DAP

Back in the 70’s, I was a service engineer for 3M company. 

In those days, before Xerox was a verb, 3M was the largest copier company in the world, but whenever I told anyone who I worked for, they assumed I made/sold sandpaper or tape. 

Actually, their background defined their understanding.  School teachers and secretaries thought Scotch Tape, mechanics and carpenters thought sandpaper, and people in the budding computer industry envisioned magnetic tape and floppy discs.

Obviously, our personal experiences provide a frame of reference which colors our understanding.  I mention this only as a lead-in to today’s point:

Background and experience have such a profound effect on our definition and understanding of words, it’s amazing that we can communicate at all!

What started me down this road today is a story I read recently about dealing with pets frightened by gunfire, thunder or other loud noises.  The author suggested that the pet owner should try using DAP.

DAP – a simple three letter word, but I had no idea what they were suggesting.

In my world, DAP is a sealer, a putty, a glazing compound

and I could not, for the life of me, see how that was going to help a panicked puppy.

So, I went to the internet.  The all-knowing Google  informs me that:

If you are a teenager, DAP means

The not-exactly-a-handshake form of greeting popularized by gang bangers, athletes and musicians. 

Probably the first DAP on film occurred  in a 1936 Tarzan movie when Maureen O`Sullivan, as Jane, met a pygmy chief.

On the other hand, if you are a member of the West Coast Arts crowd, you would know DAP is an acronym for  Distributed Arts Project.

If this search for something to calm your frazzled pooch seems to be taking forever,  you might need

 

 There are other links to other definitions, but by now that frantic puppy is probably driving you up the wall, so

The answer is DAP – short for Dog Appeasing Pheromone. 

Within a couple days after delivery, a new mother dog begins to emit a pheromone which has a calming effect on her nursing puppies.  That chemical has now been synthesized and is available with delivery systems such as the one pictured above.  It is said to have a calming effect on adult dogs as well, and is also useful in controlling barking, excessive urination and a variety of stress related disorders.

I don’t think it works on people, but by the time this little exercise was over, I was ready for a whiff of feel-good myself.  Wonder if there is a WAP (Writer Appeasing Pheromone) out there somewhere?