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Challenging
Conventional Wisdom
The 21 December 2005 edition of the Zeitgeist
Z-newsletter
Chances
are you’ve heard the old joke about the recently married young
man who was simply blown away by how succulent his bride’s turkey
turned out at their first Thanksgiving. When asked how she did it, she
replied that the secret was in cutting off the top quarter of the bird
prior to roasting...as her mother had always done it.
Together with the in-laws for Christmas dinner, the young man asked
his wife’s mother how she ever stumbled upon such a unique trick
for producing such a flavorful fowl. She explained that she learned
the trick from her mother...who had learned it from her mother.
As luck would have it, Great Gramma Flo was still alive. When the family
visited her at the home on Christmas Day, the young man couldn’t
help but ask about the recipe for a perfect turkey. “How did you
ever discover such a technique?” he asked.
“Technique?” she puzzled aloud. “Why, we hacked to
top of the turkey off because, otherwise, it would never fit in our
old oven!”
Sometimes we do the same old thing over and over based on nothing more
than that we have done it that way for years. I remembered this old
joke when my friend Matt Lyle of AAA
forwarded two recent studies to his e-mail list of fellow truth-seekers.
The first, commissioned by Expedia,
certainly puts a fork in the notion that visiting friends and relatives
want to spend the night with their friends and relatives. 86% of U.S.
Adults spend at least part of their holidays with relatives. But, nearly
half say the visit would be more enjoyable if they stayed overnight
in a hotel. 40% say a hotel stay would produce less stress.
And the hosts? Nearly half say having their relatives stay with them
increases their stress levels and 36% say they’d like it if their
relatives didn’t sleep over at their place.
And then, there’s the AAA’s own study on our propensity
to ask for directions when we are lost. For as long as I can remember,
the age-old saw has been that men refuse to ask for directions while
women are much more likely to ask for help than drive around in circles
for hours.
Uh-huh.
Turns out that women and men are virtually identical on this score with
men asking for assistance a (predictable) 34% of the time while 37%
of women ask for aid. AAA postulates that the myth about men may have
found its genesis in the fact that, when couples travel together, men
do the driving 78 percent of the time (thus, fail to ask for directions
more often).
Which brings us to the resolution that we hope you will join with us
in making (and keeping) in 2006: Challenge commonly held beliefs and
practices wherever you find them.
Imagine the fun you’ll have...and the marketing opportunities
you’ll open when you discover that we’re all just as lost
as the AAA study implies.
Best wishes for a fabulous holiday season...and a prosperous New Year!
Bill
Wanna comment on this or other topics. E-mail
Me!
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