Answer Man - Does The Average Eskimo Have Much of A Vocabulary

Summary

Podcast Summary: Harold's Old Time Radio

Episode: Answer Man – Does the Average Eskimo Have Much of a Vocabulary

Date: April 1, 2026
Host: The Answer Man, Mutual Broadcasting System

Overview

This episode of “Harold’s Old Time Radio” features a classic broadcast of The Answer Man, a program where listeners send in a wide array of questions on science, history, language, and trivia. The Answer Man answers these curiosities with informative, concise explanations. The core theme of this episode revolves around uncommon facts and fascinating anecdotes, providing a nostalgic return to the golden age of radio Q&A.

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Vocabulary of the Average “Eskimo” (00:50)

• Main Question: Does the average Eskimo have much of a vocabulary?
• Answer: The Answer Man responds, “Yes, he does. The average Eskimo has an active everyday vocabulary of at least 10,000 words, which is much larger than the active vocabulary of an average businessman who speaks English.”
  • Notable Insight: This challenges stereotypes about so-called “primitive” societies, highlighting linguistic richness.

2. High-Speed Photography of Sound Waves (01:11)

• Question: Can a high-speed camera take pictures of sound waves?
• Answer: “Yes. The Xyrum high speed camera can take nearly 100 million exposures per second, and that's certainly fast enough to photograph sound waves.”

3. Walking off a Heavy Meal’s Calories (01:24)

• Question: Will an 8-10 block walk offset a rich meal’s calories?
• Answer: The Answer Man says, “No. In order to walk off the extra calories from a heavy and extra rich meal, you'd have to walk at least 25 miles.”
  • Memorable Fact: The gap between perceived and actual calorie burn in daily activity.

4. Owl Vision: Seeing Near and Far (01:52)

• Question: Can an owl see close and distant objects equally clearly at the same time?
• Answer: “The owl has two fovea... These allow the bird to look at two things at once, something nearby and at the same time, something in the distance. The owl is both near sighted and far sighted at the same time.”

5. Animals That Shrink – Tadpoles & Frogs (02:21)

• Question: Are there animals that are bigger as juveniles than adults?
• Answer: “The tadpole of a South American frog ... grows to be more than 10 inches long in the tadpole stage and then it shrinks into an adult frog only two and a half inches long.”

6. Modern Meaning of “Climbing the Ladder of Success” (02:45)

• Quote from Thomas Huxley:
  “The rung of a ladder was never meant to rest upon, but only to hold a man's foot long enough to enable him to put the other somewhat higher.”

7. Tallest Chimney in the World (04:35)

• Fact: The chimney of the American Smelting and Refining Company, Selby, California, is the tallest at 605 feet, 9 inches.

8. Inventor of the First Watch (04:49)

• Answer: Peter Henlein of Nuremberg, Germany, in 1500 made a small, egg-shaped timepiece known as “living eggs.”

9. Loudest Monkey (05:16)

• Answer: “The siamang gibbon ... has a pouch in its throat... This pouch gives the siamang gibbon an excess air supply and enables it to scream with such resonance and persistence, it's quite a pest, even in the jungle.”

10. Cost of Living in Wartimes (05:41)

• Comparison:
  • Up 64% during WWII (to 1945)
  • Up 71% during the Civil War
  • Up 99% during WWI

11. “First Names” and Census Anecdotes (06:08)

• Charming Story:
  A mother, listing her children for the census, used descriptive nicknames: lap baby, floor baby, porch baby, and yard baby.

12. Do Chipmunks Eat Meat? (07:31)

• Observation: “A few months ago I saw a chipmunk tackle a garter snake five or six times its own size. The chipmunk killed the garter snake and then it ate it.”

13. Strength of Atomic Radiations (07:53)

• Explanation: Some atomic rays “aren’t strong enough to fight their way out of a paper bag” (e.g. beta rays stopped by cellophane), while others need thick lead or concrete.

14. Sons of Famous Men: Playboys or Successes? (08:15)

• Finding: “A University of Minnesota study found that sons of about two thirds of America's outstanding men have achieved success in their own right, but usually not in the field in which their fathers succeeded.”

