Talk:Bubble gum/Archive 1

Flavor

So what's the deal with bubble gum flavour? Was it meant to resemble something? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 209.202.71.196 (talk) 19:49, 4 December 2003 (UTC)

I'm curious too. Where did this flavor come from? —Ben FrantzDale 15:27, 5 April 2006 (UTC)

I was just smelling the bay tree in my back yard... reminded me of bubble gum.... --CKL

Advertising

Anyone else think the Hubba Bubba reference is self-advertising? I'm a child who's never heard of it. I've heard of Double Bubble and that's about it - "most children favor" it? That sounds like advertising to me. It's a ghostlink - how well known could it be? --LockeShocke 21:49, Jun 27, 2004 (UTC)

You have to be American or Canadian I guess, because its pretty well-known in CAnada and the States. But I do think that the Skittles bubblegum one has to be removed. AllStarZ 05:06, 16 January 2006 (UTC) Roosto 21:47, 26 January 2006 (UTC) I removed the skittles part as it was irrelevant and had definite POV. Does anyone know what the world record for the largest bubble blown is? That might a good thing to include

Edits

I removed the skittles paragraph as it was irrelevant and had POV. Does anyone know what the record for largest bubble blown is? that might be interesting Gum is good, and there are like a katrillion different flavors...it does mess up your jaw and teeth though so you might not want to chew it consistantly. And eating it is not a smart decision.

In Fiction

This section should be removed if it does not have a reference, as I have grown up in the United States watching many cartoons, and have never seen this.

History

Trying to find more biographical information. According to this biography, it actually was W. Diemer. Still poking around now, but was there any reference for the mistaken identity as appears in the article? --SB_Johnny | ^talk 23:40, 2 August 2006 (UTC)

And here, too. If there are no sources for the other story, I'll rewrite the section. SB_Johnny | ^talk 23:51, 2 August 2006 (UTC)

Viscosity

Isn't bubblegum more viscous than regular chewing gum? It is "thicker" so it doesn't break as easily as chewing gum when trying to blow bubbles. Change it back if I'm incorrect.

Pay Toilets?

In the United States, bubble gum is often dispensed by pay toilets.

I don't recall ever having seen a toilet of any sort dispense bubblegum. Joking aside, is there something specific being conveyed by this statement (if so, what?) or is it merely an allusion to the ubiquity of bubblegum in the United States? Or is it that the United States has a bubblegum culture suitable only to be obtained by toilets. There I am joking again! Sorry. I'm just really confused as to what this statement is supposed to teach me, especially given it's prominence at the top of the article. --Co149 16:06, 25 August 2006 (UTC)

This has to be a joke, and im taking it out. It's possible, if there's a vending machine in the latrine, usually for contraceptives, feminine napkins, etc. they might have gum too. But that doesnt have anything to do with pay toilet stalls. ( I'm in the U.S. ) 141.154.25.215 14:48, 26 August 2006 (UTC)

I yanked the pay toilet reference just a couple of days after some jokster put it in- again. Perhaps this article should be locked due to childish vandalism. Pay toilets have never, at least in normal instances, been used to dispense gumballs, only personal items. Sheesh.

Calories

According to the article Chewing gum, chewing chewing gum burns 12 calories an hour. This article says chewing bubble gum can burn 11 calories in 10-15 minutes. I'm curious what magical property it is that makes bubble gum over 4 times as effective in burning calories. And want to know as a followup why can't we extract this very special ingredient and add it to my Stairmaster. 68.54.88.160 06:56, 22 September 2006 (UTC)

Does anyone know what gives bubble gum its flavor? I was in a restroom and smelled a very strong smell of what I think was bubble gum, and I'm curious what it might have been. gujamin 19:05, 29 November 2006 (UTC)

History

The history of the invention of bubblegum is poorly recorded and needs to be thoroughly researched and verified. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 134.67.6.11 (talk) 15:12, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

---

The term "bubbling"

Blowing bubbles is called "bubbling". I died heard it called that many a time. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.150.47.242 (talk) 02:55, 3 May 2007 (UTC)

Walter Diemer not Mustin invented Bubble gum.

