Monday, May 09, 2005

Keep it down, yeah?

Over the past 30 days I've been hearing the phrase '...the best thing since sliced bread' a lot. I don't know why that annoyed me a little, so I sat there and thought about it. What really is the big deal about sliced bread? To me it is doesn't even qualify as an invention at all. Bread has been a primary diet in European history since about 1000BC, the bread slicing machine was invented by Otto Frederick Rohwedder in 1928, well, he started work on it in 1912 but factories refused to use it because they were concerned the bread would go stale. So in 1928 he had this machine that sliced AND wrapped the bread. Big whoop.

If humans were able to live for over 900 years without sliced bread, what made this any different that references as one of the 'greatest inventions mankind has created'? Beer was brewed in ancient Egypt from about the same time bread was introduced as a significant part of food preparation, but you don't see people referencing items as 'the best thing since brewed beer'.

By placing as much significance on sliced bread when one shouldn't really be doing, it demonstrates our dependance on it, and really makes mankind appear weak. Oh no! We don't have sliced bread, surely we will perish!

Now if you don't have any beer, then you have a major crisis on your hands.