Pagoda View

Taken in by made up names

9 Jan 2012

Shortly before Christmas we were told that people queuing to see Edinburgh Zoo's two new giant pandas had been treated to liberal helpings of  poo being dropped on them by the neighbouring Rockhopper Penguins. This was soberly reported in most media including the Times as being down to 'monochrome envy'. The implication was that this is a recognised scientific phenomenon where black and white animals are jealous of other black and white things.  However,  some modest research suggests that this is an entirely 'made up' term, probably crafted by the Zoo's PR folk to generate a story during the Christmas silly season.

The story has now turned up in China and it will probably run and run (excuse the pun). This is because people love to be taken in by highly improbable scientific sounding terms. They feel secure by knowing that there are experts out there bandying around long words.  Adverts for shampoo or washing powder often boast that the product contains......and there follows a long largely unpronounceable word, which sounds impressive - but for all I know could be entirely invented. There is even a shampoo which boasts that it doesn't contain 'Sodium Lauryl Sulphate'. Thank goodness! Although in that case, it is apparently a real term.

The panda story is an amusing example of how vulnerable most of us are to the power of scientific language.

Ian Coldwell