Chalk Isn't Chalk and Why an Elephant's Nose is Called a Trunk

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In this video:
Ubiquitous in many classrooms since the 19th century, chalk and chalkboards are familiar to most of us. White, powdery and prone to sticking to those surfaces where it is put (and just as easy to wipe away), chalk and its accompanying board are excellent instructional aids. Notably, however, most chalk today isn’t technically chalk at all, but gypsum.
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[@JJones-gw9vy]

Random person: so what do you watch on youtube? Me: ....it's complicated.

[@undefined6512]

Totally normal videos for totally normal people.

[@fionafiona1146]

@@undefined6512 That would be boring.. That's combated by playing it on 2x speed.

[@WolfSpiritAD]

Hah I actually got asked that in RL the other day. They asked me what I was watching about... was a little difficult to answer because covering various topics lol

[@glitch2023]

I always take like a minute to formulate my answer lmao

[@amandajones661]

😅😅😅😅

[@keithwortelhock6078]

Always assumed that bathing trunks were 'truncated' versions of a full-length garment.

[@IgabodDobagi]

Me too! I just posted a comment saying that before I saw this comment. But I always just assumed that without being told.

[@RetroMonkey1999]

As did I

[@marccolten9801]

I thought because they covered your trunk. Like leggings.

[@ryancook4771]

I was taught this as well since truncated means cutting off the top of something, and before trunks guys wore almost full body covering one piece things

[@codyg7936]

Swimming is to trunks as bathing is to suit you shouldn’t say bathing trunks, it’s wrong

[@lineplaysminecraft1781]

After hearing the word trunk so many times in this video, I'm not sure if it's even a word anymore...

[@IgabodDobagi]

Obviously it's not just A word, it's several completely different words that have very confusing origins.

[@jaydenreiser1875]

Y’all: “Chalk” Me, an intellectual: “Plankton skeleton”

[@SMunro]

So burn the coal made from dead plants, and the oil, and write on rock using powdered skeleton. Thats some Necromancy right there.

[@dgray7537]

In the UK they call an elephant's nose a boot. The more you know.

[@minimalmo]

And in Germany it´s called a "Rüssel".

[@richardbidinger2577]

Lmao😂

[@brianward7550]

😂

[@robinderoos1166]

In the Netherlands we call it slurf

[@MrArd247]

😂Love how only British people seem to get this, also don't forget in the UK men go swimming in swimming boots.

[@President_Starscream]

None of this info will help me conquer the earth, but I enjoyed it anyway.

[@jasonpeng5798]

This is brilliant

[@therugburnz]

While I'll was watching this I, absent-mindedly, let you take my last 31% you clever big 'O' Creamy Star you. You can get the rest I have no doubts all.

[@TorquemadaTwist]

I'm telling Megatron on you.

[@President_Starscream]

@@TorquemadaTwist Megatron will be pleased with my work on earth. until.......

[@President_Starscream]

@Alan Hardcastle chalk cannot be converted to energon, so you fleshlings can feel free to eat all the chalk you desire.

[@garyoa1]

Ok, trunk of a car makes sense to me (pack your clothes in a trunk) but how about explaining why it's a boot in the UK?

[@skolsuper8447]

Because you put your boots in when you have been out hiking.

[@garyoa1]

@@skolsuper8447 Thank you! That does kind of make sense. However, not everyone goes hiking but virtually everyone travels! :) On the other hand I suppose years ago you needed boots since cars weren't exactly known to be that reliable. So you walked a lot!!! LOL

[@skolsuper8447]

@@garyoa1 haha nice one, how many boots can you put in a boot? Thats the question!

[@josephdocherty7919]

@@garyoa1 The real definition is that the usage of the word "trunk" comes from it being the word for a large travelling chest, as such trunks were often attached to the back of the vehicle before the development of integrated storage compartments in the 1930s; while the usage of the word "boot" comes from the word for a built-in compartment on a horse.

[@MadDragon75]

I asked the same question when I posted this to Facebook.

[@pierreabbat6157]

On ordering chalk and receiving gypsum: "We've been gypped!"

[@StefanTravis]

Fun fact: The arabic word for the elephant's trunk is "Khartoum". Yes, the same word as the capital of Sudan. They see nothing strange in this. But they think it's weird that the english word is a nose, a wooden box, and your abdomen.

[@dudeinoakland]

And an article of clothing, the main body of a tree, and a conduit that carries multiple connections from a source.

[@promontorium]

@LagiNaLangAko23 That one goes right back to luggage. The old cars would just have a rack and people would strap down a luggage trunk to the back to store things. When they started building cars with the storage in the back already built in, they continued to call it a trunk. Lord knows why UKers call it a boot. Edit: Oh he covered this too.