Because Diemer never did patent his invention, many stories have been fabricated on the aspect of the true inventor of Doubble Bubble. Many attribute this invention to Mustin. Here is the employee's accounts of what happened. Deimer's office was on the third floor next to Mustin's. When mustin was asked to take a phone call on the 1st floor, he asked Diemer, an accountant, to watch a batch of gum base he was concocting in an attempt to lower costs. Diemer became facinated. As Mustin quickly lost interest in creating a gumbase, Deimer began to experiment. Having only a High School Education and no experince with chemistry, he mixed by guessing. He soon created a batch of chewy white bubblegum! When he returned to the vat the next day, it had become too hard to chew, so he made a huge 100lb. vat of the recipe he had made the night before, except this time he added latex. this allowed the gum to stretch and not stick to a bubble blower's face. He taught all the employees to blow bubbles and says quote "We were blowing bubbles and dancing all over the office!" He took a 20 pounds of the candy to a local store, where it sold out in an afternoon! When the Great Depression hit, it was a cheap candy that event the poorest famly could still enjoy. That is how bubble gum was invented by Diemer NOT by Mustin.

Islandgurl316 (talk) 16:26, 27 March 2008 (UTC)islandgurl331

Difference between bubble gum and chewing gum

There should be a section that differenciates between the two so people know. Mr. C.C. (talk) 05:40, 12 July 2008 (UTC)

Confusing sentence

This sentence needs work: "It wasn't until Bubble gum was first introduced to the American public in 1911, but was not commercially successful." I'd fix it, but I'm pretty drunk and also have no idea what it is trying to say. 76.91.23.186 (talk) 04:35, 6 September 2008 (UTC)

british spellings

is there some wikipedia.us convention that says the american spellings are preferred over the british? gujamin 18:48, 20 April 2007 (UTC) --- Um. Yes. *.us is the convention.

Nope. It depends on how they were originally spelled when the article was created. Which words are using British spellings anyway? 172.201.54.32 01:19, 29 July 2007 (UTC)

Support Standard American spellings. 76.171.171.194 (talk) 00:56, 6 September 2008 (UTC)

Yeh, I reverted somebody's changing of all the spellings from British English to American English. Perhaps I shouldn't, I dunno. I thought it was meant to be kept as the article was originally written. I checked the guidance policies which I think broadly agree with me. They say:

"It is inappropriate for an editor to change an article from one guideline-defined style to another unless there is a substantial reason to do so; for example, it is not productive to change from British to American spelling unless the article concerns an American topic. Edit warring over optional styles is unacceptable. If an article has been stable in a given style, it should not be converted without a reason that goes beyond mere choice of style. When it is unclear whether an article has been stable, defer to the style used by the first major contributor.[1] However, edits which correct deviations from written style guidelines should not be reverted." SIGURD42 (talk) 11:27, 6 September 2008 (UTC)

Vandalism

dang, this page is super-vandalized right now. I don't have time to figure it out. -Sojambi Pinola 21:41, 22 January 2007 (UTC) bubblepoop? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Bob falfa (talk • contribs) 22:42, 4 October 2007 (UTC)

I cleaned up some of the major vandalism. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 192.104.181.229 (talk) 23:34, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

Inventor disputed

I moved the paragraphs that said Walter Diemer had not invented any bubble gum to a sub-head indicating a dispute. When I searched the online patent records (http://www.uspto.gov) I looked for the 1928 patent referred to as evidence, and after moderate but not exhaustive effort I could not find any patent on a formulation for Double Bubble. I searched under the most relevant classifications listing many other chewing gum type inventions. Until someone can state a patent number by which the patent record can be viewed, I regard the story as totally undocumented, and not very credible.

