October 08, 2003
*Ask Jen
Sgt. Hook asks, "What is the maximum velocity of an unladen swallow?"
To which I am forced to respond: What do you mean? An African or European swallow?
Reader Jeff asks, "Why are piggy banks pigs?"
European dishes and cookware were made of a clay called "pygg." When it became customary to save coins in jars made of this clay, they were known as pygg banks. In the 1800s an English potter was asked to make a pygg bank and misunderstood; he thought the request was for a "pig" bank, so he made a bank shaped like a pig. It caught on.
Do you have a question for me? You can e-mail it. If I know the answer, I'll answer it. If I don't, I might make something up.
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Damn you're good!
Posted by: Sgt Hook at October 8, 2003 03:47 PMI actually dug up what I could find on the swallow speed once on a lark... (sorry... couldn't resist the pun)
It varried between 40 and 50mph... (60 - 80 KPH for you metric types)
nuff said...
Jew