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Sketchplanations makes complex ideas simple with clear, insightful sketches. Explore topics from science, creativity, psychology, and beyond explained in pictures.

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POSH: Port Out Starboard Home (apocryphal)

Sadly it turns out that there is not reliable evidence for this derivation of the word POSH, but it’s so nice I’d finished the sketchplanation before I knew it. The story went that if you were travelling by boat from Western Europe to India and the Far East by boat back in the day the rich people naturally took the best cabins. And the best cabins on the way Out, were on the Port side so you got a great view of the coast all the way around Africa. And on the way back on the Starboard site to enjoy the view once more. Et voila POSH as a synonym for rich. After much digging I had to conclude that the story was apocryphal, but it’s nice nonetheless. I apologise for maintaining this rumour.…Sadly it turns out that there is not reliable evidence for this derivation of the word POSH, but it’s so nice I’d finished the sketchplanation before I knew it. The story went that if you were travelling by boat from Western Europe to India and the Far East by boat back in the day the rich people naturally took the best cabins. And the best cabins on the way Out, were on the Port side so you got a great view of the coast all the way around Africa. And on the way back on the Starboard site to enjoy the view once more. Et voila POSH as a synonym for rich. After much digging I had to conclude that the story was apocryphal, but it’s nice nonetheless. I apologise for maintaining this rumour.

16 Apr 2015

Scoville scale: chile heat via capsaicin content

The scale of spicy.…

9 Apr 2015

Heteronym illustration with the examples: present, windy, read, and close

Heteronym: spell it the same, say it differently

For a long time, I’ve kept my ear (and eye) out for heteronyms: words that are written the same but said differently. Homonyms are easy to spot - things like chip (food, processor), or bark (dog, tree) - but heteronyms are sneaky and you don’t notice them as easily. Fiddly things like windy, present, read, or close. It always strikes me they must make English a pain to learn - “what do you mean read can be said as red or reed??! How’m I supposed to know that??” A few other common ones (try to spot both pronunciations, it’s a little like the old out-cube/in-cube Necker illusion): bow, does, dove, import, lead, project, refuse, sow, tear, minute… Also known as a homograph (homo - same, graph - writing) Also see: aptronym, contranym Hat tip to Richard Stevens for his nifty vintage-style heteronym list…For a long time, I’ve kept my ear (and eye) out for heteronyms: words that are written the same but said differently. Homonyms are easy to spot - things like chip (food, processor), or bark (dog, tree) - but heteronyms are sneaky and you don’t notice them as easily. Fiddly things like windy, present, read, or close. It always strikes me they must make English a pain to learn - “what do you mean read can be said as red or reed??! How’m I supposed to know that??” A few other common ones (try to spot both pronunciations, it’s a little like the old out-cube/in-cube Necker illusion): bow, does, dove, import, lead, project, refuse, sow, tear, minute… Also known as a homograph (homo - same, graph - writing) Also see: aptronym, contranym Hat tip to Richard Stevens for his nifty vintage-style heteronym list

2 Apr 2015

Sleepy foods

Turns out a bunch of substances have the power to make you sleepy - tryptophan, vitamin B6, calcium, glycine, lactucarium and carbohydrates are some of the major ones. Some even interact with each other for maximum sleepiness. A few common foods with these compounds in good measure include: turkey, walnuts - tryptophan tuna, pistachios - vitamin B6 dairy - calcium chamomile - glycine lettuce - lactucarium So an evening turkey or tuna, walnut, cheese and lettuce sandwich with a glass of milk and a side of pistachios or walnuts and you’ll be set for a good night.…Turns out a bunch of substances have the power to make you sleepy - tryptophan, vitamin B6, calcium, glycine, lactucarium and carbohydrates are some of the major ones. Some even interact with each other for maximum sleepiness. A few common foods with these compounds in good measure include: turkey, walnuts - tryptophan tuna, pistachios - vitamin B6 dairy - calcium chamomile - glycine lettuce - lactucarium So an evening turkey or tuna, walnut, cheese and lettuce sandwich with a glass of milk and a side of pistachios or walnuts and you’ll be set for a good night.

26 Mar 2015

Vultures have bald heads to…

…regulate temperature and (maybe) to keep feathers clean while eating. Keeping the feathers clean was my inspiration for this sketchplanation - there’s something about the cold practicality of not messing up your feathers while you’re tucking into some carrion. However, it looks like it is more likely to be for the more prosaic reason of regulating temperature and keeping cool. As Dominic McCafferty, at the University of Glasgow points out: ‘…other groups of scavengers, particularly giant petrels, have feathered heads. Large mammalian scavengers also don’t have bald heads, so why vultures?’ Should you be interested, read more at the University of Glasgow’s Why do vultures have bald heads?……regulate temperature and (maybe) to keep feathers clean while eating. Keeping the feathers clean was my inspiration for this sketchplanation - there’s something about the cold practicality of not messing up your feathers while you’re tucking into some carrion. However, it looks like it is more likely to be for the more prosaic reason of regulating temperature and keeping cool. As Dominic McCafferty, at the University of Glasgow points out: ‘…other groups of scavengers, particularly giant petrels, have feathered heads. Large mammalian scavengers also don’t have bald heads, so why vultures?’ Should you be interested, read more at the University of Glasgow’s Why do vultures have bald heads?

19 Mar 2015

UK vs US date writing

It was only relatively recently that I realised that the transposition of day and month that each does, also translates to the written out form. So in the US it’s common to say April 1st, whereas in the UK most would say 1st of April. The most convenient way for most dates on a computer is yyyy-mm-dd however, so they always sort easily. You may have realised this when adding dates to filenames. Though a lot of software uses UNIX time which is, as you would expect, is “defined as the number of seconds that have elapsed since 00:00:00 Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), Thursday, 1 January 1970, not counting leap seconds." So midday on the 12th March this year (or March 12th) at midday is of course 1426161600.…It was only relatively recently that I realised that the transposition of day and month that each does, also translates to the written out form. So in the US it’s common to say April 1st, whereas in the UK most would say 1st of April. The most convenient way for most dates on a computer is yyyy-mm-dd however, so they always sort easily. You may have realised this when adding dates to filenames. Though a lot of software uses UNIX time which is, as you would expect, is “defined as the number of seconds that have elapsed since 00:00:00 Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), Thursday, 1 January 1970, not counting leap seconds." So midday on the 12th March this year (or March 12th) at midday is of course 1426161600.

12 Mar 2015

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