---

Viewing the online patent records under U.S. patent classification # 426/5 yielded two chewing gum improvement patents by Gilbert Mustin (G. B. Mustin) that were issued 7/29/1930 (U.S. patent #'s 1771981 & 1771982) and submitted on 9/10/1928. Either of these patents could potentially describe the bubble gum formula prior to it actually being referred to "bubble gum" per se. The first patent for "bubble gum" that I could find was from 1936 for "Bubble Chewing Gum" (U.S. patent# 2060461). Walter Diemer had no patents in the U.S. patent classification #'s for gum provided in this article (426/3, 426/4, 426/5, & 426/6)

If someone can find the patent for bubble gum, please let me know: carll@unc.edu or post here.

I have skimmed through the Mustin patents mentioned above and in the article, and they do not appear to be for bubble gum. All three appear to be for ways to enclose chewing gum in a flavored coating (sort of like a chiclet, but easier to manufacture).--Srleffler (talk) 05:50, 22 February 2008 (UTC)

I'm removing the following as speculation and/or original research:

The credibility of this story depends upon a citation for the purported 1928 patent. Looking under the U.S. patent classification most frequently used for such gum inventions (namely 426/3, 426/4, 426/5, and 426/6) one will find that G.B. Mustin filed for three patents: one on 10 November 1926 and two on 10 September 1928, respectively under the titles of "Method of Making Chewing Gum Sandwiches" and "Chewing Gum and Method of Making the Same" all issued 29 July 1930 under patent numbers: 1,771,506; 1,771,981; and 1,771,982. The latter two inventions are chewing gum improvements that could possibly describe the bubblegum formula prior to it actually being called "bubble gum". Furthermore, the first patent found within the classification numbers provided above that referred to "bubble gum" was issued to Katie Wilcox in 1936 for "Bubble Chewing Gum" (U.S. patent# 2060461).

Citing patents would be fine, but describing the search for the patents and speculating about whether they apply to bubblegum is original research. (Besides being wrong, as I comment above.) Note that I am also going to remove much of the uncited/speculative material this was written in response to. Assuming the patent search described above was exhaustive, it does not appear that either man patented the formula for bubblegum. Perhaps they hoped to keep the formula as a trade secret.--Srleffler (talk) 06:16, 22 February 2008 (UTC)

---

I think this whole section should be tossed into the talk page until it's resolved. Consider the following excerpts:

The July 1990 edition of Smithsonian magazine followed suit [...] After interviewing the elderly Diemer, who at this point was consumed by senility...

and

This story, although interesting, has several false points. one, Walter Diemer was only fifty-five in 1960, and not "consumed by senility."

Whoever wrote the second part clearly misunderstood the first. Someone reading this article would be completely confused. The article has been slapped with citations missing and unreferenced section tags, but a lot of the "facts" presented seem unverifiable. Doze 20:00, 20 December 2006 (UTC)

---

The interview was conducted in 1990, at which point Mr. Diemer would have been 85 and ripe for senility. Thus, I removed the passage that said "This story, although interesting, has several false points. one, Walter Diemer was only 55 in 1960, and not "consumed by senility." I also removed the statements made thereafter about Diemer being the sole "officially" credited inventor of bubble gum since 1926, as this already is made apparent earlier in the passage.

There are curious, but unsubstantiated claims that Fleer Corp.'s President appeared on a radio airing of What's My Line in the 1950's as the inventor of bubble gum prior to Diemer's TV appearance.

---

I would like to continue this dispute as historical evidence points to bubble gum as being "invented" by the Shelby Gum Company of Shelby, Ohio in 1924 (see: http://orbita.starmedia.com/~gumwrapper/m2page4.htm and http://www.ohwy.com/oh/s/shelby.htm). There seems to be no record of who actually patented the formula, however it is known that Shelby Gum was one of the first gum companies to include trading cards with their gum, and that Spangler Candy of Bryan Ohio purchased Shelby Gun in 1962 —Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.233.165.250 (talk) 14:46, 25 September 2008 (UTC)

