There's an old adage that a lie can ricochet around the world while the truth is still putting its shoes on. Attributed to people from Mark Twain to Winston Churchill to Thomas Jefferson (and definitively traced to none of them), it was said in a time long before the internet made it not just figuratively but literally possible for misinformation to circle the globe in a flash. We've seen it in politics, but it is no less true in every field, from health to sports to the arts. Sometimes the subject is consequential, the stuff that moves elections. Other times not so much: for the record, Jennifer Aniston is NOT dating Barack Obama, no matter what it says on the cover of InTouch Magazine.
We have all learned that just because it appears in print or is posted online doesn't mean it's necessarily true. The problem is exacerbated, owing to the reality that we choose to live in our own little information silos, and don't always seek out alternative sources which might contradict the selected "facts." Still, if you come across some data point, and multiple unrelated, disparate, independent outlets have the same info, you could be forgiven for taking it as gospel.
Well, forgive me, because that's what I did, and it appears it was hardly scripture.
A couple of columns back I riffed on the various ways that the New Year is celebrated around the world. They include that in Spain they eat 12 grapes, while in Brazil they wear white underwear for luck. I also mentioned unique traditions in Columbia (carrying empty suitcases), Italy (smashing china) and Italy (breaking furniture). And then I noted this one from Switzerland: "There the tradition is to drop ice cream on the ground at midnight in the hopes of abundance, good luck, and wealth in the new year."
While I fully admit that my research was not exhaustive, it was also not perfunctory. As I do when working on these efforts, I punch around gathering various points of view and tidbits of information from a variety of sources. I make it a point to go a few pages deep in the search results, trying to ferret out different points of view and unique takes on a topic. I throw them all in the hopper, marinate and stir, and what comes out is what you read. And my assembling of hopefully interesting and amusing facts in this case was no different.
But for Greg it didn't ring true. A long-time associate, friend and reader, he shot me back a note: "We have been friends with three Swiss families for almost 35 years. I am Godfather to one of their children. We have been there for numerous Swiss holidays and festivals. We have spent more time in Switzerland than any country other than the US. And we have NEVER heard of the Swiss tradition of dropping ice cream for New Years." He also noted it didn't square with national character: "I can't even believe the Swiss would be that wasteful. I mean, this is a country that is so frugal they created a soft drink to use the whey leftover after cheese making."
Needless to say, I immediately went hunting to either vociferously defend myself, or (less preferably) vociferously apologize. At first blush, there were numerous cites of my original contention, from large outlets like Yahoo to small ones like SmarterTraver.com. It was in ParkAveMagazine.com, the Times of India online, even the Ben & Jerry's website. Ben and Jerry's! How much more authoritative could you get when talking ice cream?
But it seems they were all licking up the wrong cone.
After digging deeper, all seem to trace this statement of fact to a 2022 Netflix game show called "Bullsh*t." In the program, players move up the award ladder either by answering questions correctly, or by confidently giving incorrect answers, and then persuading others that they are right. One question was about Swiss New Year's traditions. The answers available were eat dinner in the bathtub, ski in a swimsuit, go to bed with cheese, and – here's the culprit – drop ice cream on the ground. The host said the right answer involved ice cream, but the contestant on the show actually guessed sleep with a piece of cheese. As a side note, she made it through to the next round because she bullsh*tted her way into making the others believe she was correct.
No one has been able to determine where that "fact" came from, but the damage was done. While the rest of the world giggled, not so the Swiss themselves. On a Reddit message board the comments flowed fast and furious, and none of the natives were amused. It seems it was the show itself that was the one spreading bullsh*t. In an online poll, almost 28,000 Swiss said they had never heard of this "tradition," while 50 of them just hated ice cream.
All I can say to Greg and indeed all the country's residents is "Tuet mer leid." (sorry in Swiss German). My mistake is explainable if no less wrong. The good news is setting the record straight helps to restore my faith in the country. After all, as the world's paragon of banking, I know they treat money with the highest of respect. It's comforting to know they take the same approach with gelato.
-END-
Marc Wollin of Bedford would never let ice cream hit the ground in any country regardless of tradition. His column appears weekly via email and online on Blogspot and Substack as well as Facebook, LinkedIn and X.
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