Here’s a headline that wasn’t on my bingo card
Scientists use food dye found in Doritos to make see-through mice
I think the writer thought this was a good thing. Apparently, you can see through mice if you rub something called “Tartrazine” on them. Not all the way through, but through their skin.
Tartrazine is “yellow No. 5, ” the dye that makes Doritos yellow. It’s one of 34 ingredients, many of which, and I was surprised by this, I actually recognize:
Corn, corn oil, canola oil and/or sunflower oil, maltodextrin, salt, tomato powder, cornstarch, lactose, whey, skim milk, corn syrup solids, onion powder, sugar, garlic powder, monosodium glutamate, milk, cheese cultures, salt, enzymes, dextrose, malic acid, buttermilk, natural flavor, artificial flavor, sodium acetate, Red No. 40, Blue No. 1, Yellow No. 5, sodium caseinate, spices, citric acid, disodium inosinate, disodium guanylate.
But can we come back to the transparent part?
How many do I have to eat before I become the invisible man? What about all those sticky crumbs on my fingers? Should I be worried?
Besides finding all this amusing, and possibly alarming, I do find a lesson.
The words we hear in our head, the words we hear coming out of our own mouths, are not likely to be the same words logged in the minds of our interlocutors (I’ve been waiting all week to use that word!).
- Plain speaking helps close the gap.
- Analogies can help, but they can also do the opposite.
- Checking in for understanding and shared meaning is a must.