Let’s say you are about to go on a job interview, or perhaps on a first date (a meeting with someone you are romantically interested in). Your hair looks great. Your clothes are nice. But you are worried about what the other person will think of you. You want to seem like you are an intelligent person, a smart person.

Is there anything you can do to make you look smart, even if you are not?

It turns out (It just so happens) that there are things you can do to look smart, but some of them are not what many people think will make them look smart.

A series of studies (scientific investigations) by a professor at Loyola Marymount University here in Los Angeles found that some of the things you think make you look smart, don’t. For example, here are some things that people think will make them look smart:

• Putting on (Having) a serious look on your face
• Holding your hands and arms very still (not moving them)
• Using big words and complex (complicated) sentences
• Moving or talking faster than others around you

In the studies, none of these things that people thought would make them look smart actually did. In fact, using big words and talking or moving more quickly actually makes people think you are less intelligent than if you used simpler language and spoke more slowly.

But there were four other things that people thought would make them look smart that actually did make them look smart:

• Looking at others while speaking
• Standing or sitting up straight (erect; vertical)
• Wearing glasses
• Using a middle initial (first letter of your middle name) when you sign your name

The first three don’t surprise me, but the last one does. Apparently, I will look smarter if I sign my name “Jeffrey L. McQuillan” than if I sign it “Jeffrey McQuillan.” Good thing I have a middle name!

There were also a few things that people didn’t name (mention; say) as ways of making one look smarter that people actually do pay attention to. These include:

• Having a self-confident expression (looking sure of or really believing what you are saying)
• Nodding (moving your head up and down when someone else is talking) and gesturing (using your hands to express yourself)
• Speaking in a pleasant (nice-sounding) voice
• Using clear (easy to hear and understand) language

Of course, looking smart and being smart are not the same thing. If you aren’t very smart, eventually (at some time in the future) the other person will probably figure it out (realize it). But for now, put on those glasses, sit up straight, and look the other person in the eye. You might just get that job – or a second date – if you do.

~Jeffrey L. McQuillan

Image Credit: Einstein by Robert Beerwerth

When I was in middle school (grades 6-8, about age 11-13; also called “junior high school”) and in high school (grades 9-12, about age 13-17), my friends and I would hang out (spend time) at the mall (shopping center with a lot of stores) on the weekends during our summer vacation. One of the things I looked forward to was the food.

We would often buy snacks and drinks from the stands selling food. Instead of a food court — an area in a mall with many fast food restaurants and shared tables for people to sit at to eat — these individual stands would be located throughout the mall, in the middle of the long walkways. A stand is simply a table, cart, or simple structure allowing customers to stand on one side and the employee to stand on the other to do business. To drink, my favorite was the Orange Julius stand, selling a very sweet orange drink that tasted as though it contained 1% orange juice and 99% sugar — delicious!

For food, my favorite was Indian fry bread. While Orange Julius is a national chain (company with many locations), the Indian fry bread stand was a local (belonging to this area or region) business. I didn’t know that when I was growing up. I assumed all Americans knew about and ate Indian fry bread, but of course I was wrong. Living in Tucson in southern Arizona, I was lucky to be introduced to this very yummy (delicious) snack because of the city’s proximity (nearness; close location) to the largest in area (land space) Indian reservations in the United States.

We’ve talked about Indian reservations in several podcast episodes (see, for example, English Cafe 139 and English Cafe 477). Indian reservations were pieces of land set aside (reserved) by the U.S. government for the purpose of forcibly (using force, against someone’s wishes) relocating (moving to a new place) Native American tribes off the land they occupied and onto less desirable (useful or wanted) land. Indian fry bread grew (developed) directly out of the establishment of reservations.

In 1864, one of the Native American tribes, the Navajo people, were forced by the government to leave their lands in Arizona and western New Mexico. The government forced the Navajo to walk 300 miles to a new area north, covering (including) parts of northeastern Arizona, southern Utah, and northwestern New Mexico. This march was called the “Long Walk.”

