Richard Wordingham wrote:

>
> --- In qalam@yahoogroups.com, "Peter T. Daniels" <grammatim@...> wrote:
> > Richard Wordingham wrote:
> > >
> > > the
> > > odds seem high that the average Vai is thicker than the average
> > > person, simply for environmental reasons.
> >
> > I can't think of any context in which you wouldn't want to retract that
> > claim! Fortunately, everything else in your fine posting doesn't depend
> > on it.
>
> Then you have a very limited imagination. Statements like, 'The only
> indicator was the urinary iodine. The median value of all seven areas
> was 321 mcg/L, showing that IDD is no longer a public health problem
> in Liberia' suggest that iodine deficency may have done some serious
> damage. Source:
> http://www.people.virginia.edu/~jtd/iccidd/newsletter/feb2000.htm .
>
> It may be that such damage is more widespread than I think, but that
> is the only reason I can see for making a retraction. It seems that
> Liberia is better off in this respect than much of West Africa. If
> West Africa is typical, perhaps this may help depress the average
> enough to falsify my suggestion.
>
> Environmental differences were first brought home when I noticed the
> difference in stature between Thai Alumni of French and German
> Universities (and their guests) on one hand and their entertainers on
> the other. (I'd already noticed that minor royalty were larger than
> average.) The difference in stature between generations amongst my
> Thai in-laws is also quite striking. I was originally skeptical of
> claims of low average intelligence amongst Thais, but when I saw in
> reports of this nature that the young generation in Bangkok had an
> average IQ around 100, it struck me that factors affecting stature may
> also affect intelligence. Bangkok youths are not as small as older
> people, particularly in the provinces, and I'm not talking about obesity.
>
> My observation was not based on iodine deficiency, but was simply an
> extrapolation from poverty. I had forgotten the specific importance
> of iodine - after all the UK government long ago enacted legislation
> to combat 'Derbyshire neck'.

An entire page of red herrings.

Why would a person of Vai ethnicity be more vulnerable to environmental
dangers, even ones that result in "thickness," than any other person?
--
Peter T. Daniels grammatim@...