Why foes

Stretching and yawning may be a way to flex muscles and joints, increase heart rate, and feel more awake. Other people believe that yawning is a protective reflex to redistribute the oil-like substance called surfactant say: sur-FAK-tint that helps keep lungs lubricated inside and keeps them from collapsing. So, if we didn't yawn, according to this theory, taking a deep breath would become harder and harder — and that would not be good!

But there is one idea about yawning that everyone knows to be true. It seems contagious. If you yawn in class, you'll probably notice a few other people will start yawning, too. Even thinking about yawning can get you yawning. Another reason for its dominance over other snacks was its appealing aroma when popped, something that street vendors used to their advantage when selling popcorn. They had beautiful carpets and rugs and didn't want popcorn being ground into it.

When films added sound in , the movie theater industry opened itself up to a much wider clientele, since literacy was no longer required to attend films the titles used early silent films restricted their audience. By , attendance to movie theaters had reached 90 million per week. Such a huge patronage created larger possibilities for profits—especially since the sound pictures now muffled snacks—but movie theater owners were still hesitant to bring snacks inside of their theaters.

The Great Depression presented an excellent opportunity for both movies and popcorn. Looking for a cheap diversion, audiences flocked to the movies. And at 5 to 10 cents a bag, popcorn was a luxury that most people were able to afford.

If those inside the theaters couldn't see the financial lure of popcorn, enterprising street vendors didn't miss a beat: they bought their own popping machines and sold popcorn outside the theaters to moviegoers before they entered the theater. As Smith explains, early movie theaters literally had signs hung outside their coatrooms, requesting that patrons check their popcorn with their coats.

Popcorn, it seems, was the original clandestine movie snack. Beyond wanting to maintain appearances, early movie theaters weren't built to accommodate the first popcorn machines; the theaters lacked proper ventilation. But as more and more customers came to the theater with popcorn in hand, owners couldn't ignore the financial appeal of selling the snack. So they leased "lobby privileges" to vendors, allowing them to sell their popcorn in the lobby of their theater or more likely on a bit of street in front of the theater for a daily fee.

Vendors didn't complain about this arrangement—selling popcorn outside the theater widened their business potential, as they could sell to both moviegoers and people on the street. Eventually, movie theater owners realized that if they cut out the middleman, their profits would skyrocket. For many theaters, the transition to selling snacks helped save them from the crippling Depression. In the mids, the movie theater business started to go under.

In two years, the theaters with popcorn saw their profits soar; the five theaters without popcorn watched their profits go into the red. Eventually, movie theater owners came to understand that concessions were their ticket to higher profits, and installed concession stands in their theaters.

World War II further solidified the marriage between popcorn and the movie theaters. See more words from the same century. Accessed 12 Nov. See the full definition for foe in the English Language Learners Dictionary. Nglish: Translation of foe for Spanish Speakers. Britannica English: Translation of foe for Arabic Speakers.

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free! Log in Sign Up. Save Word. Definition of foe Entry 1 of 2. FOE abbreviation. Definition of FOE Entry 2 of 2. Fraternal Order of Eagles. Examples of foe in a Sentence Noun Many considered him a foe of democracy.