerebral experience than an eating one as well, isn't it? Yeah, exactly. In essence. I'd probably, like, if I was going to choose something that I'd have every day,
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Starting point is 00:18:34 Allowing Olly Mann To beautify His own website That's right yeah I've been having a crack At the old Squarespace I've designed OllyMann.com
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Starting point is 00:19:39 it's Sean from Bristol here. I was just wondering, why do planets in our solar system have normal names, like Mars, Venus, names? But when you go outside of our solar system and out into the other planets in the galaxy, they all have weird names, like BX4Q and MN3P or stuff like that. Can you guys see that? Bye.
Starting point is 00:20:08 Well, Sean, until 1919, whoever discovered the planets could name them, usually. And so they went for kind of Greek and Roman goddy names for the ones within our solar system. Yeah, it's an important discovery, isn't it? It's big, it's big. Even if you always wanted to call something spike lampy you wouldn't would you because at the point you discover venus you would think oh it's quite a big deal isn't it it's a
Starting point is 00:20:33 planet that's quite near r1 we might be on it one day but someone did go for uranus didn't they yeah that is funny isn't it and then they're like let's let's reboot this uranus that's better isn't it anyway 1919 though uh this free choice disappeared because the International Astronomical Union formed. I hate those guys. Everyone does, actually. They seem like real killjoys. Oh, ruin the party. And there are over 11,000 members in 90 countries,
Starting point is 00:20:58 and they are the internationally recognised authority for assigning names to planets and moons and other celestial bodies. They're the icon of space. Yeah, pretty much. So what they've done, I think, is just made it a lot more difficult to name a planet. So it gets its technical name of the numbers and the letters that is just very unmemorable, and then they just can't bloody agree on something better to call it. But they could, couldn't they? Nowadays, you could have a poll, couldn't you?
Starting point is 00:21:22 Well, actually, Ollie, that is what is happening. As of August, following a campaign supported by William Shatner... Oh, well, the greatest astrophysicist of our time. They will be accepting submissions from the public and also allowing the public some kind of input into the decision. Oh, no, but it's going to be all nerds, isn't it? Because if Shatner's back in the campaign, they'll all be called Spock, won't they? Well, no, there have been attempts to name planets Star Trek themed names and they haven't gone
Starting point is 00:21:47 very well, like Vulcan and so on. But they've got over 800 planets that need names, so I think they've realised that the Union themselves aren't going to tackle all of those. I mean they'll run out of dog names after about 20. There's just a real danger isn't there that you make contact with sentient life and you have to explain to them why we've named
Starting point is 00:22:03 their planet Kuntor. If we go to the public. I'm sorry we called you Planet Shitter. Well, yes, but actually when it comes to the Star Trek thing, which does make me cringe as well, I think, well, that makes me cringe, but in the same way that it wouldn't make me cringe at all if someone said, well,
Starting point is 00:22:20 we're naming this planet Juliet after Romeo and Juliet. You know, it is a work of cultural significance. In 500 years' time, people will have forgotten that it was Star Trek rather than something quite mythical and amazing. Or Star Trek will be very well appreciated. Indeed, indeed. I mean, and there's nothing wrong with naming one planet after Star Trek,
Starting point is 00:22:34 but you can't name them all after geek fanboy things because geek fanboys are ruining everything. Yeah, but often they will name all of the moons of a planet after a specific thing, like, say, Shakespearean tragedies. So that's kind of geeky. It's just more credible geeky. Yeah, but it's stood the test of time geeky as well, isn't it? In the same way, it would be okay just, I think,
Starting point is 00:22:55 to name a planet after the Beatles, but probably not so much after Chakademos and Pliars. Saturn would be Ringo, wouldn't it? There are some guidelines, Oli, if you want to submit a planet name it must be 16 characters or less and preferably one word so if you were going for bitty mclean you'd have to elide it um no pet names no business names no pet names no no all
Starting point is 00:23:18 of my ideas gone well you could name your pets after planet or after planet sounding things uh names that are pronounceable in as many languages as possible and not offensive in any language or culture. No such word exists. That really narrows it down. So you couldn't call the planet after your cat Coco because I think Coco means shit in Brazil. Even prominent physicists have funny names.
Starting point is 00:23:37 Well, Professor Cox. I mean, when you think about it. And you're also not allowed names that are commercial in nature. So you couldn't call it Planet Pepsi. Again, I wonder if with the right amount of money they could challenge that. Or you could just call your thing Jupiter, and then you've already got a planet named after you. You've got the biggest one.
Starting point is 00:23:54 That's true. What about Mars bars? Does that mean you're going to rename Mars? Oh, good point. And Venus the Razor. And Mercury poisoning. Bom bom bom bom. Bom bom bom bom. Bom bom bom bom. Bom bom bom bom. A mercury poisoning. I'm asking Then in your awesome knowledge I'll be basking Once in summer
Starting point is 00:24:25 I'm so alone No one to email No one to email And no one to phone Where can I get new friends from? Answer me in this podcast.com Here's a question from Andy, who says, someone has just offered to buy me a shisha pipe.
