Double dipping. "That's like putting your whole mouth right in the dip!" These were the words spoken to Seinfeld's loveable "every man," George Costanza, after he dipped a chip, took a bite, and dipped again!
Ever since that episode aired, the term has taken on a life of its own and become part of the English language, as have several other coined terms from the mega-hit television series.
Well, several years after the legendary double dipping scene, a researcher (presumably a big Seinfeld fan) decided to test whether this practice was completely harmless or as disgusting as the accusing actor would have you believe.
Paul L. Dawson, professor at Clemson University, concludes that yes, it is almost like putting your whole mouth right in the dip.
In what must have been a fun and amusing assignment, Dawson had his undergraduate students perform an experiment using wheat crackers and bowls of dip.
To Dawson's surprise, a shocking 10,000 or so bacteria made its way from volunteers' mouths to the dip container.
"I was very surprised by the results," Dawson said in a telephone interview Thursday. "I thought there would be very minimal transfer. I didn't think we would be able to detect it. I like to say it's like kissing everybody at the party — if you're double dipping, you're putting some of your bacteria in that dip."
And, just for credibility's sake (not that anything involving Seinfeld shouldn't be instantly accepted as absolute truth!), the study's results will be published in an upcoming issue of the Food Safety journal.
So, unless you're home alone with your own chips and your own dip, please refrain from the dreaded double dipping.
No one likes bacteria-flavored dip, so, "From now on, when you take a chip, just take one dip and end it!"
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