And That's a Wrap!

I have always enjoyed knowing things, and as a result I have a head full of what's sometimes called "useless information". The internet is a great source of tit-bits and obscure references to add to this internal treasure trove. Today's blog post is actually about gifts, or more specifically the wrapping of gifts, although I'd like to start out by looking at the origins of the phrase "That's a Wrap". I am sure that the bulk of my readers will correctly associate this phrase with the film industry. The word Wrap in this context means to finishing filming a motion picture. So how did we get from "Wrap" to"That's a Wrap"? In answering this question, my research was greatly assisted by an article in The New York Times, written by William Safire in February of 2005.

It would seem that in the 40's and 50's that the phrase used to signify the end of shooting was "Wrap it up". I can imagine a junior film studio employee wrapping the film canisters in brown paper and tying them with string and rushing them to post-production. Somewhere along the way Wrap was transformed from a verb to a noun.

The first reference to "That's a Wrap" is found in Orson's Welles' biography published in 1998. He quotes Charlton Heston's journal from 1957: ''We rehearsed all day . . . the studio brass gathering in the shadows in anxious little knots. By the time we began filming at 5:45, I knew they'd written off the whole day. At 7:40, Orson said: 'O.K., print. That's a wrap on this set.' ''. This doesn't fundamentally answer the question of why, but it satisfies my curiosity, and as such is a classic example of much of what resides in my cranium. Its certainly interesting, and I am sure I will sometime find an opportunity to use this tit-bit in dinner conversation, but its also useless!

I can recommend the source article for this "useless information" tit-bit: William Safire's "It's a Wrap".

So onto wrapping gifts. We just had Christmas and it's now 2011, so there are a string of friends birthday's and other gift giving opportunities on the horizon. With that in mind, I have decided to share with you the best kept wrapping secret, something that changed the way I wrap, and can revolutionize the way YOU wrap.

I read an interesting blog on the Nature.com website on the Psychology Behind Wrapping Paper. which has prompted me to share my secret with the broader internet population. In 1992 Dr Daniel Howard conducted research on the effect of wrapping on the gift recipient. I won't go into the details, but he showed that wrapped gifts are preferred over the non-wrapped variety.

I think that I buy pretty cool gifts for people, but since I tend to be quite disorganized, I used to be left without something to wrap it in. In an emergency there was always newspaper or a page or two from a glossy magazine as a substitute, but then there was the problem of adhesion?!

A few years ago, I had a wrapping brainwave, a true Eureka moment. Why not use tin foil (for non South African's read Aluminium foil). Every kitchen has it and it can be torn from its roll (no need for scissors), and can be wrapped around any object - no adhesive tape required! What's more is that its shiny (Aluminium foil has a reflectivity of between 80 and 88%, depending whether you have the matte side or shiny side outside). Dr Howard's research also showed that the nicer the wrapping the more desirable the gift! Since my discovery I have never been left searching for a last minute means of wrapping a gift.

As I sign off, I thought to debunk a common misconception about the insulation property of Aluminium foil and its use in cooking. Has anyone ever said "put the shiny side inside to keep the heat in"? The truth is that difference between the ability of the matt and shiny sides of the foil to insulate is negligible, and can only be detected with sensitive instruments. It doesn't matter which side is inside!