15. “Leave No Stone Unturned” – Origin (08:28)

• Source: Ancient Greek poet Euripides, over 400 years BC.

16. The American Village Smithy (08:42)

• Reality Today: “Although there are not as many as there once were, the village smithy is still needed, especially in farming areas. Many now travel with their equipment from farm to farm.”

17. Gold Stick in Waiting (09:13)

• Explanation: Not a literal stick, but a royal officer carrying an ebony stick with a gold head, attending the king. “There’s also a silver stick in waiting ... a kind of assistant.”

18. Empire State Building: Plaster Used (11:00)

• Fact: 10,000 tons of plaster went into the building.

19. State Named After Honeybee (11:06)

• Fact: Utah, originally “Deseret”—from the Book of Mormon, meaning honeybee.

20. Why Bears Swing Their Heads (11:16)

• Explanation: “They have no collar bones... when a bear moves his forelegs, his shoulder blades swing... in turn makes his head swing from side to side.”

21. Nazi Saboteurs in the US, 1942 (11:35)

• Details: Eight saboteurs had orders to dynamite key infrastructure, spread terror, and carried $174,588 in US currency and enough explosives for two years.

22. How the US Acquired Florida (12:18)

• Summary: Purchased from Spain in 1819 for $5 million after military pressure from Andrew Jackson.

23. Goethe’s Poem on Living Fair and Square (14:23)

“Wouldst make thy life go fair and square?
Then for the past feel not a care ...
With heart admire what others do.”

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Vocabulary:
  “The average Eskimo has an active everyday vocabulary of at least 10,000 words, which is much larger than the active vocabulary of an average businessman who speaks English.”
  – Answer Man (00:55)
• On Greatness:
  “The rung of a ladder was never meant to rest upon, but only to hold a man's foot long enough to enable him to put the other somewhat higher.”
  – Thomas Huxley, quoted by Answer Man (02:45)
• On Success:
  “The sons of about two thirds of America's outstanding men have achieved success in their own right, but usually not in the field in which their fathers succeeded.”
  – Answer Man (08:15)
• On Names:
  “...she told the census taker he could list them as lap baby, floor baby, porch baby, and yard baby.”
  – Answer Man (06:23)
• On Endurance:
  “Beethoven wrote some of his greatest music while totally deaf. Milton dictated his greatest poetry while blind.”
  – Answer Man (Public Service Message, 13:18)

---

Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:50 – Vocabulary of the Average Eskimo
• 01:11 – Photographing Sound Waves
• 01:24 – Calories Burned by Walking
• 01:52 – Owl’s Dual Vision
• 02:21 – Tadpoles and Animals that Shrink
• 02:45 – Huxley’s Quote on Success
• 04:35 – Tallest Chimney in the World
• 04:49 – The First Watch Inventor
• 05:16 – Siamang Gibbon: Loudest Monkey
• 05:41 – Cost of Living, Wartime Comparison
• 06:08 – Census Tales & First Names
• 07:31 – Do Chipmunks Eat Meat?
• 07:53 – Strength of Atomic Radiation
• 08:15 – Sons of Famous Men: Stereotypes Debunked
• 08:28 – Origin of “Leave No Stone Unturned”
• 08:42 – Modern Village Blacksmiths
• 09:13 – Gold Stick in Waiting Explanation
• 11:00 – Plaster Used in Empire State Building
• 11:06 – Utah’s Honeybee Origin
• 11:16 – Why Bears Swing Their Heads
• 11:35 – Nazi Saboteur Details, 1942
• 12:18 – US Purchase of Florida
• 14:23 – Goethe’s Poem

---

Conclusion

The episode delivers a swift yet enlightening Q&A tour through obscure facts, history, science, and charming anecdotes, all delivered in the warm, brisk tone emblematic of classic radio. The Answer Man’s ability to pack so many clear, sometimes thought-provoking answers into a short time, replete with memorable stories, is a testament to the enduring charm of radio’s golden era.

