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American Morning
Headlines Making News 'Over There'
Aired September 12, 2003 - 07:52 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Gossip, it turns out, is a very expensive pastime "Over There" in Britain.
For more on that and other news from across the pond, 'tis Friday, and we always go "Over There" to check in with my good friend, Richard Quest, in our London bureau.
How are you doing?
RICHARD QUEST, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Forget tittle-tattle, the sort of stuff that you do over the garden fence, Jack.
CAFFERTY: I don't do that.
QUEST: We're talking real gossip here, and it's costing the British economy the best part of $300 million every single day. You see...
CAFFERTY: Oh, come on!
QUEST: Now, listen, 94 percent of us admit that we gossip in the workplace.
CAFFERTY: Yes.
QUEST: And what's more, we do it for 39 minutes a day.
Now look, you think these hard-working employees of AOL-Time Warner, you think they're discussing the news values of the day. I can tell you, studies and surveys show that for 39 minutes a day, they will talk about David Beckham, the soccer player, they will talk about their careers, celebrity, and they'll talk about their sex lives. It's costing us $300 million a day. That's expensive chitchat.
CAFFERTY: There's nothing that can be done about it, I don't guess. It's sort of, like you say, it's human nature. It started out with the garden fence.
Now, there's an old piece of conventional wisdom that says "When a duck quacks, there is no echo." And I guess you found people over there to try and prove whether that's true or not?
QUEST: It's one of the biggest Trivial Pursuit questions in life, small t, small p, that when a duck quacks there is no echo. Well, meet Desmond -- Desmond, who is joining us to talk about this, this morning.
CAFFERTY: Desmond?
QUEST: Yes, Desmond. He looks like a duck, he walks like a duck, and guess what? He quacks like it. (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
CAFFERTY: Do you guys have those AFLAC commercials over there? I bet you the AFLAC duck, do you have those on British television?
QUEST: No, we don't have that. But what we do have is a quacking duck, and researcher Professor Trevor Cox (ph) has investigated as to whether Desmond actually has an echo.
CAFFERTY: Yes.
QUEST: And what he's discovered is that when put in the right circumstances, like the Royal Albert Hall, you have an echo of a duck quack.
CAFFERTY: Yes. Why do we care?
QUEST: Well, this is what life's about, Jack. This is important stuff.
CAFFERTY: Oh, I'm sorry. I forgot.
How many rich women are there in Britain? I understand there's more than there used to be. How come?
QUEST: Three hundred thousand rich women, mega-rich women, 271,000 men, and the reason is because people are dying and getting divorced.
CAFFERTY: Yes.
QUEST: And women are copping the lot. That's the reason. Apparently, the big new breed of rich women are called "Sarahs." They are single and rich and happy, and it's because they got divorced.
CAFFERTY: Hey, you know, I...
QUEST: They also are -- they are the boomers. They inherited it because their husbands dropped dead. And finally, there is the "Sex and the City" lot, and they just simply earned it the old-fashioned way.
CAFFERTY: And what way is that, pray tell?
QUEST: Gossiping in the newsroom.
CAFFERTY: Oh, OK. Thank you, Richard. See you next week. Richard Quest joining us from "Over There."
QUEST: Thanks, Jack.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
Aired September 12, 2003 - 07:52 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Gossip, it turns out, is a very expensive pastime "Over There" in Britain.
For more on that and other news from across the pond, 'tis Friday, and we always go "Over There" to check in with my good friend, Richard Quest, in our London bureau.
How are you doing?
RICHARD QUEST, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Forget tittle-tattle, the sort of stuff that you do over the garden fence, Jack.
CAFFERTY: I don't do that.
QUEST: We're talking real gossip here, and it's costing the British economy the best part of $300 million every single day. You see...
CAFFERTY: Oh, come on!
QUEST: Now, listen, 94 percent of us admit that we gossip in the workplace.
CAFFERTY: Yes.
QUEST: And what's more, we do it for 39 minutes a day.
Now look, you think these hard-working employees of AOL-Time Warner, you think they're discussing the news values of the day. I can tell you, studies and surveys show that for 39 minutes a day, they will talk about David Beckham, the soccer player, they will talk about their careers, celebrity, and they'll talk about their sex lives. It's costing us $300 million a day. That's expensive chitchat.
CAFFERTY: There's nothing that can be done about it, I don't guess. It's sort of, like you say, it's human nature. It started out with the garden fence.
Now, there's an old piece of conventional wisdom that says "When a duck quacks, there is no echo." And I guess you found people over there to try and prove whether that's true or not?
QUEST: It's one of the biggest Trivial Pursuit questions in life, small t, small p, that when a duck quacks there is no echo. Well, meet Desmond -- Desmond, who is joining us to talk about this, this morning.
CAFFERTY: Desmond?
QUEST: Yes, Desmond. He looks like a duck, he walks like a duck, and guess what? He quacks like it. (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
CAFFERTY: Do you guys have those AFLAC commercials over there? I bet you the AFLAC duck, do you have those on British television?
QUEST: No, we don't have that. But what we do have is a quacking duck, and researcher Professor Trevor Cox (ph) has investigated as to whether Desmond actually has an echo.
CAFFERTY: Yes.
QUEST: And what he's discovered is that when put in the right circumstances, like the Royal Albert Hall, you have an echo of a duck quack.
CAFFERTY: Yes. Why do we care?
QUEST: Well, this is what life's about, Jack. This is important stuff.
CAFFERTY: Oh, I'm sorry. I forgot.
How many rich women are there in Britain? I understand there's more than there used to be. How come?
QUEST: Three hundred thousand rich women, mega-rich women, 271,000 men, and the reason is because people are dying and getting divorced.
CAFFERTY: Yes.
QUEST: And women are copping the lot. That's the reason. Apparently, the big new breed of rich women are called "Sarahs." They are single and rich and happy, and it's because they got divorced.
CAFFERTY: Hey, you know, I...
QUEST: They also are -- they are the boomers. They inherited it because their husbands dropped dead. And finally, there is the "Sex and the City" lot, and they just simply earned it the old-fashioned way.
CAFFERTY: And what way is that, pray tell?
QUEST: Gossiping in the newsroom.
CAFFERTY: Oh, OK. Thank you, Richard. See you next week. Richard Quest joining us from "Over There."
QUEST: Thanks, Jack.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
