Studies have shown that people who go to movie theaters and eat popcorn are immune to advertising and forget the ads that precede the film. This is something to do with the fact that our lips and tongues simulate the pronunciation of the new name when we first hear it, and when we next encounter it we automatically practice its pronunciation without realizing it. If you eat popcorn the chewing interferes with this so-called “inner speech”, rendering the repetition redundant.

Well, we can all do with a good joke, can’t we.

Unfortunately, most Epicureans don’t eat popcorn.