Entremet Originally shared by Kam-Yung Soh "“Like most people in the US, I grew up knowing the words to this carol and even (shudder) singing them occasionally (singing is not a strong point of mine), but never really thought about what they meant, how the carol originated, or what birds were involved”, says Dr Rasmussen in email. So she decided to figure it out. Dr Rasmussen, who’s tied for third for the most bird discoveries in the world, is probably also the world’s foremost avian sleuth, due to her meticulous detective work a few years ago that uncovered the many ornithological thefts and records frauds in museums that were committed by eminent British ornithologist, Richard Meinertzhagen. But who would ever have thought that an old Christmas carol might also hold an avian mystery? “After all, it’s just a Christmas carol!” Dr Rasmussen points out." https://medium.com/@GrrlScientist/meet-the-real-birds-of-the-twelve-days-of-christmas-fame-grrlscientist-5a8bc09350c9
This adds some missing pieces to observations I made living in Southern California for the first 40 years of my life. The pink boxes didn't start showing up until the early '80s when most of the Winchell's shops started changing ownership to independents (often run by Asian immigrants). I didn't know they were mostly Cambodian. I thought they were Chinese or Taiwanese since their greatest concentration was in the San Gabriel Valley. The article mentions that Voodoo adopted the pink box after a visit to California, but it doesn't note that Portland is Matt Groening's hometown. Homer Simpson's donut boxes are always pink, which is likely why people outside of California and Portland also associate pink boxes with donuts.
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