"You might think I’m kidding, but I speak Swahili fluently. I spent 4 years in Kenya, East Africa."
So you can verify/deny the truth of that comment. I suspect the real source was some disgruntled mechanic that got tired of replacing them, and thought no one would argue with the Swahili comment

In any event, we never bothered trying to test one. If a brass float was available, we used it. If a brass float was not available, we would install a new phenolic float.
Jon.