MythBusters

Please don't try anything

that you're about to see us do at home.

Ever!

On this scatological episode of "Mythbusters"...

Oh, man.

...it's all about idioms,

as the team takes on those phrases we all take for granted.

Is it really best to hit the ground running?

Or to end with a bang?

And for the coup de grace...

I shouldn't be surprised, but it smells terrible.

...Adam and Jamie will attempt

to polish the unpolishable.

Incredible.

Who are the Mythbusters?

Adam Savage...

I look good, right? I look damn good!

...and Jamie Hyneman.

Oh, great. We've got a yeti outside.

Between them, more than 30 years

of special-effects experience.

Joining them -- Grant Imahara...

Oh, my God!

...Tory Belleci...

Say hello to my little friend!

... and Kari Byron. -You're better than a robot!

They don't just tell the myths...

Bye-bye!

...they put them to the test.

So, we're doing idioms.

Do you have any?

I do, actually.

At Industrial Light & Magic,

whenever we were working on a model

that required a lot of detail and yet was still ugly,

we referred to the process as polishing.

So the myth is, you can't polish

-Exactly. -That one's been around forever.

I've heard that all over the place.

I got a wrinkle, though,

because the network has instructed us

that we're not allowed to use the word

Can we say

-Of course not. -

Nope.

But to set your mind at ease,

we can say "feces," "manure," "guano,"

"dung," "waste," "scat," "doo-doo," "poo-poo,"

and "poop."

Pedants that we are,

we've put common idioms to the test before.

We've dared to question the culpability

of bulls in china shops...

They're very careful of the breaking china.

... the trouble with finding needles in haystacks...

Yeah!

... and the ease of shooting fish in a barrel.

I think he's still squirming.

But just this might be the toughest task of all.

So, where are we gonna start with this poop polishing?

Well, I think we're gonna need

the widest possible array of dung that we can find.

A veritable smorgasbord of fecal matter.

And then see if there's any specific kind we can get

to take a high polish.

Okay. Let's get at it.

From here,

the best place to find a truly broad selection of dung

is the San Francisco Zoo.

Well, we're just about to go into the barn

containing a bunch of giraffes,

or as we on "Mythbusters" like to call them,

the large herbivore savanna- based feces-production units.

And hopefully they're going to have

some special packages just for us.

But you can't expect something for nothing,

so the boys come bearing fruit.

We've got some breakfast here.

This girl refuses to take Adam's banana.

No surprises there.

Jamie has better luck.

She's beautiful.

And breakfast begins its magical transformation

into manure.

Okay. Now you've eaten. Let's see the other stuff.

So it turns out that giraffes are really efficient

at extracting the nutrients they need out of the food they eat,

unlike things like elephants

and other herbivores that live in the same environment

that are basically like cows the way they process.

The giraffes extract every last little thing --

hello -- out of the food.

And that's why you end up with this dense little nugget,

which tells me that it might be

better material for us to work with.

But giraffes aren't the only donors.

Grizzly dung. Let's go get some.

Armed with scoops and buckets,

they need to steal the scats of a bunch more species

to give them the best possible chance of busting this myth.

If one stool won't take a shine, another might.

So there's no bears around here, I take it.

Hey, Jamie. Over here.

Oh, man, this stuff is soft.

It's kind of like meatloaf.

I know I shouldn't be surprised, but it smells terrible.

You know the worst part now?

I got an inch on my nose.

The grizzlies get set free

as the boys move from stink to stench.

Warthogs.

Oh, right out of the gate, I see we're in luck.

Look at that.

Holy That's a lot of poo.

-Oh, wait. Look. -Oh, it's all in a string.

Looks like it could be a necklace.

We just have to polish it up.

They race to secure the manure

from half a dozen more animals,

including lions, rhinos, and koalas.

I think we got everything we need here.

Oh, you're full of it.

Let's get back to the shop and start polishing.

Okay.

Now to test a myth with momentum.

All right, so what's next?

Well, we've got another myth that will likely result

-in you getting hurt. -Great.

Awesome. What is it?

You know the phrase "hit the ground running"?

That's the term when somebody is already up to speed

-before they start a job. -Right.

Well, we want to know is,

if you literally hit the ground running,

do you get going any faster?

I like it.

Yeah, sounds dangerous for you.

When the phrase surfaced in the 1 890s,

it was meant literally,

so all the more reason to put it to the test.

We'll move on to wheels in motion,

but kick off with fast feet.

So, how are we gonna test this?

I think we need to start out with a harness

to keep us suspended in the air

so we could get our feet moving before we touch the ground.

We should probably also add some forward momentum

to see if that has any difference on the experiment.

That sounds like we're all getting hurt, not just Tory.

Welcome to my world.

And welcome back to Trapeze Arts.

This where our three thrill-seekers

once tried a 360 on a swing.

Oh, my gosh! That's enough!

The team has commissioned an indoor zip line

to help launch the legend.

Meantime, they'll need some baseline figures

to see if this phrase has legs.

I think we should start out with a control run

from a standing start, let's say 30 feet, and then time it.

Then we'll use our harness rigs

so that way we're up off the ground.

We'll start our run, and then when we're dropped,

we'll be in mid-stride and we'll see if our time is any shorter.

30 feet is a short sprint,

but that's the best way to test this idiom.

It's 30 feet. Right there.

Any difference between a standing and a rolling start

is likely to be measured in fractions of a second.

Let's go! Let's go! Come on!

Get those shoes on! Get those shoes on!

Tory's the first to run

his three standing-start control sprints.

On your marks, get set, go.

Tory consistently clocks just over two seconds.

2. 11.

But those tiny differentials

might make all the difference.

All right. Who's next?

Now Kari and Grant post their own times.

I'm ready.

On your marks, get set, go.

-That was cute. -lt was cute.

I like the way she hit the back.

Then Grant steps up to the mark.

On your marks, get set, go.

Grant figures out the average time for each runner.

That's the mark they'll have to beat.

And now for the fun stuff.

Hit the ground running test. Let's go over the plan.

The trapeze is set up.

Eric's gonna lift us up so our feet aren't touching the ground.

We're gonna start moving our feet.

As soon as we hear "go," we drop down and start the run.

Tory takes flight

as Kari takes fright.

Personally, I think "hitting the ground running"

sounds great in your head if you're thinking in cartoons.

But in real life, I have a feeling it's gonna trip you up

and, well, we might see some face-plants.