I found a reliable source which says that "Frank H. Fleer, developed the first prototype of bubble gum ... in 1906, Fleer marketed the first commercial bubble gum, which he named 'Blibber-Blubber.'" It is on Google Books, you can check it out. It is from a book published by Routledge, which is a better source than the web pages. Redclift, Michael (2004-05-27). Chewing Gum: The Fortunes of Taste. Routledge. pp. 121–2. ISBN 041594418X. Stu ^(aeiou)_{I'm Researching Wikipedia} 22:34, 21 February 2009 (UTC)

Comment

Uh, this article has 1) a list of fun facts, and 2) how-to content. Neither of those belong on Wikipedia. 71.171.71.85 (talk) 03:58, 5 February 2010 (UTC)

Request for Comment: British versus American English per WP Editing Styles, Guidelines

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Manual_of_Style

"National varieties of English

See also: Wikipedia:Manual of Style#National varieties of English All national varieties of English spelling are acceptable, both for titles and content. American spellings need not be respelled to British standards nor vice-versa; for example, both color and colour are acceptable and both spellings are found in article titles (for example color gel and colour state). However an article title on a topic that has strong ties to a particular English-speaking nation should use the variety of English appropriate for that nation."

Per Guideline, the article Bubblegum does not have strong ties to U.K. or Britain. For readability, and per Guideline, I support replacement of British English spellings with Standard American.

Support Standard American spellings. 76.171.171.194 (talk) 18:07, 6 September 2008 (UTC)

Oppose, as the Manual of Style supports leaving spellings as they were, and bubblegum has no strong ties to the United States, either. Bart133 ^{t c @ How's my driving?} 00:00, 8 September 2008 (UTC)

From the Manual of Style:

It is inappropriate for an editor to change an article from one guideline-defined style to another unless there is a substantial reason to do so; for example, it is not productive to change from British to American spelling unless the article concerns an American topic. Edit warring over optional styles is unacceptable. If an article has been stable in a given style, it should not be converted without a reason that goes beyond mere choice of style. When it is unclear whether an article has been stable, defer to the style used by the first major contributor. However, edits which correct deviations from written style guidelines should not be reverted.

• • Though Bubblegum may lack strong ties to U.K. or U.S., inarguably, Standard American, though not superior to British English, is far more prevalent worldwide. Further, the original article utilized one British English term, hardly qualifying it as "an article written in British English." 76.171.171.194 (talk) 19:33, 8 September 2008 (UTC)

Oppose, for reasons above, and the same reasons I put further above on the talk page. But the user Axlq has changed it to American English now though. The guidelines specifically say it is inapropriate to do this, as bubble gum doesn't have particular ties to either the UK or America, and I think that he should have at least discussed the issue here first. Although I do oppose the change, it's probably best just to leave it now. SIGURD42 (talk) 10:30, 8 September 2008 (UTC)

• • Agree, we should avoid edit warring. We can reach an amicable consensus. 76.171.171.194 (talk) 19:33, 8 September 2008 (UTC)

• • • The edit warring is unacceptable. It's unreasonable to change it to American English (I live in the United States, and the English I hear every day is anything but "standard") just because you suppose that it might be more common. People from the United States can understand British English, and people from Britain can understand American English. Leaving it the way it is won't hurt anyone. It only is necessary to change the language when the subject has strong ties to one country. Bart133 ^{t c @ How's my driving?} 22:14, 8 September 2008 (UTC)

• • There wasn't any edit warring until you began edit warring. It is not unreasonable to change the present spellings to Standard American. Standard American English refers to written language. Please participate in the consensus amicably. Please try to remain WP:Civil. 76.171.171.194 (talk) 01:37, 9 September 2008 (UTC)

• • • Actually, the edit warring started when you reverted my reversion. My reversion was the reversion of an unacceptable edit. See the Manual of Style. The article must be left as it is, and any changing is inappropriate. Bart133 ^{t c @ How's my driving?} 01:48, 9 September 2008 (UTC)
    • There are people who don't live in the United States, so your claiming that Standard American English is more appropriate is invalid. The other reasons you have given have also been shown to be invalid. Bart133 ^{t c @ How's my driving?} 01:51, 9 September 2008 (UTC)