Transcript

[Liberty Mutual Spokesperson]

And Doug, there's nowhere I wouldn't go to help someone customize and save on car insurance with Liberty Mutual. Even if it means sitting front row at a comedy show.

[Liberty Mutual Companion]

Hey, everyone, check out this guy and his bird. What is this, your first date?

[Liberty Mutual Spokesperson]

Oh, no. We help people customize and save on car insurance with Liberty Mutual together. We're married. Me to a human, him to a bird.

[Liberty Mutual Companion]

Yeah, the bird looks out of your league anyways.

[Liberty Mutual Spokesperson]

Only pay for what you [e-mail] Liberty.

[Liberty Mutual Companion]

Liberty. Liberty. Liberty.

[The Answer Man (Host)]

The Answer Man Would you like to know what animals grow smaller as they grow up? Or where is the tallest chimney in the world? Would you like to know the answers to many other interesting questions? The Answer man will tell you. And here he is to answer your questions.

[Advertisement Announcer]

The Answer man hello everyone.

[The Answer Man (Expert/Responder)]

And now if you'll read the first question.

[The Answer Man (Host)]

Let's begin with this one from a Cleveland, Ohio man. Does the average Eskimo have much of a vocabulary?

[The Answer Man (Expert/Responder)]

Yes, he does. The average Eskimo has an active everyday vocabulary of at least 10,000 words, which is much larger than the active vocabulary of an average businessman who speaks English.

[The Answer Man (Host)]

Next day, Vesta, Virginia listener asks, can

[Advertisement Announcer]

a high speed camera really take pictures of sound waves?

[The Answer Man (Expert/Responder)]

Yes. The Xyrum high speed camera can take nearly 100 million exposures per second, and that's certainly fast enough to photograph sound waves.

[The Answer Man (Host)]

This question comes from a Washburn, Maine woman. Would a good stiff 8 or 10 block walk get rid of the extra calories that are in eating a heavy, extra rich meal? No.

[The Answer Man (Expert/Responder)]

In order to walk off the extra calories from a heavy and extra rich meal, you'd have to walk at least 25 miles.

[The Answer Man (Host)]

And a note from a Hartford, Connecticut listener reads, is it a fact that an owl can see things close to it and far away with equal clarity at the same time?

[Advertisement Voice]

Yes.

[The Answer Man (Expert/Responder)]

Most animals eyes, including man's, have what is called a fovea, a shallow depression in the retina that enables the eye to concentrate its attention on an object. But the owl has two fovea. These allow the bird to look at two things at once, something nearby and at the same time, something in the distance. The owl is both near sighted and far sighted at the same time.

[The Answer Man (Host)]

Next, an Elma, Washington student asks, are

[Advertisement Announcer]

there any creatures on earth that are

[The Answer Man (Host)]

bigger when they're young than they are after they grow up?

[The Answer Man (Expert/Responder)]

Yes, there are. The tadpole of a South American frog is one such creature. It grows to be more than 10 inches long in the tadpole stage and then it shrinks into an adult frog only two and a half inches long.

[The Answer Man (Host)]

May A. Lister writes from Elmira, New York, to inquire, what is Thomas Huxley's modern variation on the old maxim about climbing up the ladder of success?

[The Answer Man (Expert/Responder)]

Thomas Huxley said, the rung of a ladder was never meant to rest upon, but only to hold a man's foot long enough to enable him to put the other somewhat higher.

[The Answer Man (Host)]

Before the next question, here's a special

[Advertisement Voice]

message and one with good news for all of you who take vitamins for

[The Answer Man (Expert/Responder)]

It's a way you can get the

[Advertisement Voice]

best government standard vitamins at half price or even less.

[Advertisement Announcer]

Yes, just let us send you a free Hudson catalog and then compare the prices. Now, the Average cost of 125,000 unit vitamin A capsules is $4.10, but you can get the same government standard vitamins from Hudson for only $1. That's right, you save $3.10.

