Sunday 26 August 2012

Seems that being good at bridge doesn't free you from believing in nonsense

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The Telegraph reports - without once raising its literary eyebrows or even saying; "you what?" - on the triumph of the English women's bridge team* which is, it seems, down to lavender oil:

Mrs Smith, the daughter of Nico Gardener, the celebrated bridge author, devised the lavender tactic three years ago.

She insists on using only the lavender oil she buys from the medieval hilltop village of Tourrettes-sur-Loup, near Nice, in the south of France.


“It has to be high-altitude lavender, grown in the mountains – the stuff lower down is cheaper, but not as good. I am a great believer in alternative medicines, and our lavender oil definitely helps the concentration."

Now it's fine that this woman believes this and I suppose it's harmless. But why does no-one look Mrs Smith in the eye and tell her that it's utter nonsense? And why does the Telegraph publish this twaddle without pointing out that is isn't true?

*As an aside, why is there a woman's bridge team and a men's bridge team? I can see nothing in the game that suggests one or other gender has an advantage qua gender.

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2 comments:

Woodsy42 said...

If the oil is useless then it's all a load of twaddle. If however the oil does really help they are surely guilty of using chemical enhancement to help them perform better and should be banned from competitions in exactly the same way as any athlete who fails a dope test?

SadButMadLad said...

Her belief in lavander oil is no different to a sportperson putting on their sock in a set order or wearing lucky underpants or performing some particular action before an event. Supersitious mumbo-jumbo, but it's what the athlete (yep, a bridge player is an athelete too) believes in and mental attitude is an important part for any athlete.