Starting point is 00:24:48 Well, why are you writing to us? That's a really exciting offer. Ollie, answer me this. Is this a really exciting offer? Yes. Not his question. He says, I've never smoked anything other than a ciggy when tanked up to the eyeballs,
Starting point is 00:24:59 but a friend says it will reduce my stress. I have quite a stressful job. I'm sorry, Andy. So it seems appealing, but I'm trying to weigh up the risks of dying from cancer versus dying from stress. Oh. So, Ollie, answer me this.
Starting point is 00:25:13 What do you reckon? I'm 43. I do quite fancy the idea of apple-flavoured smoke. Oh, so cancer's fine then. Are those carcinogenic, Sheetors? Because the smoke is a bit more dispersed, isn't it? It's filtered through water, isn't it? Well, the jury's out.
Starting point is 00:25:26 Some people say, yeah, the smoke passes through water, so it's not as harmful. Other people, including the World Health Organization, say, well, that's a theory, but you haven't got any evidence for that. Oh, evidence. And the amount of smoke that you're actually inhaling in each session is dramatically increased
Starting point is 00:25:43 when you have shisha pipe versus smoking a cigarette. Because the average puff of a cigarette apparently smokes between 8 and 12 puffs of a fag, which is 0.5 to 0.6 litres of smoke. But when you're having an hour-long shisha session, because that's when you sit there for ages, you might take 200 drags, which could be up to a litre of smoke each. And I guess the fact that the tobacco comes in fun, fruity flavours makes it a bit more palatable to smoke loads of it. Yes, but I would counter this by saying, yes, I get that, and I understand the maths. You're not going to sit and
Starting point is 00:26:14 smoke for an hour, really, are you? Well, you might, but it's probably an hour at the most a month, isn't it? It's probably, in my case, an hour every three years. And aren't you sharing it? Usually. And also, it gets a bit gobby and disgusting after a while so then you don't smoke as much and i've normally been drinking as well when i'm smoking shisha and i reckon in the long run that's probably doing worse things to my system than the
Starting point is 00:26:33 shisha pipe is but also would a normal shisha pipe for relax andy or is he hinting that he's going to be using this like a bong oh like a bong that it's okay to have in his living room because it looks like he's traveled do you know i actually hadn't considered that because otherwise why would it relax him but you're absolutely right that must be a common subversion of the form i mean it's actually quite a complicated question isn't it because he's right he's going to be damaging his health in one way but he your friend is probably also right that you might find it relaxing but then you might find going out for a walk relaxing that's the thing and that is less carcinogenic unless the who has decided that it is bad for you to have a walk or yeah to stroke a cat or to do some knitting i just think if stress is andy's problem then there
Starting point is 00:27:15 isn't really a single quick fix he's got to try and find some ways to counteract his stressful lifestyle so because i'm a big smoking square and i just can't see the appeal and there may be medical consequences that have not been confirmed yet maybe he should seek some stress counseling or see if he can adjust things at work or find some hobbies that allow him to vent more yeah or just enjoy the other benefits of a lebanese restaurant oh good point because actually and actually this is a good point isn't it if you're there And you're smoking a shisha pipe Yes you're doing bad things to your lungs But you're eating broad beans Which usually aren't that palatable
Starting point is 00:27:49 Exactly Chickpeas Tahini It's basically good for you isn't it You often get a lot of radishes Lay off the bread and the halloumi That would be the real concern for me It was unlimited halloumi
Starting point is 00:27:57 That would be the thing That would kill me in the long run But he's talking about Getting one for home isn't it So the equivalent would be For him to learn to make falafel Which I think would be better Yeah
Starting point is 00:28:04 Well that brings us to an end listeners Of this week's Answer Me This Really Wow Flash isn't it so the equivalent would be for him to learn to make falafel which i think could be better yeah well that brings us to an end listeners of this week's answer me this really flash isn't it flash but listeners uh if you want to contribute to a future episode of answer me this you need to send us questions there are many ways in which you can do that e.g phone email skype and all of our contact details are on our website answer me this podcast.com where you can also buy our albums holiday sports day and jubilee our exclusive one-off one-hour episodes of
Starting point is 00:28:31 answer me this that are all about a special thing oh yes in the case of sports day it's about sports jubilee is about the royal family and holidays
Starting point is 00:28:37 it's about holidays not rocket science we've not done one about rocket science yet we haven't because we are not qualified to do that anyway i mean sport
Starting point is 00:28:44 was stretching it i think we got away with it yeah but rocket science martin haven't because we are not qualified to do that anyway I mean sport was stretching it I think we got away with it but rocket science Martin could do it maybe but I could do some I could do a bit of rocket science
Starting point is 00:28:51 an hour of it though maybe not I'll get bored even I'll get bored anyway listeners see you next week bye

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