As I posted, we had a party last weekend. One thing I didn’t get to write about was a neat accidental experiment that took place having to do with the phenomenon of people gathering in the kitchen during a party.

Many of us have wondered about this. Doing a brief search online I found few theories. One that sort of resonated was the Dynamic Space Theory I found on StraightDope.com:

“…the kitchen represents a dynamic location, in that one can leave if one needs to.”

The gist of this idea is that in other rooms there is more of a commitment, but in the kitchen one can leave at any time. Who knows. Could be true, along with a dozen other theories. But how to test these ideas?

Well, one thing that we stumbled on this last weekend was that there was a way to test one element in the equation. That being, what makes people not hang out in the kitchen. Oddly, we stumbled upon something quite unique, quite accidentally.

The conditions at our party were no different from any other. We had dozens of guests, most of whom were cramming into the kitchen. I’ll report that I was no exception. Thanks to a drunken conversation I was having with a biologist about a preserved moth that hangs in our kitchen, I found myself pulling text books out of the living room and spreading them across the kitchen counter. After the conversation, I left the books out and flitted off to some other intrigue. But when I came back a while later, the dining room was crammed and the kitchen was empty.

Empty kitchen didn’t at first register, but seeing the books naked and vulnerable, I grabbed them up to take back to shelf. As I was walking out, people where trickling in behind me. I didn’t make it back to the shelves though. I got waylaid in the dining room and stood chatting for a while, books in hand. When I finally freed myself, determined to drop the books, I noticed that the kitchen was again cram packed.

Now it seemed odd. in the space of about 15 mintues, the kitchen had gone from standing room only, to dead empty, to standing room only. That is when I wondered about the books.

I walked back into the kitchen and spread the books out on the counter again, and then retreated to the next room to watch. Within 10 minutes everyone trickled out! So I went and grabbed the books up again. Once again, the room filled up rapidly. Now hooked, I again went in and spread the books about. Again it emptied. I could see people peek in and decide it wasn’t the place they wanted to be. And after everyone had left, I watched people swing through, eye the books, and walk out. I was totally amazed.

I repeated the process 4 times in all. Always with the same results. I wish I could know what it means. I think there is a very interesting dynamic going on here. I just have no idea what it could be.