• • Actually, no. I did not "revert" your reversion. I made a one-time change, per http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bubblegum&action=history, to User:SIGURD42 edits. An edit war "occurs when individual editors or groups of editors repeatedly revert each other's edits to a page or subject area." The only repeated reversion by a single editor is you. "There are people who don't live in the United States, so your claiming that Standard American English is more appropriate is invalid" is an absurd perversion of the argument. Standard American English is FACT more prevalent than British English worldwide, not my claim or opinion, and a single term of British English is hardly an article written in British English.

Support Mediation for consensus. 76.171.171.194 (talk) 02:54, 9 September 2008 (UTC)

Filed here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Requests_for_mediation/Bubblegum MigraineNonElation (talk) 03:07, 9 September 2008 (UTC) (formerly User:76.171.171.194)

Support. I changed it to American English per the applicable WP:MOS guidelines, which state that changing the language is appropriate if the article "concerns an American topic." Bubblegum is an American invention, the product is consumed largely in America, it is manufactured predominantly by American companies, and the article reflects that weighting. All those factors makes it sufficiently an "American" topic to warrant writing the article in the language of the product's origin. =Axlq 04:03, 9 September 2008 (UTC)

See Wikipedia:Requests for mediation/Bubblegum#Decision of the Mediation Committee. Per the closing statement, along with the Manual of Style, it is unreasonable to change it. The arguments for bubblegum being a subject with significant ties to the United States are wholly insufficient, and no reason has been brought up as to why it should be changed. I am not reverting, simply to avoid a 3RR violation, but I would strongly support another user's reverting. Bart133 ^{t c @ How's my driving?} 19:05, 9 September 2008 (UTC)

To all users reverting the British English:

In a recent edit, you changed one or more words from one international variety of English to another. Because Wikipedia has readers from all over the world, our policy is to respect national varieties of English in Wikipedia articles.

For subjects exclusively related to Britain (for example, a famous British person), use British English. For something related to the United States in the same way, use American English. For something related to other English-speaking countries, such as Canada, Australia, or New Zealand, use the appropriate variety of English used there. If it is an international topic, use the same form of English the original author used. (emphasis mine)

In view of that, please don't change articles from one version of English to the other, even if you don't normally use the version the article is written in. Respect other people's versions of English. They in turn should respect yours. Other general guidelines on how Wikipedia articles are written can be found in the Wikipedia:Manual of Style. If you have any queries about all this, you can ask me on my talk page or you can visit the help desk. Thank you.

Bart133 ^{t c @ How's my driving?} 19:08, 9 September 2008 (UTC)

Well I guess that settles it. Then article will be American English, according to your own argument.

Let's look at the history:

• The original author used a mixture of American and British spelling in the first-ever edit of this article. Note the words "color" (American) and "favoured" (British).
• The next edit to incorporate a word that could be distinguished as American or British, used American spelling ("flavor"). At this point, the majority of nationally-discernible words used American spelling.
• Then this edit rephrased the sentence containing the lone British word to eliminate the word, leaving the article with 100% American English. The first consistently-spelled version used American English.
• In fact, the article consistently used American spelling for over 3 years, until contributions unilaterally changed all spelling to British English without explanation, 3 months ago. If anything, that change violated WP:MOS. I simply restored the consensus version. I note that DarkTigerLord's contribution history consists of changing articles to British spelling without explanation (he did it with chewing gum too). That's borderline vandalism, and should be reverted.

Furthermore, the manual of style supports American spelling when the article subject is an American topic — and indeed, as has been pointed out already, the article reeks of U.S. content. The product is American, the companies are American, the consumers are predominantly American, etc. It would almost be a violation of WP:UNDUE to use British spelling here.

And finally, The mediation link you reference does not support your assertion that it is unreasonable to change the spelling; it only denies the request for mediation. The manual of style supports it in two ways: Original early edits, and American topics dominating the content.

