Is it really?

Within a matter of fifteen minutes the other day I heard four different people say, "... the greatest thing since sliced bread." That got me thinking. What is so great about sliced bread? What is so hard about taking out a knife and cutting a slice? -- The slices won't be uniform from cut to cut. People will have to actually cut the bread, which takes entirely too long, plus they might cut themselves.

As a people, we need to resist the urge to say this, unless, we genuinely mean it. Take this time, right now, to think... pause, and ask yourself, is sliced bread really the greatest idea or invention (if we can even call it that, cause it was more or less discovered, right?) to happen? I mean, it might be compared to flowers or something else. I can think of a copious amount of ideas that are better than sliced bread. Once, I had an idea to build a potato gun, and I did it. That day is still better than sliced bread. Who came up with the idea to put headlights on a car; way better than sliced bread. What about the idea of non smoking areas? Or bidets? Yeah, we can all agree on that.

-- But David, you are forgetting, that said statement above is only referring to the years proceeding the invention of sliced bread. Forget the printing press, gunpowder, fire, wheels, and ice cream.

Taken from Primermagazine.com: In 1912, after eons of non-sliced whole grain terror, Otto Rohwedder of Iowa devised a machine with no purpose other than to slice bread. Unfortunately, soon after the prototype’s creation, the contraption – which, in its first iteration, could only handle one loaf at a time – perished in a fire. Despite this setback, Otto realized his dream and the dream of sandwich enthusiasts everywhere of a fully operational, multi-loaf bread-slicing apparatus in 1928 (don’t laugh, stuff took a long time, back then).

The first commercial application of Otto’s eventual handiwork took place in July of 1928, when the Chillicothe Baking Company of Missouri unveiled “Kleen Maid Sliced Bread.” This initial foray into the market was an expected success.

Otto’s suddenly popular and effective invention marked the beginning of an innovative period (additional slicing machines were built and sold to smaller companies following the Chillicothe effort) that culminated in 1930 when a newly national food brand called Wonder Bread marketed sliced bread across America; the Wonder ad campaigns are credited with the proliferation of the expression “the greatest thing since sliced bread.

Lets take a look at a timeline of inventions after 1930 till 1950, that are worth mentioning:

*1934 Monopoly. Tape Recorder.
*1937 Jet Engine.
*1939 Electron Microscope.
*1940 Color Television.
*1946 Microwave.
*1948 Velcro. Juke Box.
*1950 Credit Card.
So next time say, "Michael Vick is the greatest thing since the jet engine, which can transport me across the country is about 6 hours."