Comments on: Slow-boiled Frog

By: Mick

Mick — Thu, 08 May 2008 07:38:29 +0000

I stand corrected…. Vampire Weekend fan there Matt?

By: Tilly

Tilly — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 02:42:11 +0000

I. too, have used the analogy of the frog in the pot. Whether true or not it states what is happening to the rights of people everywhere these days…..Slowly vanishing. Think about fogs. They sometimes creep in slowly until visibility has vanished, sometimes suddenly.

By: Luke

Luke — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 02:53:03 +0000

Ha ha ha ha ha

Well, now we know.

Personally I like to roast my frogs and then mush them up with chili and eat them with sticky rice.

It’s a south Burma thing.

By: Renae

Renae — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 22:47:47 +0000

It’s still a great story, though.

The story of the Tortoise and the Hare isn’t true either, but it teaches a great lesson.

Now, the frog story has been raised to fable status!

By: Leonard

Leonard — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 16:51:32 +0000

Hey Matt, finally got on this wordpress bandwagon. I’m not doing so much poetry anymore but doing food writing. Cheers.

By: marcus

marcus — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 14:56:25 +0000

ian glendinning, the only way this can work as a metaphor is if it’s true. The frog in the story represents the natural tendency to accept slight changes, no matter how harmful they may be. However, if a frog’s natural tendency is to resist changes then the analogy doesn’t hold. The metaphor doesn’t relate to a condition that actually exists in nature, and therefore isn’t particularly illustrative of the the effects of complacency due to slow erosion.

By: Leaves Rustle » Blog Archive » Wrapup, Sakura Edition

Leaves Rustle » Blog Archive » Wrapup, Sakura Edition — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 12:14:17 +0000

[...] Matt alerted me that the myth about the slow-boild frog, is false. [...]

By: Relativity and Seafood: An Update « raincoaster

Relativity and Seafood: An Update « raincoaster — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 11:35:29 +0000

[...] If Einstein taught us anything, my friends, it’s that perspective is reality. Now, we’ve looked at the issue of perspective and seafood before on the ol’ raincoaster blog. Lately the meme has spread, yea even unto the highest reaches of Automattic, where Matt has examined the eternal question from the Anuran point of view. [...]

By: Dan

Dan — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 04:10:59 +0000

“And now, with this new found knowledge that frogs feel pain and shouldn’t be boiled, you will go vegan, right?”

Not if you kill the frogs _before_ you boil them.

By: Elaine Vigneault

Elaine Vigneault — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 22:34:04 +0000

And now, with this new found knowledge that frogs feel pain and shouldn’t be boiled, you will go vegan, right?

By: ian glendinning

ian glendinning — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 20:54:02 +0000

I referred to this story as “hard-boiled” at least 15, maybe 20 years ago, BUT …. it was never a myth or urban legend, it was always a metaphor, and it still is – a very good one – no correction required.

By: Mark Jaquith

Mark Jaquith — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 18:05:45 +0000

Everyone in my family hates me, as I'm always shooting down their urban legends and their crazy e-mail fwds. One of my favorite ones to shoot people down on is the myth that eating turkey makes you drowsy. "But why am I so sleepy?" they ask, on Thanksgiving. "Because you just ate half your weight in food and washed it down with two glasses of wine."

My frogs never jump out of the pot, I put a lid on it.

Ha!

By: BoltClock

BoltClock — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 14:20:49 +0000

That’s crazy. I heard about it a couple times and now I come to realize too that it’s wrong.

Oh well, I never did mention it in whatever I did anyway.

By: Paul Goscicki

Paul Goscicki — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 09:59:56 +0000

Interesting eye-opener. Nice to be corrected.

By: raincoaster

raincoaster — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 08:17:23 +0000

It may not apply to frogs, but it certainly applies to voters.

By: Ditipu Kodok Rebus « Catshade’s Catharsis Corner

Ditipu Kodok Rebus « Catshade’s Catharsis Corner — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 05:54:43 +0000

[...] saya dan sempat saya percayai mentah-mentah… sampai beberapa menit yang lalu ketika mampir di blog-nya matt mullenweg. Setelah ngecek ke sumber lain, ternyata dongeng ini sudah lama di-debunk orang. Hiks, malu aku [...]

By: Julie

Julie — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 05:08:41 +0000

oh no–I’ve used this dozens of times!

By: TheTick

TheTick — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 03:26:58 +0000

My frogs never jump out of the pot, I put a lid on it.

By: annieo

annieo — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 03:03:44 +0000

Oh, this is disheartening to learn.

I’ve been using that analogy for decades.

Would it make me appear old-fashioned if I continued?
Beyond appearing ill-informed, of couse.

By: Nathan

Nathan — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 02:58:52 +0000

It’s not factual, but it’s still a great metaphor, just like an ostrich with its head in the sand (also false) or being blind as a bat (also false).

By: Slaven

Slaven — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 21:13:42 +0000

I have to second James Fallows blog and recommend subscribing to his RSS, his non-frog-related posts are even more compelling!

By: Chris

Chris — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 20:41:46 +0000

I always wondered if this was just an “urban legend”. Seemed logical enough, I think.