My hypothesis is that the corn cob eating technique chosen is related to the eater's most natural nod of the head, and hence is an indication of the eater's personality. My wife, a most agreeable person, employs the lathe technique, which means she is nodding "yes", albeit in slow motion. I, on the other hand, being cantankerous, employ the typewriter technique, which means I am slowly nodding "no". Think of all the money that could be saved on personality tests, just by handing out the corn cobs!

What about those of us who prefer corn-on-the-cob to be off the cob? I always take a knife to it and remove all the kernels before eating. A practice that started with braces and continues to this day for efficiency purposes. It also means that no head nodding (yes or no) is required.

I think I'm a typewriter, at least I know I am on cob-ettes. On a full-length cob I may employ a combination of methods.

I'd have to actually get a full-length corn-on-th-cob to find out for sure, though, and that doesn't seem likely anytime soon. We don't do corn on the cob at home and the only place we dine out that served COTC, serves shorties.