But Blond Jokes Will Never Die!

The NY Times is the latest to bite on an apparently old chestnut:

How Blonds Evolve

Roger Dobson and Abul Taher report  in The London Times (www.timesonline.co.uk) on a study suggesting blonds began having more fun in the Ice Age.

According to the study, North European women evolved blond hair and blue eyes at the end of the Ice Age to make them stand out from their rivals at a time of fierce competition for scarce males.

The study argues that blond hair originated in the region because of food shortages 10,000 to 11,000 years ago. Until then, humans had the dark brown hair and dark eyes that still dominate in the rest of the world. Almost the only sustenance in Northern Europe came from roaming herds of mammoths, reindeer, bison and horses. Finding them required long, arduous hunting trips in which numerous males died, leading to a high ratio of surviving women to men.

Fair enough, but here is the fun bit:

However, the future of the blond is uncertain.

A study by the World Health Organization found that natural blonds are likely to be extinct within 200 years because there are too few people carrying the blond gene. According to the W.H.O. study, the last natural blond is likely to be born in Finland during 2202.

John Hawks swooped on this urban legend last week, and unearthed a WaPo debunking from Oct 2002:

Extinction of Blondes Vastly Overreported
Media Fail to Check Root of 'Study'

...The World Health Organization says there is no such study -- and that most journalists didn't call to check.

"We've certainly never conducted any research into the subject," WHO spokeswoman Rebecca Harding said yesterday from Geneva. "It's been impossible to find out where it came from. It just seems like it was a hoax."

John Hawks supplies the appropriate withering put-downs

 

 

Comments

[Beto Ochoa]

It seems to be status quo for the print media.
"All the news that's fit to print."
More like...
"Fit all the news and print it."

[kim]

Thank God for blonds and blondes. Without them, humor would die. They are the only subjects of jokes that can be told without fear that the teller will be labeled unPC.
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[kim]

See, it's one of those wonderful circularities. Humour will never die, because blond jokes are forever. Let's preserve the gene so the kids will understand what the joke is all about. At least one for every zoo.
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[kim]

Chest nuts roasting over an open fire.
Hell hath punishments sheer and dire.
Rip that bodice and face furies.
Leer at panties, not the pantries.
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[MayBee]

Hmmm... I used to be super-duper blonde, but my hair has been getting darker since my 20's. Tell me that isn't evolution in action!

[Sue]

Maybee,

Not to worry. It will turn back to a lighter color as time goes on. Maybe not the blonde of your youth, but certainly not dark. ::grin::

[SteveMG]

It's always been resassuring to be informed that although reporters may personally hold liberal views on issues ranging from abortion to Zimbabwe (that is from A-to-Z), there are multiple layers of editorial checks and review to ensure that those opinions do not show up in their reporting.

Ladies and gentlemen, we present to you an example, albeit one small one, of that intricate and failproof process at work.

My confidence is waning (ahem).

SMG

[Rick Ballard]

"My confidence is waning (ahem)."

I dunno if my remaining confidence is waning or not. Do you know how much it costs to rent an electron microscope? It simply isn't worth finding out.

[Barry Dauphin]

I'm 47 and still have blonde hair. But I'm a childless bachelor. In order to keep the species going, I'll either have to get busy (please send picture too) or hope that Ray Kurzweil is right.

[topsecretk9]

A study by the World Health Organization found that natural blonds are likely to be extinct within 200 years because there are too few people carrying the blond gene.

According to Paris there is no shortage of peroxide.

[Gary Maxwell]

Paris? Hilton?

[Lew Clark]

Is white hair blonde? If so, the top of my head is 1% blonde. I started losing my hair in my twenties and was almost totally bald by my mid thirties. I tell people I am evolution at work, the 21st century man. You don't need a permanent wool cap today, since hunting mastodons in the snow just isn't done anymore. When I do hunt large animals in the snow, I wear headgear stolen from other animals.
Many women tell me they think bald is sexy, but I always see sexy women with really hairy-headed Neanderthals. Obviously women's mate seeking genes have not evolved as rapidly as my hair genes.

[Syl]

Whew.

Part way down I thought it was all my fault but I guess there are others to carry on.

As to having more fun, this blond blue-eyed lady had plenty :) But that was years ago.

Lew, both of my long-term relationships were with baldies. :) But they both also have nice beards to make up for it.

[kim]

Savage Men Prefer Blondes.
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[Rick Ballard]

In my ancient recollection, savage blondes sure preferred men, so I guess the opposite could be true.

[Jim Glass]

"Thank God for blonds and blondes. Without them, humor would die. They are the only subjects of jokes that can be told without fear that the teller will be labeled unPC."

Yeah, well, just don't take that attitude during your next trip to Hungary.

[kim]

I sent him out hunting a week ago, and where do I find him? With a bottle and a blonde.
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[kim]

And he wants to tell great hunter stories.
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[peterargus]

Crap, so much for my campaign to put blondes on the endangered species list.