[@RobiticDuck]

As someone who used to work building with gypsum. This blew my mind.

[@osmium6832]

7:08 Wow, that is a hell of a fashion statement. Blue satin trunks, cloak, white silk tights, shoes, and a Grecian helmet. That's like... all of the main costumes from the last 5 Assassin's Creed games put together.

[@Bigfoot_With_Internet_Access]

When you learn that chalk isn't chalk: *Confused screaming*

[@R.F.9847]

Pencil leads are not made of lead. They're graphite.

[@SavageHungarian]

Regarding the trunk of a car, you did not mention that for a couple of decades in the early 1900s a trunk was often strapped at the back of a car. Ford Model A's can be seen with this feature. As automakers learned how to better manipulate sheet metal this feature was integrated into the design of a car rather than having a separate trunk riding at the back of the car.

[@MaddRamm]

Rick Majtenyi wow I never realized that!

[@swinehorde9118]

Hmm. I always thought that the article of clothing 'trunk' came from the fact that they are truncated pants...

[@dogphlap6749]

The hollow square or rectangular cross section tubes that contain electrical wires in a building are referred to as trunking.

[@dogphlap6749]

@Prowler Cam In the UK long distance phones lines bore the same moniker, a long distance call was called a trunk call.

[@RCAvhstape]

It's like a tree trunk: it's a main stem from which branches split off. A conduit of power cables has other wires splitting off. Same with telephone cables and busy railroad lines, such as the "Grand Trunk Railway".

[@BigGreezyJake]

What’s the difference between trunking and conduit?

[@micahphilson]

So essentially: "Because chalk is lame and can only be chalk. Gypsum is a jack of literally all trades!"

[@JasonMiller1979]

Calcium carbonate, chalk, is used in many applications as well. Such as: antacids and calcium supplements. pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/Calcium-carbonate This company, mississippilime.com/, is located near me in Missouri, and they produce some of the purest chemical lime (calcium carbonate) in the US.

[@willythemailboy2]

The opening is also false: calcium carbonate is a salt the same way calcium sulfate is. Both are basic when added to water, although the carbonate is considerably more so.

[@tomt6963]

In the typical German way, the trunk of a car is called "Kofferraum" , which translates into "suitcase space." The trunk of an elephant is called "Rüssel", a word used for All protuding, flexible animal snouts, Loke armadillos, tapirs, pigs and the sucking apparatus of insects like fleas or moskitos.

[@sebastiansilverfox6912]

I always thought that shorts/trunks were called such because they were truncated pants...

[@0verd0semedia]

Simon, a point of interest in your final comments regarding swim trunks: Why do we refer to the PANTS the people wear as "pairs?" I'd love to see an episode dedicated to this topic, and, of course, for good measure, a few bonus facts related to origin and continued use of worn materials. Thanks for all the thought-provoking content, and, as always, thank you for sharing!😉

[@s2meister]

In America we can put our boots in the trunk of our car. While alas in jolly England they must put their swim trunks in the boot of their car..... sigh.. :)

[@Otokichi786]

Laurence Brown would say of the first instance: "We put our Wellies into the boot and drove off." As for the second instance, Mr. Brown (of "Lost in the Pond") would say, "The blokes put their Speedos into the boot and drove off Starkers."

[@timewave02012]

If you cram your swimsuits into your footwear, which you place into a storage container, then that into the rear compartment of a 4-door car, while driving on a major road, and switch freely between American and British English, you can have trunks in boots in a trunk in the boot on the trunk.

[@christophersmith8014]

We also use the similar word "truck" to mean the act of carrying something around or to convey it from one place to another. Which also fits most of the uses for the word trunk. Generally they both deal with holding something for the sake of carrying it to another place. A pipe carries air, water, and sound just like the elephants trunk. A cargo chest contains and protects items for shipping. Swimming trunks are probably more to do with the truncation of pants as many people have commented, but they also protect your genital cargo as you carry yourself about. So you could also see how it could mean to protect and shield from harm. A truck is a stronger means of conveyance than a car. Elephants use their trunks to smack predators around. etc.

[@hazardduck]

Calcium carbonate (CaCO3) is also a salt, FYI.

[@daveschoey9836]

Back to the gypsum board

[@BibleStudent4U]

I'm always amazed how you can but so many bits of obscure trivia together into a reasonably concise video. Well done! Keep the trivia train rolling along on the knowledge tracks til it reaches the learning station Toot Toot!