[The Answer Man (Host)]

A high potency formula that generally sells

[Advertisement Announcer]

for 9.45 per hundred is only $3.50 at Hudson. That's a saving of $5.95. Yes, Hudson means it when they say you can save 50% and more at Hudson. So start saving today. Write for your free catalog of Hudson vitamins and food supplements. Just put your name and address on a postcard and send it to the answerman, Mutual Broadcasting System, New York 18.

[Advertisement Voice]

There's no obligation to buy anything. No salesman will call on you or telephone. But compare the prices and you'll see why. For 25 years, doctors, nurses and thousands of others have bought their vitamins from Hudson.

[Advertisement Announcer]

So get your free catalog. Just send your name and address to the answerman, Mutual Broadcasting System, New York 18.

[The Answer Man (Host)]

Next, the Cedar Rapids, Iowa, man asks, where are the starfish's sense organs located in its feet? And an enterprise, Ms. listener inquires, what is the tallest chimney in the world?

[The Answer Man (Expert/Responder)]

The chimney of the American smelting and Refining Company plant at Selby, California, which towers to a height of 605ft 9 inches above the ground.

[The Answer Man (Host)]

An Oak Valley, Kansas, man would like to know who made the first watch.

[The Answer Man (Expert/Responder)]

Credit for making the first watch generally goes to Peter Henlein of Nuremberg, Germany. In the year 1500, Henlein produced a small timepiece that was shaped like an egg. It was so successful that before long he was making them as fast as he could. With orders pouring in from wealthy folk everywhere, to own one of Henlein's living eggs, as they were called, became quite the fashion.

[The Answer Man (Host)]

The list of living in Camden, New Jersey, inquires, what monkey can scream the

[The Answer Man (Expert/Responder)]

loudest the siamang gibbon. The siamang has what can best be described as a pouch in its throat, which it can swell up like a toy balloon. This pouch gives the siamang gibbon an excess air supply and enables it to scream. With such resonance and persistence, it's quite a pest, even in the jungle.

[The Answer Man (Host)]

The next A woman writes from Idaho Falls, Idaho, to ask, did the cost of living go up much during the Civil War?

[The Answer Man (Expert/Responder)]

Yes, even more than during World War II. The cost of living went up 64% from the start of World War II up to 1945, but in the Civil War, it went up 71%. However, even that's not the record. During the First World War, the cost of living went up 99%.

[The Answer Man (Host)]

This question comes from a young man of Arensburg, Pennsylvania. Do all people in this country have a first name?

[The Answer Man (Expert/Responder)]

No, not all, although when the census taker comes around, he or she tries to put down some sort of first name for the census records. There's the story of a mother who hadn't taken the time to figure out names for any of her four children, but she told the census taker he could list them as lap baby, floor baby, porch baby, and yard baby. And then there's the woman census taker who found an old lady who kept repeating, ain't got no name but pansy. Finally, the census taker said, but hasn't anyone ever called you by another name? Well, the old lady replied, when my man was alive, he used to call me Ansi Pansy.

[The Answer Man (Host)]

Before the next question, a reminder to

[Advertisement Announcer]

get your free Hudson vitamin catalog today. A free catalog that shows you how you can save 50% and more on vitamins and food supplements.

[Advertisement Voice]

The quality of Hudson vitamins is standardized by US Government regulations. There are none better. Just check them with your doctor. And all Hudson products are sold with a money back guarantee.

[Advertisement Announcer]

So get your free Hudson catalog. Just put your name and address on a postcard and send it to the answerman, Mutual Broadcasting System, New York 18. Let's name an address on a postcard to the answerman, Mutual Broadcasting System, New York 18.

[The Answer Man (Host)]

Next, Enochien, Oklahoma. Listener asks, do chipmunks ever eat meat?

[Advertisement Voice]

Sometimes, yes.

[The Answer Man (Expert/Responder)]

A few months ago I saw a chipmunk tackle a garter snake five or six times its own size. The chipmunk killed the garter snake and then it ate it.

[The Answer Man (Host)]

And then Adrian, Minnesota boy, inquires, aren't some atomic radiations much stronger than others?

