Yahoo! Answers

**Secret Revealed**

If you’ve ever flown first class or eaten at a fine restaurant, you’ve probably been handed a wet towel. The first time this happens, you’ll probably be confused and look to others for guidance.
Generally, the towel is used to clean your hands. This tradition comes from Japan, where “oshibori” (wet towels) are handed out before meals. In Japanese restaurants, they may be hot or cold, depending on the season. Some people may also use the towels to clean their face.

This tradition has been expanded outside of Japanese restaurants where the practice varies greatly. In Western restaurants, wet towels may be served before and/or after the meal — to clean your fingers and around your mouth. According to Etiquette Scholar, it is not polite to clean beyond these areas, such as your neck or behind your ears, in a restaurant.

Many airlines offer wet towels, particularly in first class. They are sometimes offered immediately after takeoff, which is standard in first class on British Airways, among others. These towels are usually hot, but may be cold if you’ve just boarded from a particularly hot environment or if the cabin air conditioning is out-of-order. At this time, they are useful to clean your hands before eating or to clean the travel sweat off your skin (forehead, back of your neck, etc.). On longer flights, wet towels may also be served after a meal or just prior to landing.

Wet towels are traditionally made from cotton and moistened with water. Lemon juice is sometimes added to the water for its fragrance and degreasing properties. In recent years, pre-moistened disposable towels have gained popularity and are often wrapped in a plastic package. These towels come unscented and in a variety of fragrances. They sometimes contain other cleaning solutions such as alcohol.
If you’re ever given a wet towel, you can tell everyone what it’s for and where this tradition came from.

Chad Upton is the editor-in-chief of Broken Secrets and an official Yahoo Answers contributor.

Sources: FlyerTalk.com , PlanetTokyo , Wikipedia, Airline Towels , Etiquette Scholar

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Hey Guys,

The other day I was watching a LA Lakers game on TV when something struck me. Why in the world are they called the Lakers when there is barely so much as a puddle in Los Angeles?

The answer, as many of you know, is that the team wasn’t always from Southern California. Originally, they hailed from Minnesota, self-described land of 10,000 lakes. The team kept its old nickname rather than change it. But, the Lakers aren’t the only team to have a nickname that makes no sense.

Consider the Utah Jazz. Salt Lake City is a great place, full of beauty and wonderful people, but, near as I can tell, it’s not particularly known for its thriving jazz scene. So, what’s the deal here? Like the Lakers, the Jazz moved to Utah from somewhere else — namely, New Orleans, where jazz is an art, religion, business, you get the idea.

And there are more. The Grizzlies, another NBA team, used to be in rugged Vancouver, Canada. Now they play in Memphis, where Elvis sightings are far more common than fearsome bears. And what about the Colts of the NFL? Is Indianapolis really a horse racing town? Nope, but Baltimore is. The Colts used to play in Baltimore (home of the famous Preakness Stakes) before moving to the Hoosier State.

One of the most popular teams in baseball, the Los Angeles Dodgers, has a similar story. Originally, the Dodgers hailed from Brooklyn, New York. According to the official site for club, the team’s nickname was originally “Trolley Dodger,” “due to the complex maze of trolley cars that weaved its way through the borough of Brooklyn.” The name stuck even when the team moved to California.

Some team nicknames match perfectly with the their cities. The San Francisco 49ers come to mind. Ditto with the New York Yankees, Dallas Cowboys, Phoenix Suns, and Pittsburgh Steelers. Got any other thoughts on team nicknames that either make perfect sense or no sense at all? Leave a comment below.

Thanks for reading,

Mike

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Earlier this week we asked you to share an original poetry piece with us in honor of World Poetry Day and the first day of spring. Thanks to everyone who participated. Who knew we had several poets in our Answer community!

As promised, we wanted to award the author of the winning poem 100 points and the 3 runner-ups 50 points! See below the winners:

WINNER

By: ωåℓℓƒℓøωεя - 100 points!

The World I Created

The moon sits silent in the soft cotton sky
And it’s light swims through the air like a fog through the rye
And the trees breaths the wind with a long soft sigh

With new leaves, and new limbs
And new nests where old have been

And the sun tilts it’s face over the horizon
And melts in the snow to the ground old field had died in

And gray feathers flutter
And white rabbits stir
Rain drips through the gutters
Until winter were

RUNNER-UPS (no particular order)

By: SFECU12 - 50 points!

Summer’s heat is coming
Winter’s chilly blast gone
Fall is far distant
But Spring is here.

Rain may come
One day warm
The next chilly
But Spring is here.

Children get antsy in school
Gardeners bring out their tools
Animals shake off sleep
But Spring is here.

Birds sing merrily
Flowers bloom in beauty
New life emerges
Oh! Spring is here!

By: Skye (no day but today <3) - 50 points!

That first bird sings
Out to the sun
To welcome spring
For everyone

A snowdrift thaws
Into a stream
And should it pause
Is but a dream

My heart does follow
Broken free
From ice, now hollow
A churning sea

The rain cascades;
A drenching rain
On Winter’s parade
On the grassy plain

I run outside
And sparrows flee
Dance and glide
Like flowers, I am free

By: Hoots of Wisdom - 50 points!

I lay on the ground with a daisy in hand,
I hold it up high,
watch it’s petals sway in the wind.

It’s beauty lay in my palm
I whisper a wish
as i drift to sleep on my arm
and long for Springs kiss.

I wake upon the ground with no daisy in hand
What I once held high,
is gone in the wind.

With nothing left in my palm,
I whisper to the air.
I then drift into the calm
because the daisy will always be there

Forever in these hands.

Thanks for reading,

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On Saturday, March 26, 2011, at 8:30p.m., major cities and countries are encouraged to turn off their lights for one whole hour. Do you plan to participate in Earth Hour 2011?

Earth Hour started in 2007 in Sydney, Australia, in order to take a stand against climate change. Earth Hour 2010 became the biggest Earth Hour ever with 128 countries participating and landmarks across the country stood in darkness.

This year, WWF is encouraging everyone to go beyond the hour. Whether it’s turning off the AC and opening the windows or cutting back on water and taking shorter showers, one single action from you can help lead to a more sustainable Earth, even when the lights come back on!

If you do plan on participating, help spread the word through Facebook, Twitter or even YouTube. So start here and tell us what you plan to do for Earth Hour 2011.

“On Earth Hour 2011, I plan on….”

Thanks for reading,

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Do you love and appreciate poetry? Have you ever tried putting some rhymes together? There could be no better time to start practicing!

In 1999, UNESCO declared March 21st as World Poetry Day to support linguistic diversity and promote the reading, writing, publishing and teaching of poetry to help preserve this historic art in the digital era.

Every day many people submit their works in the Poetry category on Yahoo! Answers and ask the community for feedback and advice. You don’t need to be a pro to express yourself!

To celebrate both the event and the poets within the community we invite you to use your inspiration and compose a short piece of poetry on the theme “Spring”, which also starts today.

Please share your best original works by answering this question:

Why don’t you share with us your own original piece of poetry?

The author of the best answer will be awarded 100 Answers points and the 3 runner ups will receive 50 bonus points each. We will then include the best contributions in a post on our Answers blog and on our Facebook page.

Good luck!

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