On Jeopardy tonight, there was a question about a sealer with the same
name as a tree. The contestant answered shellac. Alex said the answer
was lacquer. Both were wrong, but shellac was closer to being correct.

There's no such thing as a "lac" tree, only a "lac" bug. For a list of
the host trees, see:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lac#Host_trees

And lacquer refers to nitrocellulose and acrylic mixtures having no
relationship to the lac bug. It is true that in ancient times the red
pigment derived from the lac bug was known as lacquer, but that was back
when what we now know as shellac was a waste product :-).

Why am I posting this here? Because Jeopardy wants me to write them via
snail mail and I'm too darned lazy. Maybe someone here knows someone on
the show and can berate them about the error :-).

--
When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and
carrying a cross.





--
When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and
carrying a cross.

Larry Blanchard wrote in :

On Jeopardy tonight, there was a question about a sealer with the same
name as a tree. The contestant answered shellac. Alex said the answer
was lacquer.

And he is correct.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxicodendron_vernicifluum aka "Chinese Lacquer Tree".

Doug Miller wrote:
Larry Blanchard wrote in :

On Jeopardy tonight, there was a question about a sealer with the same
name as a tree. The contestant answered shellac. Alex said the answer
was lacquer.

And he is correct.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxicodendron_vernicifluum aka "Chinese Lacquer Tree".

And shellac comes from a bug, not a tree.

On Thu, 18 Jul 2013 07:11:20 -0500, Leon wrote:

And shellac comes from a bug, not a tree.

That's what I said, Leon:

"There's no such thing as a "lac" tree, only a "lac" bug."

--
When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and
carrying a cross.

On Thu, 18 Jul 2013 03:10:34 +0000, Doug Miller wrote:

And he is correct.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxicodendron_vernicifluum aka "Chinese
Lacquer Tree".

Interesting. I was thinking of the obsolete use of "lacquer" to mean
shellac, or at least the red pigment derived from it.

But the jeopardy reference pertained to the floating puppets of Vietnam.
Your reference talks about a substance used in "China, Korea and Japan"
while mine referenced India. Neither mentioned Vietnam.

But since Vietnam is a lot closer to China, I suspect your reference is
the applicable one. I stand corrected.

--
When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and
carrying a cross.

Larry Blanchard wrote in
:

On Thu, 18 Jul 2013 03:10:34 +0000, Doug Miller wrote:

And he is correct.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxicodendron_vernicifluum
aka "Chinese Lacquer Tree".

...............
But since Vietnam is a lot closer to China, I suspect your
reference is the applicable one. I stand corrected.


So, how is Vietnam closer to China that India? Sleep through
Grography class? Check a map.
India has a huge border with western China. Vietnam has a
relatively small border with southeastern China.

Ken