[The Answer Man (Expert/Responder)]

Oh, yes, they are. Or, as one atomic scientist put it, some atomic radiations aren't strong enough to fight their way out of a paper bag. Many atomic rays require several great slabs of lead or concrete to stop them. But beta rays, for example, can be stopped by a sheet of cellophane.

[The Answer Man (Host)]

Meylista, living in Reno, Nevada, asks, don't the sons of most famous men turn out to be playboys?

[The Answer Man (Expert/Responder)]

No. The University of Minnesota made a study and found that the sons of about two thirds of America's outstanding men have achieved success in their own right, but usually not in the field in which their fathers succeeded.

[The Answer Man (Host)]

This question comes from a Bisbee, Arizona, listener who was the first man to say leave no stone unturned?

[The Answer Man (Expert/Responder)]

Probably the ancient Greek poet Euripides, who used the phrase in a play he wrote more than 400 years before Christ.

[The Answer Man (Host)]

And a note from an Elliot, Maryland, man reads, hasn't the village blacksmith just about disappeared from the American scene?

[Advertisement Voice]

No.

[The Answer Man (Expert/Responder)]

Although there are not as many as there once were, the village smithy is still needed, especially in farming areas. However, many of them have taken to the road. They have trucks or converted buses in which they haul all their horseshoes, hammer anvil blower nails, and so forth. And they drive from farm to farm or from stable to stable throughout the farm areas of the United States, shoeing horses as they go.

[The Answer Man (Host)]

A Tyrone, Colorado, woman asks, what kind of stick is the gold stick in waiting that's used by British royalty?

[The Answer Man (Expert/Responder)]

The gold stick in waiting is not a stick. It's a man. He's an officer of the British royal household who waits in close attendance upon the king. He gets his name from his emblem of office, an ebony stick with a gold head engraved with a sovereign's cipher and crown. There's also a silver stick in waiting who's a kind of assistant officer that stands near the gold stick in waiting A waiting to relieve him before the

[The Answer Man (Host)]

next question, a special message. You know security is a wonderful thing

[Advertisement Announcer]

to have peace of mind and personal contentment, a feeling of knowing that you and your family can keep on enjoying the way of life we know today and can look forward to an even brighter tomorrow. And there's a sure way you can have that security and peace of mind of the years ahead by saving regularly through United States Savings Bonds. When you buy bonds regularly, you're making a date for a brighter tomorrow by putting your savings to work for your family's future. Series E savings bonds pay interest at the rate of three and a quarter percent, compounded semiannually when held at maturity. That means in less than nine years you'll be getting back $4 for every three that you invest and what's more, that money's working for you and your family in another way, too. It's helping to ensure our nation's peace power. So start planning for a bright and a better tomorrow, a more secure future. Start investing in United States Savings bonds.

[The Answer Man (Host)]

This message is brought to you as a public service. Next, a Twin Bridges, California, listener inquires how much plaster was used in making the Empire State Building in New York City.

[The Answer Man (Expert/Responder)]

10,000 tons.

[The Answer Man (Host)]

And a Hillsdale, Illinois, woman asks what state was named for the honeybee, the

[The Answer Man (Expert/Responder)]

state of Utah, which was originally called Deseret by the Mormons. The name Deseret comes from the Book of Mormon, and there it means honeybee.

[The Answer Man (Host)]

Here's a Raymond City, West Virginia, listener who writes, why do bears swing their heads from side to side when they walk?

[The Answer Man (Expert/Responder)]

Because they have no collar bones to keep their shoulders apart. So when a bear moves his forelegs, his shoulder blades swing back and forth, and this in turn makes his head swing from side to side.

[The Answer Man (Host)]

Next, a man writes from Preston, Missouri. Has that ever been released to the general public? What those eight Nazi saboteurs who got into America back in 1942 were supposed to sabotage?

[The Answer Man (Expert/Responder)]

Yes, when they were smuggled ashore in the month of June 1942, the eight Nazi saboteurs, and had with them $174,588 in American currency, enough explosives to last them for about two years, and orders to dynamite the Hell Gate Bridge in New York, destroy critically needed aluminum plants, place time bombs in lockers of railroad stations, start fires in large department stores, spread terror in general, and make it appear as though a whole army of saboteurs were at work.