In light of the article history and the manual of style, you haven't made a strong case in support of retaining British spelling here. =Axlq 01:55, 10 September 2008 (UTC)

Give one explanation of how bubble gum is an American topic. The text had been left in British English for three months without challenge, so it's equally unreasonable to revert the British spelling. Bart133 ^{t c @ How's my driving?} 02:48, 10 September 2008 (UTC)

I have already given examples (twice) how this is predominantly an American topic. Who invented it? (An American). Where was it first introduced? (United States). Where are the major producing companies? (U.S.). Who leads the world in gum consumption? (U.S.). The facts don't change because you disagree.

Also, subtle vandalism can persist a long time before someone corrects it. What's your point? That if nobody catches it, it must be OK? In light of your arguments about the manual of style giving weight to the language established early in the article's editing history, are you seriously suggesting that a 3-month-old unexplained and undiscussed edit that violates WP:MOS, by an editor with a pattern of similar behavior, trumps years of American English firmly-established in this article? Had I caught it the day it happened, I would have reverted immediately, and we wouldn't be having this discussion. =Axlq 04:03, 10 September 2008 (UTC)

Agree with Axlq, wholeheartedly. MigraineNonElation (talk) 01:58, 10 September 2008 (UTC)

• Comment: MigraineNonElation is 71.171.171.194. Evidence (see "involved parties") Bart133 ^{t c @ How's my driving?} 02:48, 10 September 2008 (UTC)
  • No big secret there, since I announced that fact here, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Requests_for_mediation/Bubblegum and on this talk page. Probably the best evidence, I trust. MigraineNonElation (talk) 04:54, 10 September 2008 (UTC)

• wow did u know bubble gum and chewing gum is baned in most contries... and if u be seen with it u can get 1 year worth in jail, stuped agh? i am a vegetarian.... there is no gelatin in bubble gum o chewing gum... is there, im a fan of it and if i got caught with it at what ever place it is where its eligle.... i would go super crazy and when i get let out i would just chew on it again but then of course i wuld leave that contrie! and u might be wondring but why is it eliggle its because peopel always stick it on the side of the road or on polls and litter it and stuff! oh well... glad to be australian! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 121.222.68.41 (talk) 10:05, 1 March 2010 (UTC)

• Oppose. It is inappropriate for an editor to change an article from one guideline-defined style to another unless there is a substantial reason to do so; for example, it is not productive to change from British to American spelling unless the article concerns an American topic. Bubblegun is not "an American topic." Nuff said. SCFilm29 (talk) 23:07, 16 June 2010 (UTC)

Inca Kola

Is there a compelling reason for Inca Kola to be in the see also list?--71.111.229.19 (talk) 19:30, 7 August 2010 (UTC)

Some people say Inca Kola tastes like bubble gum. Eligius (talk) 05:53, 23 March 2011 (UTC)

Bubble Gum Flavor

What creates that distinct bubble gum flavor, and why isn't there anything about the history of bubble gum flavoring in this article? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.106.115.35 (talk) 02:12, 19 August 2010 (UTC)

I am similarly interested in the history and and creation of the "bubblegum flavor." It is quite ubiquitous (to the extent that I doubt its secrecy) and I am curious how it is created and why it was selected to be the flavor of bubblegum. 166.77.6.70 (talk) 19:41, 17 July 2012 (UTC)

"bubblegum" or "bubble gum"?

According to Merriam-Webster dictionary, "bubblegum" is an adjective that pertains to teenagers, slang from 1969; and "bubble gum" with the space is the correct spelling. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Rdfgiraldez (talk • contribs) 16:19, 10 July 2013‎

Sounds about right. A Google Books search turns up 173,000 results for "bubble gum", and 66,100 for "bubblegum" - adding the word "candy" to the search (to filter out adjectival use on other subjects, primarily pop music) doesn't affect the former count, but cuts the latter down to just 4,240. I'll request a page move. --McGeddon (talk) 15:27, 10 July 2013 (UTC)