Would like some enlightenment on the following: (1) Which is the mountain depicted in the logo of Paramount Pictures? (2) Why do women laugh hysterically? –Rajeev Balakrishnan, Hyderabad, India
“Now, Jill,” I said, “millions rely on the Straight Dope as their primary information resource. We mustn’t settle for the cheap laugh. Are you sure you’ve thoroughly explored these answers?”
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One despairs. However, as it turned out, the identity of the mountain was the weak link of the entire investigation. (And yes, I know it doesn’t make any conceivable difference. It’s the principle of the thing.) The people we initially spoke to at Paramount thought it was Mount Everest, but we strongly suspected these people had no idea whatsoever. (This is a common phenomenon in the entertainment business.) Inquiring further, we learned that:
(3) Although Hodkinson’s biography doesn’t specify a particular mountain, many people familiar with the area believe it was Mount Ben Lomond (9,712 feet), in the Wasatch Range. Every time we called Paramount to confirm this we got a different story, but the consensus seems to be that, while Hodkinson didn’t necessarily have one mountain in mind, Ben Lomond is a conspicuous landmark in the Ogden area and would have figured prominently in his mental construct of a generic mountain. For what it’s worth, just about every tourist outfit in Utah proclaims that the Paramount mountain is Ben Lomond as a matter of settled fact.
(8) Answer to question number two above remains “because of men.” You don’t see women posting crap about the Bank of Estonia.
Art accompanying story in printed newspaper (not available in this archive): illustration/Slug Signorino.
