Well Ian, I think there is a little confusion going on here.
A "dry cell" of the type you speak of is indeed a galvanic cell with
just he minimum amount of moisture to allow galvanic reactions.
It is indeed a "less wet" version of a zinc bucket filled with
acid and a carbon rod partially submerged in the acid,
but with a "dry cell" they use a substance that contains the
liquid and there is no actual body of liquid sloshing around in it.
It's just the name they decided to use for a less wet cell.
The "dry pile" however is slightly different in that it was not
intended as a galvanic battery at all, it is simply a stack of
plates of two different metals, sandwiched between pieces of
paper. It behaves like an electret in that it also builds up a
(static) charge which can be used and will re-build again.
Originally it was thought this was a totally different effect that was
not related to the galvanic effect, and indeed it seemed to be
more closely related to the "work function"/"emission energy threshold"
and the relative Fermi levels of the different metals, as well as
the pressure applied to the stack (which in turn led to it being
categorised as a "contact potential" effect).
But soon after that the "dry galvanic cell" became popular,
and it didn't take long for people to suggest the seemingly dry paper
should in fact contain a certain level of moisture due to the air humidity,
and will act in a similar way as the "dry" electrolyte paste used in
"dry galvanic cells".
And indeed some dry piles were dissected and found to contain minute
amounts of moisture in the paper, which seemed to confirm the galvanic
interpretation of what was before categorised as a peculiar electrostatic
effect of the application of pressure on metals with different Fermi levels.
Mind you, that effect is also real and proven, but after more critical
analysis of the "dry pile" it was agreed this is most likely an effect that
does play a role in the "dry pile", but it is not the predominant process
that gives rise to the electret-like behaviour.
Or at least, that's what I know of the development of "dry cells" and
their relation to the "dry pile".
So Ian, you're entirely correct and I'm not sure why allcanadian found it so funny.
