• Question: Are bananas slippery or is it an old wives tale ? If they are, why are they?

    Asked by lisaloo to Claire, Kate, Matt, Rob, Sam on 24 Jun 2013.
    • Photo: Sam Geen

      Sam Geen answered on 24 Jun 2013:

      Back in the 1880s, throwing banana peels on the floor was the equivalent of throwing away crisp packets in the street – it was bad manners and cluttered up the place. Bananas rot very quickly, especially in the hot summer, so if they’re left on the street they become gooey and slippy quickly. In the early 1900s, “Sliding” Billy Watson came up with the slapstick comedy routine based on slipping on banana skins. You can slip on a banana skin, but it’s not that likely these days as not many people throw away banana skins in the street.

      See here for a nice blog post about banana peels: http://mentalfloss.com/article/31135/how-did-slipping-banana-peel-become-comedy-staple

    • Photo: Matthew Pankhurst

      Matthew Pankhurst answered on 25 Jun 2013:

      Yep they are! The reason you slip is because the inside gets all soggy and slippery, which the outside it still grippy. You step on the outside and the inside slips away from the ground… And you fall over… It’s happened to me before (because I wanted to know the answer!)

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