THE gardening column of the London Daily Mail may not be the first place to look for breakthroughs in physics, but just occasionally that鈥檚 where you will find them 鈥� as, for example, on 28 May, when it wondered why certain colours appear more dominant than others. Why, it asked, do 鈥渞eds, oranges and yellows鈥eem to grab our attention while blues, indigos and violets are more reserved鈥�?
The answer will come as a surprise to many: 鈥淭his is due to the speed at which each colour travels towards the eye 鈥� reds, being produced by short-wave light, travel very quickly while blues are long waves which proceed more slowly.鈥�
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Presumably, speculates Angela Cotton who spotted this, infrared has an even shorter wavelength and travels even faster to make us hot, while ultraviolet is longer and slower, giving it more time to interact and cause skin and eye damage.
READERS will have noticed that despite our best efforts, examples of nominative determinism have started to creep into the column again in recent weeks. It is time to take a firm stand on this, because once the floodgates are opened, a torrent of names is likely to overwhelm Feedback鈥檚 desk.
So thank you to everyone who has written to us on this topic. Here, by way of a swansong, are just a few of the latest crop.
鈥淚t was true until they said it. Ste Murray reminds us that exam papers often come with a back page containing the strangely redundant message: 鈥淣o text is printed on this page鈥濃��
At his secondary school, Adam Delves鈥檚 maths teacher was named Mrs Measures, his history teacher was Mr Nelson and his geography teacher was Mr Ireland.
Meanwhile, Ferdinand Nicoletti tells us he had a dentist called Dr Chiew, and Bill Barksfield notes that the man responsible for all aspects of wildlife on London鈥檚 underground transport system is Dave Mole.
Then again, Geoffrey Clark informs us that there is a senior forestry officer in the Isle of Man, UK, called Robin Pollard, and Annie Forbes can鈥檛 resist telling us that the weather presenter for the BBC鈥檚 East Midlands Today news broadcast is Sara Blizzard.
Browsing the website of Trinity College Dublin in Ireland, Stephanie Mahon came across Iain Atack, a lecturer in international peace studies. Larry Morgan and his friend Hannah Weston take joint credit for noticing that the author of Mountain Navigation is Peter Cliff. And the owner of a firearms store in the Washington state suburb where Peter Shaw lives is named Robert Bang.
The contact for Jeremy Stonehouse鈥檚 firm at Citrix Online鈥檚 鈥渁ccounts receivable鈥� department is Betty Billings, while Daniel Baker has discovered that the World Bank country director for China is David Dollar.
And lastly, Amoret Brandt tells us that the man who used to come and sweep his parents鈥� chimneys was called Mr Christmas. Brandt remembers his young nephews looking at the sweep wide-eyed on hearing his name, until one of them eventually asked: 鈥淎re you a daddy?鈥�
And that, for the time being, is definitely that. But if you think you might start suffering from nominative determinism withdrawal symptoms, there are many websites devoted to the topic that can feed your addiction. Try Googling 鈥渁ptonyms鈥�, for example.
FANS of old 78 shellac records were excited to see a record player advertised in the London Daily Express last month that could play 78s as well as more recent 45s and 33s. But how many music buffs noticed, as Martin Pickering did, that in the picture of the player the pickup arm is on the left side of the turntable 鈥� presumably, Pickering suggests, for playing that old Goons classic I鈥檓 Walking Backwards for Christmas?
Andy Warhol and the gifted chimp
BONHAMS the auctioneers are offering for sale a painting by a chimpanzee called Congo in London next week. Created in 1957 when Congo was 3 years old, the chimp鈥檚 works prompted a fierce debate about what is or is not art when they were first shown. A critic who was known for acerbic views on modern art, which he denounced as meaningless, was invited to comment on Congo鈥檚 paintings without being told anything about the artist. He praised them. Then 鈥渢he artist鈥� was brought in to confound him.
Andy Warhol鈥檚 work provoked the same controversy during his lifetime: is it art? Warhol would probably have enjoyed the irony that one of his paintings is on sale at Bonhams with Congo鈥檚.
A VAN from Richard Saunders鈥檚 local paintballing centre is emblazoned with menacing-looking camouflaged figures along with the slogan 鈥�0.95% will fail 鈥� have you got what it takes?鈥� Saunders says he hadn鈥檛 realised paintballing was quite that easy.
FINALLY, a colleague of Charlotte Edmunds recently came out with what may be the first ever malapropism for 鈥渕alapropism鈥�. Having described another colleague as 鈥渁 vast suppository of information鈥�, he became aware of his error and apologised for having committed a 鈥淢iss Marple-ism鈥�.