On the new land, the Navajo could not grow the crops (fruits and vegetables grown for food) that previously had been the main part of their diet (what they ate): vegetables and beans. This not only changed their entire way of life, it also threatened (with the possibility of something bad happening) starvation (death because of the lack of food). The government did give them some food: canned goods (food stored in cans), white flour (powder made from grain used to make breads and cakes), processed sugar, and lard (fat from the stomach of a pig).

With these ingredients, the Navajo had to make do (do the best they could with the limited things they had) or die. This is how Indian fry bread was born (created). Indian fry bread is essentially (mainly) dough made from white flour and water deep fried in lard (cooked by placing it entirely in melted lard at high heat). A popular variety (type) — and my favorite — is sprinkled (for small amounts of a substance to be scattered (placed randomly) on top) with powdered sugar (sugar that is very fine (in very small pieces) and looks like dust).

Today, Indian fry bread is considered an integral (necessary and important) part of Navajo culture, and is popular among some of the other Native American tribes in the Southwest as well. It is an important part of cultural gatherings and celebrations called powwows. However, as you can imagine, a diet with a lot of deep-fried dough in lard is not very healthy, and in fact, poor health is a very big problem on many Indian reservations, including the Navajo Nation (reservations have their own governments).

While fry bread is an important part of the culture, it is controversial (a cause for disagreement), too. For some, it is a symbol (something that represents something else) of the government’s long history of ill-treatment (doing bad things to other people) toward Native Americans, one that continues to cause health problems for the Native Americans today. For others, though, it represents resilience (ability to stay alive even in very bad conditions).

If you visit Arizona or other parts of the America Southwest and see Indian fry bread for sale, I urge you to try a piece. But for the sake of (for the benefit of) your health, share it with nine of your closest friends.

– Lucy

P.S. There is a controversy (disagreement) about which term to use for the people who lived here before the arrival of Europeans. I’m using the term “Native Americans,” but Indian fry bread probably comes from the term “American Indians,” a term used less commonly nowadays (today). If you’re interested, you can read more about that controversy here.

Photo Credit: Frybread from Wikipedia

Gary Dahl is not a household (remembered by everyone) name. But when he died last week, newspapers and TV news programs around the U.S. paid homage (did something to show respect) to him.

Dahl was responsible for what Time magazine called “One of the top 10 toy crazes (something that becomes popular suddenly but for only a short time)” of all time. Newsweek called it “one of the most ridiculously (silly or unreasonable) successful marketing schemes (clever plans) ever.”

Dahl’s scheme was born during a conversation with friends in a Northern California bar. They were complaining about their pets and all the care they required – feeding, training, cleaning. Dahl listened for a while, then told his friends that his pet never caused any trouble and required almost no care. They looked at him, and he quietly said, “I have a pet rock.”

He said it as a joke, but it soon became a business idea, and Dahl decided to sell Pet Rocks. He found a couple of friends to provide the money and began to work.

Pet Rocks were ready in time for Christmas 1975 and quickly became the gift that everyone had to have. The small smooth stones, just large enough to hold in your hand, came in a box that doubled (had another use) as a carrier. The box had holes in the sides so the rock could “breath.” And the Pet Rock sat in the box in a nest (a place where birds or other small animals live) of straw (dried stems of wheat or other plant) (see photo).

The best part of Dahl’s idea, and probably the funniest, was the 20-page manual (instruction book) that was included with each Pet Rock. It begins with this warning:

“Your new rock is a very sensitive (easily upset) pet and may be slightly traumatized (to be so upset that it affects you for a long time) from all the handling … required in bringing the two of you together. While you may look in on your new pet from time to time, it is essential (necessary) that you leave your rock in its box for a few days.”

You can read the manual here; it’s easy reading and very funny, especially if you remember that it’s talking about a rock.

More than one million people paid $3.95 each for a Pet Rock. But by February 1976 they had disappeared from the market. Interestingly, they became available again in September 2012 and, if you’d like to have your own Pet Rock, a simple Google or eBay search should help you find one.

Thank you, Gary Dahl, you made us smile, again!

~ Warren Ediger – ESL tutor/coach and creator of the Successful English web site, where you’ll find clear explanations and practical suggestions for better English.

Photo (cropped) by MegadriveFanboy used under Creative Commons license.