[@ziggy8253]

I gotta question for ya, Simon, and maybe you can do a video on it: how did bell bottom pants become a thing in the 70s? While you’re at it talk about how saggy pants became a craze in the 90s. Just do an episode on crazy trends involving pants.

[@sean..L]

It's apt that gypsum is nicknamed "The rock that nobody knows" because at school we performed a rock/mineral identification test and a lot of people couldn't differentiate between Talc and Gypsum.

[@jaredwblack]

And then there is "trunk" as used in telecommunications, referring to a phone circuit connected to a multi-user business phone system. This comes from railroard days when phone lines were run along railroad tracks. A railroad going between hubs was a "trunk line", and so were the phone lines that ran on such a route. And railroad "trunks" were called this because they were used to transport passenger luggage, which mostly consisted of ... trunks.

[@bsjeffrey]

i just bought some "chalk" and now i feeled gypsumed.

[@anarchyantz1564]

Just chalk it up to experience.

[@bsjeffrey]

@@anarchyantz1564 the writing was on the wall, i just missed it.

[@2bonk22]

BTW Captain Webb said that he would swim under the big waves (class ten rapids). He submerged for the first one and was not seen again until his body was found at the whirlpool. - Niagara Falls native and former tour guide.

[@caryboy2006]

Wikipedia. The usage of the word "trunk" comes from it being the word for a large travelling chest, as such trunks were often attached to the back of the vehicle before the development of integrated storage compartments in the 1930s; while the usage of the word "boot" comes from the word for a built-in compartment on a horse-drawn coach (originally used as a seat for the coachman and later for storage). The usage of the word "dickie" comes from the British word for a rumble seat, as such seats were often used for luggage before cars had integrated storage.

[@nicolasc.6789]

Teacherr: can you pass me that box of small gypsum cylinders? Student: hun?! Teacher: Can you pass me the chalk? Student: Oooooh! why didn't you just say that? Misnomers are fun :)

[@specialopsdave]

Lol, my town is literally named Gypsum because gypsum mining makes up like 90% of our industry

[@thewingedpotato6463]

What is Chalk? Baby, it's lime stone It's lime stone No more.

[@Gorillarevolta]

Thanks for the video Mr Whistler. Can you make one on who made the wedding vows that are popular today popular, please?

[@frenchys_prospecting]

This raises more questions than it answers

[@Miniweet9167]

Trunks as short pants probably comes from French. “Culotte tronquée” or cutoff breeches. (Truncated) 19th century pants were also called “tuyaux-de-poêle” or stovepipes.

[@anthonyhargis6855]

Gypsum Colorado is named for this material. A large gypsum board (a.k.a. "Sheet Rock") manufacturer is located there.

[@bobpieczarka4357]

I always assumed that the clothing name for trunks originated from "truncate," which means to shorten by cutting of some part. When you cut pants, you get truncated pants or just trunks.

[@bamachine]

Trunk is also used in telecom. A trunk line is a physical connection, either copper or fiber optic, used to connect two remote systems together. A T1 is one of the more common types of trunk in telecom, along with others. There are also trunks in both data(ethernet trunking) and radio. I assume the idea for these all came from the idea of a tree trunk, a tree's connection between ground and sky.

[@allanrichardson1468]

Gypsum has two other uses: art and medicine. Both of them use the same chemical reactions as are used in construction. Each set of calcium and sulfate (SO4) ions is accompanied by seven (7!) water molecules filling some of the space between ions, making the crystal structure tough and solid. Thus, the chemical name of natural gypsum is calcium sulfate heptahydrate. Heating a piece of gypsum drives out the water molecules, making it crumble into a powder, calcium sulfate hemihydrate (meaning one molecule of water for each TWO sets of ions), commonly called Plaster of Paris, or just plaster. The powder can be mixed with water to form a slurry or paste, which can be poured into molds to make copies of statues or other solid objects, as the powdered crystals absorb the water to recreate the hard, solid gypsum. The process also produces heat, as the ions and water molecules shift into a lower energy structure. Plaster of Paris is also used to make casts to set broken bones. Rolls of gauze fabric with embedded grains of plaster are dipped in water and wrapped around the limb, where they harden. The name Plaster of Paris comes from the large quarrying and preparation industry near Paris in the 18th century.

[@trukr817]

Yes, we here in the US do call that thing at the back of our cars a trunk, or a LOL, frunk if it's on the front, and boots go on our feet. Also, bonnets go on heads, hoods cover the engine compartment. We think your terms are just as odd as you think ours are.

[@copperhamster]

There's this brand of chalk from Japan called "Hagoromo" which is considered the Rolls Royce of chalk among scientists and mathematicians. And of course, they stopped manufacturing it, so scientists around the world are hoarding what precious supplies are left.