[The Answer Man (Host)]

Next day, Midland, Indiana, man asks, did the United States get Florida from Spain by purchase or by force?

[The Answer Man (Expert/Responder)]

We purchased Florida from Spain in the year 1819 with a certain amount of force in the bargain. Spain had swapped Florida for Cuba in exchange with England in 1763, then got it back 20 years later in a swap for the Bahama Islands. But at that time, Florida was the refuge of runaway slaves, dangerous adventurers and robbers, and so was a considerable menace to our southern border. Several disputes had broken out, a few minor battles taken place, when finally, in 1819, Andrew Jackson moved his army into Spanish territory and thus persuaded Spain to come to terms and sell us Florida for $5 million.

[The Answer Man (Host)]

Before the next question, a special message.

[Advertisement Announcer]

You know, the human body is an amazing machine. A man can live on only half a lung. A man can get along without a stomach.

[The Answer Man (Host)]

Most people coast through life at far

[Advertisement Announcer]

less than top Speed. Only in emergencies do we able bodied draw on our full reserve power. But handicapped persons do it all the time. Beethoven wrote some of his greatest music while totally deaf. Milton dictated his greatest poetry while blind. Other examples are closer to home. And each day, in an almost endless variety of jobs, thousands of physically handicapped workers are proving they are more than the equal of their fellow employees in safety and in production.

[The Answer Man (Host)]

No guesswork about this.

[Advertisement Announcer]

Nationwide surveys report better production records better safety among handicapped workers. So, employers, now's the time for a fresh look at your hiring policies. Hire the handicapped. It's good business for you and for America, too.

[The Answer Man (Host)]

This message is brought to you as a public service. Next, a note from a Scranton, Pennsylvania listener reads, do you know a poem that starts, wouldst make thy life go fair and square? I think it's by the famous German poet philosopher Goethe.

[The Answer Man (Expert/Responder)]

Yes, it is. And the verse reads as follows. Wouldst make thy life go fair and square? Then for the past feel not a care whate' er thy loss Thou must not mourn but ever act as if new born above all hate no human being the future leave to the all Seeing what each day asks. Make these thy tasks with pride thine own performance view with heart admire what others do.

[The Answer Man (Host)]

In his next program, the answer man will answer such questions as which signer of the Declaration of Independence went to jail? This is Mutual, the world's largest network.

[Liberty Mutual Spokesperson]

And, Doug, there's nowhere I wouldn't go to help someone customize and save on car insurance with Liberty Mutual, even if it means sitting front row at a comedy show.

[Liberty Mutual Companion]

Hey, everyone, check out this guy and his bird. What is this, your first date?

[Liberty Mutual Spokesperson]

Oh, no. We help people customize and on car insurance with Liberty Mutual together. We're married. Me to a human, him to a bird.

[Liberty Mutual Companion]

Yeah, the bird looks out of your league.

[Liberty Mutual Spokesperson]

Anyways, only pay for what you [e-mail] Liberty.

[Liberty Mutual Companion]

Liberty. Liberty. Liberty.

[Mackenzie (GoFundMe Organizer)]

My name is Mackenzie, and I started a GoFundMe for the adoptive mother of a nonverbal autistic child. The mother had lost her job because she wasn't able to find adequate care for this autistic child.

[The Answer Man (Expert/Responder)]

Child.

[Mackenzie (GoFundMe Organizer)]

So she really needed some help with living expenses, paying some back bills. So I launched a GoFundMe to help support them during this crisis. And we raised about $10,000 within just a couple of months. I think that the surprising thing was by telling a clear story and just like really being very clear about what we need needed, we had some really generous donations from people who were really moved by the situation that this family was struggling with.

[GoFundMe Announcer]

GoFundMe is the world's number one fundraising platform, trusted by over 200 million people. Start your GoFundMe today at gofundme.com that's gofundme.com gofundme.com this podcast is supported by GoFundMe.