12 December 2008

Mascara redux


It's difficult for a layman to understand the intricacies of the internet. According to Google Analytics, for the past year one of the most popular topics I've blogged for TYWKIWDBI was the image above entitled "extreme mascara."

I posted that image, without any commentary, 8 months ago, and it continues to garner 5-10 hits per day. I doubt that anyone who comes here to see that post bothers to explore the rest of this blog. But it's interesting to see how these things happen.

So, I decided tonight to revisit the topic of mascara, which I - as a normal adult male - have never given a moment's serious thought to. There is a town in northwestern Algeria named "Mascara," the name of which is derived from Arabic words meaning "Mother of Soldiers." However, this appears to have no connection whatsoever to the cosmetic product.

The cosmetic mascara was invented by a Frenchman named Rimmel, and the word "rimmel" still means "mascara" in several languages. He made the mascara from a combination of coal dust and Vaseline petroleum jelly for his sister, Mabel. It was so well received that he marketed the product and created a name based on his sister's name - Mabel - plus "Vaseline." The company was therefore called "Maybelline."

And now you know the rest of the story...

2 comments:

  1. LOL Your hits are about to skyrocket. Try doing a thread on the Kazkin Rubber band Gun too!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wow, now that you posted this picture again... I do believe this is the picture that led me to your site. Interesting. I have always had trouble explaining to my wife how I found this blog... Like people can really explain every single thing they have found on the net. :)

    ReplyDelete

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