[@SonofSethoitae]

Didn't they sell their equipment to a firm in South Korea who continued to make it?

[@copperhamster]

@@SonofSethoitae I hadn't heard that, but it would seem reasonable if there was a small but dedicated market that if someone could get the equipment/process setup in an economical fashion they would.

[@watkinry]

You should talk about White Sands National Monument in New Mexico- a desert composed of gypsum instead of sand. The perfectly white grains of gypsum remain cool enough to walk on even on hot days. It's a weird place.

[@haroldoliver]

Truncated pants = trunks A good example of "Folk Etymology".

[@Stacy_Smith]

Gypsum is also manufactured! A limestone slurry is used to scrub coal fired powered plants to greatly reduce air pollution. The chemical reaction that takes place transforms the limestone into gypsum.

[@jenniferlawrence8533]

Why call it the boot.A boot goes on your foot !

[@richardbidinger2577]

Google - definition boot. I was a bit surprised at what popped up, but it does partially explain the reason, it just raises other questions.

[@sittn86]

I always thought they were called swimming trunks because they were truncated pants...

[@nbTheSponge]

Trunks = truncated pants?

[@wanderer4125]

Makes way more sense.

[@bland9876]

My science teacher in 11th grade said he was the only teacher with a chalkboard still in his classroom and because he had to be around chalk so much he became allergic to it and had to wear gloves and couldn't wait to get a whiteboard

[@gus2747]

The black ellipse is so modest!

[@neilpiper9889]

Gypsum added to difficult heavy clay soils make them more workable without raising the PH. Very useful on soils which are already neutral or have a high lime content

[@hollyhartwick3832]

I would have thought the clothing article “trunks” would have been called so because they are truncated (cut short) trousers.

[@LeatherNeck1833]

Funny how the "Bonus" became the main topic. From chalk to elephant trunks to swim shorts.

[@JeraPerthro]

I would think that, in the case of swimming trunks or shorts, the word "trunk" refers to them being "truncated trousers."

[@gemma9248]

Folks in the southeastern US called the trunk of a car "the boot" for years.

[@inregionecaecorum]

Trunk as in tree trunk which were used for early water pipes.

[@primoroy]

Explain boot and bonnet to us lowly Americans!

[@katieandkevinsears7724]

I'm an American who will occasionally call the rear of a car a boot. Just to confuse other people. I do the same thing with the bonnet.

[@ShineHatfield]

Anyone watching this after The King of Random did experiments with sidewalk chalk?

[@timothyneiswander3151]

While I was watching TKOR yesterday I was thinking, "why are they using plaster of paris to make chalk?". Today I found out....

[@eljacko7847]

Timothy Neiswander did the taste test...... now I'm salty.

[@tmfan3888]

Timothy Neiswander yea，agree，thought chalk should be made from chalk instead。

[@scottrjmatmsncom]

So the first use of the word trunks for swim shorts is in reference to Niagara Falls... My hometown

[@davidsonnow]

I have no idea about anything that you talk about, but because you have a British accent I agree with you

[@iplaysdrums]

I realized I've heard trunk as pipe somewhere before: Ainsley's office on The West Wing - the Steam Pipe Trunk Distribution Venue.

[@Hadrian1616]

Take a shot every time he says "trunk"

[@vzrodcummins2116]

I thought trunks meaning shorts was based on them being truncated pantaloons.

[@PMA65537]

Captain Webb (of trunk mention) was first to swim the English Channel.

[@StopChangingUsernamesYouTube]

Mr Snodgrass sure dressed funny.

[@drkjk]

Swimming trunks, where the package is kept.

[@SeaScoutDan]

Like "pencil lead" is usually made of "graphite". And "tin foil" is usually made of "aluminium".

[@aprilh9210]

Another great video. I don't understand the thumbs down on this.

[@myster5y]

YOU JUST BLEW MY MIND

[@ghost2coast296]

I wish you would have went into more depth on slate quarrying and chalkboard manufacturing, I've found little on the topic and there are apparently no black slate quarries in operation in the US today. Lucky me I have three 4x10 ft classroom size slate chalkboards and their quality surpasses anything you can find on the market today.

[@rolandxbeliebig6385]

BABY DON'T HURT ME coming from the thumbnail

[@westrim]

Since you didn't mention it, boot comes from a storage compartment under the seat of the driver of a wagon (why that was a boot is unclear; it descended from platforms on the side of the wagon). So, Americans named the back storage of a car after the back storage of a wagon, while British named the back storage of a car after the *front* storage of the wagon. Draw your own conclusions.

