What's Da Buzz?

Let me tackle these topics in reverse order. First up is shampoo or, to be exact, an answer to my daughter’s question – “Why do they call it shampoo?”

When you type “origin of the word shampoo” in the search bar, one of the best answers is found here.

For those who aren’t into following links, let me summarize what they go over. When the Spanish, French, and English thought they could race to claim the rest of the world as theirs, one of the British colonies was in India where we find the origins of the word “shampoo.” The word “shampoo” comes from the Hindi word “campo” which means “to press or knead.” That in turn traces back to the Sanskrit language.

If you remember your history, the British were wearing wigs and wouldn’t really care about what we know as shampoo. The term referred to a full massage with oils that are commonly used in regular massages today. “Shampoo” ended up meaning a massage for the scalp in 1860 often with oils for the scalp. The noun for the “liquid soap for the hair” originated in 1866. That in turn led to the next question.

What is the origin of the bottle of shampoo and what is it? I won’t summarize that entry but here are a few other details. The first man-made or synthetic shampoo was introduced in the 1930’s but it had a few problems with it. What is commonly known as shampoo today originated in the 1960’s.

The second half to this entry was originally going to be a different Did You Know all to itself but another website beat me to it and did an excellent job. The topic was going to be why do we do Day Light Savings time? But that website has the full batch of information on it. To quote the important part for my readers:

” If you live near the equator, day and night are nearly the same length (12 hours). Elsewhere on Earth, there is much more daylight in the summer than in the winter. The closer you live to the North or South Pole, the longer the period of daylight in the summer. Thus, Daylight Saving Time (Summer Time) is usually not helpful in the tropics, and countries near the equator generally do not change their clocks.”

Translation: It gets dark early here in Wisconsin in December. It doesn’t in the Philippines as they are so close to the equator. For Wisconsin and the USA, it serves a purpose. In the Philippines, it would be silly.

So ends this days adventure into little details you may never know or care about until your child asks you a question and stumps you.

Thank you,

Anah

Photo credits: http://sakinlangto.wordpress.com and http://www.mrdowling.com

Related posts: