Curious About Umbrellas

PODCAST 124: CURIOUS ABOUT UMBRELLAS
RELEASE DATE:  FEBRUARY 14TH, 2021

D:  HELLO, AND WELCOME BACK TO THE CURIOUS KID PODCAST.  FOR THIS WEEK’S LISTENER SUGGESTION, WE ARE HEADING UP NORTH AND READING AN E-MAIL WE RECEIVED FROM A LISTENER IN CANADA.

O:  MAILBAG!

D:  MAILBAG!

“HELLO CURIOUS KID PODCAST FROM OTTAWA, ONTARIO, CANADA.  MY DAUGHTER SADIE AND I HAVE RECENTLY DISCOVERED YOUR PODCAST AND HAVE BEEN LISTENING TO PAST EPISODES.  WE LOVE IT!  SADIE HAS A SUGGESTION FOR A FUTURE EPISODE.  SHE WOULD LIKE TO GET CURIOUS ABOUT UMBRELLAS.  WHO INVENTED THEM?  HOW DID PEOPLE KEEP DRY BEFORE UMBRELLAS?  ARE THERE OTHER WAYS TO USE UMBRELLAS?  THANKS SO MUCH AND KEEP UP THE GREAT WORK.”

O:  THANKS FOR THE E-MAIL SADIE.  WE ARE SO HAPPY YOU FOUND THE PODCAST, AND WE CAN’T WAIT TO GET CURIOUS ABOUT UMBRELLAS FOR YOU.

D:  AND WE ARE GOING TO ANSWER ALL YOUR QUESTIONS ABOUT UMBRELLAS.  ON TOP OF THAT, WE ARE GOING TO ANSWER THE QUESTION OF THE WEEK, WHICH IS…

O:  THE QUESTION OF THE WEEK IS WHAT COUNTRY HAS THE WETTEST PLACE IN THE WORLD?

D:  I’LL GIVE YOU A CLUE.  THE WETTEST PLACE ON EARTH IS A VILLAGE CALLED MAWSYNRAM (MAW-SIN-RUM).  I’M ABOUT TO GIVE YOU A NUMBER YOU WON’T BELIEVE.  THE VILLAGE OF MAWSYNRAM GETS ABOUT 467 INCHES OF RAIN YEARLY.  THAT’S 39 FEET OF RAIN.  CAN YOU GUESS WHAT COUNTRY MAWSYNRAM IS LOCATED IN?  

O:  THE REASON WE ARE TALKING ABOUT RAINFALL IS BECAUSE UMBRELLAS ARE USED TO PROTECT PEOPLE FROM THE RAIN.  

D:  UMBRELLAS WERE INVENTED IN CHINA THOUSANDS OF YEARS AGO.  WE KNOW THIS BECAUSE EXCAVATIONS HAVE DISCOVERED ANCIENT UMBRELLAS, NOT VERY DIFFERENT FROM THE ONES WE USE TODAY.  THEY HAD A DOME MADE OF FABRIC THAT WAS ABLE TO COLLAPSE, MAKING IT EASIER TO TRANSPORT.    

O:  THE WORD UMBRELLA COMES FROM LATIN.  IN LATIN, UMBROS MEANS SHADE.

D:  THAT’S INTERESTING BECAUSE UMBRELLAS ARE TYPICALLY USED TO KEEP DRY, NOT TO KEEP OUT OF THE SUN.  THERE IS SOMETHING SIMILAR TO AN UMBRELLA CALLED A PARASOL THAT IS OFTEN USED FOR SHADE.  UMBRELLAS ARE DESIGNED TO PROTECT YOU FROM RAIN, WHILE PARASOLS ARE DESIGNED TO PROTECT YOU FROM THE SUN.  

O:  THE WORD PARASOL COMES FROM ITALIAN.  PARA MEANS PROTECT AGAINST AND SOLE MEANS SUN. 

D:  SO, IT PROTECTS AGAINST THE SUN.  THAT TOTALLY MAKES SENSE.  

O:  UMBRELLAS ARE USUALLY HEAVIER, BECAUSE THEY HAVE SOMETHING CALLED TEFLON THAT MAKES THEM WATERPROOF.

D:  THE CANOPY, OR THE PART OF THE UMBRELLA THAT PROVIDES A SHIELD FROM THE RAIN, IS MADE OF TEFLON IN MANY MODERN DAY UMBRELLAS. 

O:  UNTIL THE 1700’S, UMBRELLAS WERE CONSIDERED TO BE AN ACCESSORY FOR WOMEN ONLY.

D:  THAT WAS UNTIL ONE BRAVE MAN FROM ENGLAND DECIDED TO START USING AN UMBRELLA AND OTHER MEN FOLLOWED HIS LEAD.  LET US TELL YOU THE STORY OF JONAS HANWAY.

O:  JONAS HANWAY LIVED IN ENGLAND IN THE MID 1700’S.

D:  AT THIS TIME, MEN WERE SEEN AS WEAK FOR USING AN UMBRELLA.  IT WAS NEARLY IMPOSSIBLE TO SEE A MAN USING AN UMBRELLA, EVEN IN HEAVY RAIN.  PEOPLE REALLY THOUGHT THAT MEN SHOULD BE TOUGH ENOUGH TO BE ABLE TO HANDLE SOME WATER FALLING FROM THE SKY.  

O:  IT’S HARD TO BELIEVE PEOPLE HAD SUCH SILLY THOUGHTS.

D:  I AGREE.  PEOPLE WOULD ACTUALLY SAY MEAN THINGS TO JONAS HANWAY AS HE WALKED THE STREETS OF ENGLAND WITH HIS UMBRELLA.  THE PEOPLE THAT GAVE HIM THE BIGGEST PROBLEM WERE COACH DRIVERS.

O:  A COACH WAS A HORSE-DRAWN CARRIAGE WITH 2 WHEELS THAT HELPED GET PEOPLE AROUND TOWN.  

D:  SO, WHY DID THE COACH DRIVERS DISLIKE JONAS HANWAY SO MUCH?  WELL, THE COACHES HAD CANOPIES ON TOP THAT HELPED KEEP THE RIDERS DRY WHEN IT RAINED.  AS A RESULT, ON REALLY RAINY DAYS, PEOPLE LOVED RIDING IN COACHES TO ESCAPE THE RAIN.  THE COACH DRIVERS MADE LOTS OF MONEY ON RAINY DAYS.  

O:  SO, COACH DRIVERS WERE WORRIED THAT IF MEN STARTED USING UMBRELLAS, IT WOULD HURT THEIR BUSINESS.

D:  IT GOT SO BAD WITH THE COACH DRIVERS THAT THEY WOULD SOMETIMES THROW GARBAGE AT JONAS HANWAY.  THEY OCCASIONALLY EVEN TRIED TO HURT JONAS.  AS A RESULT, HE USED HIS UMBRELLA TO SUCCESSFULLY BEAT THEM AWAY.  

O:  WITH JONAS LEADING THE WAY, MORE AND MORE MEN IN ENGLAND STARTED USING UMBRELLAS. 

D:  AND AFTER ENGLAND, UMBRELLA USE AMONG MEN SPREAD THROUGHOUT EUROPE AND THE REST OF THE WORLD… THANKS TO A COURAGEOUS MAN WHO PAVED THE PATH ABOUT 270 YEARS AGO.  

O:  UMBRELLAS ARE VERY POPULAR TODAY.  WEDNESDAY WAS NATIONAL UMBRELLA DAY.

D:  THAT’S RIGHT.  FEBRUARY 10TH IS OFFICIALLY NATIONAL UMBRELLA DAY, A HOLIDAY RECOGNIZED AROUND THE WORLD.  IN THE UNITED STATES, 33 MILLION UMBRELLAS ARE SOLD EVERY YEAR.  MOST OF THE MODERN DAY UMBRELLAS ARE MADE IN CHINA.  THERE IS ONE CITY IN CHINA, SHANGYU, THAT HAS OVER ONE THOUSAND UMBRELLA FACTORIES.  UMBRELLAS ARE MORE THAN JUST A SHIELD FROM THE RAIN THESE DAYS; THEY’VE BECOME A POPULAR FASHION ACCESSORY.  OKAY OLIVIA, LET’S ANSWER THE QUESTION OF THE WEEK.  THE WETTEST PLACE ON EARTH IS A VILLAGE CALLED MAWSYNRAM (MAW-SIN-RUM).  WHERE IS MAWSYNRAM LOCATED?

O:  MAWSYNRAM IS IN THE COUNTRY OF INDIA.  

D:  IN MAWSYNRAM, YOU WILL VERY RARELY FIND A RESIDENT LEAVE THEIR HOUSE WITHOUT AN UMBRELLA IN HAND.  THAT’S BECAUSE MAWSYNRAM GETS ABOUT 467 INCHES OF RAIN EACH YEAR.  NOT ONLY THAT, BUT ALMOST ALL OF THAT RAIN COMES BETWEEN THE MONTHS OF APRIL AND OCTOBER, KNOWN AS THE MONSOON SEASON.  IN EACH OF THOSE MONTHS, THEY AVERAGE OVER A FOOT OF RAIN.  IN JUNE, JULY, AND AUGUST, THEY AVERAGE OVER 5 FEET OF RAIN PER MONTH.  WHY IS MAWSYNRAM SO WET?  JUST SOUTH OF THE VILLAGE IS THE BAY OF BENGAL, AND DURING THE MONSOON SEASON, MOIST WINDS TRAVEL NORTH FROM THE BAY OF BENGAL TO KHASI HILLS.  WHEN THE MOIST WINDS END UP AT KHASI HILLS, THEY ARE PUSHED UPWARD, CAUSING CLOUDS THAT MAKE RAIN… LOTS OF RAIN, THAT FALLS ON THE OTHER SIDE OF KHASI HILLS, WHERE MAWSYNRAM IS LOCATED.  WELL, THAT’S A WRAP FOR THIS WEEK’S EPISODE.

O:  124 - UMBRELLAS.

D:  GREAT JOB OLIVIA, AND GREAT JOB SADIE FOR YOUR AWESOME TOPIC SUGGESTION THAT WILL HELP KEEP ALL OF US DRY AND COMFY.  NEXT WEEK, WE ARE GOING TO GET CURIOUS FOR ANOTHER LISTENER IN CANADA WHEN WE LEARN ABOUT MAPS.  AS ALWAYS, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR LISTENING AND GETTING CURIOUS WITH US.