[@SuicideNeil]

Next Simon will be telling us that the lead in pencils isn't actually lead at all, heh heh. /sarcasm Plot twist, it's graphite!

[@yondaime500]

There's actually an article about that on their website. From 2010.

[@richardbidinger2577]

I've seen at least two videos on YT about how pencils are made.

[@paytonpryor]

I hated when my teacher would make me clean the chalk erasers. It was a dusty mess.

[@Peter2k84]

What makes this one type of Japanese chalk so special (or rather, why does it handle better) that teachers and professors have been hording it.

[@IgabodDobagi]

I was always under the impression, even though nobody ever said as much, that trunks as in swimming trunks were an abbreviation of the words truncated pants. Truncated meaning cut short. I like this version better because of the irony that the word truncated is being shortened. Also, it makes sense historically because people used to swim in full pants before they cut off the legs and turned them into truncated pants. [edited to add] And now after reading through the comments, I see that I'm not alone in that assumption. If we all came to the same conclusion independently then it has to be true, right?

[@rjperkins365]

I always assumed an elephant trunk was named after a tree trunk. They sorta look alike.

[@bland9876]

Sometimes words are used in ways that are so different from each other you're like why

[@shannonottarson9247]

Hmmm, for shorts i would have thought that "trunks" would have been an abbreviation of "truncated" as in shorts are truncated pants...

[@ag135i]

Simon forgot trunk call.

[@Sebastian-fn1qg]

Addressing the real questions

[@Themurphyshow7]

I thought "trunk" as in the short pants was an abbreviation for the word "truncated" which means " to make something shorter

[@kiranschwaebe]

can you explain to me how avocados evolved? i don't know of any animals who eat them... how do the seeds get spread and by what? why are the fruit green when ripe... why is the arsenic in the skin and seed?

[@momsnoteatingbugs1919]

Always wondered why wall board was also called “Sheetrock”.

[@Stacy_Smith]

Sheetrock is a name brand. It's actually call drywall.

[@Saikotic]

Ahhh good ol' Oklahomer. :D

[@inregionecaecorum]

As for trunks as in swimming trunks that would go back to the Elizabethan age and trunk hose, the baggy and stuffed shorts that were the height of fashion for the courtly gentleman.

[@hueyiroquois3839]

1:21 *composed

[@carlfritzler8460]

So after Plankton dies having never gotten the secret to the Crabbie Patty he will then become chalk?

[@johnkean6852]

Sorry to be pedantic: the photo showed swimming _shorts_ swimming _trunks_ were what *Speedos* were referred to before their popularity. (The Aussie man hath discovered flight now we're flooded with Aussie-speak like Accadacca = ACDC. Ankle-biter = baby; boomerang; kangaroo, _inventions:_ GoogleMap; Poly-notes (money) and of course the famous: budgie hammock and *Speedo* now the generic term for swimming trunks worldwide.) [From: Aussie_Slang and Australian Geographic.]

[@seanthomasdowd]

I always believed they were truncated trousers

[@ronaldfinkelstein6335]

So, how did the British name the car's trunk, the boot?

[@shinjisan2015]

so... why is the car trunk also called a boot? As an Aussie I call it a boot, and the engine is under the bonnet (not hood).

[@knightwish1623]

because the America's screwed up the English language, which you people down under didn't ... you put a few words into it like "billabong or walkabout" but didn't change the base :-)

[@emmitstewart1921]

I historic times, crystallized chalk (calcite) was called alabaster, now we call it onyx. In modern days we call crystallized gypsum alabaster. While we're at it historically, onyx was microcrystalline quartz. in modern times we call it agate unless it's black, in which it's still called onyx. Reddish agate striped with white is called sardonyx, and prized for carving high quality cameos. Lesser qualities of cameos are carved from seashells, which if thy had fallen to the sea floor would eventually become chalk. How's that for circular thinking.

[@minigolfkid]

Ah. that explains why I have a problem with chalk styluses puffing up when wet. they becomes spongy instead bc that’s what gypsum does.

[@God-Emperor_Elizabeth_the_2nd]

With a title like this? Of course i have to watch!

[@tsartomato]

baby don't hurt me don't hurt me no more

[@chillaxter13]

Wouldn't it make the most sense (Occam's Razor style) to say that shorts get called trunks because they are truncated pants?

[@bland9876]

So if chalk isn't made out of chalk and lead is it made out of lead then what is ink made out of if it's not made out of ink or is that the one exception to the rule

[@raymondrogers1401]

I always thought "trunks" stood for truncated pants