Posted on 07/12/2007 10:28:32 AM PDT by Daffynition
London - Underwear underpins the spread of Western culture, with discarded underpants ranking alongside the invention of printing in the spread of literacy, according to a medieval historian.
Delegates at the International Medieval Congress at the University of Leeds, northern England, were told that social migration from rural to urban areas in the 13th century brought with it changes in attire.
Whereas rough and ready peasants thought little of wearing nothing under their smocks, the practice became frowned upon in the burgeoning towns and cities, leading to a run on undergarments.
And when the underwear was worn out, it provided a steady supply of material used by papermakers to make books.
"The development of literacy was certainly helped by the introduction of paper, which was made from rags," Marco Mostert, of Utrecht University in the Netherlands and one of the conference organisers, said this week.
"These rags came from discarded clothes, which cost much less than the very expensive parchment which was previously used for books.
"In the 13th century, so it is thought, as more people moved into urban centres, the use of underwear increased -- which caused an increase in the number of rags available for paper-making."
The invention of the movable type printing press by Johannes Gutenberg in the mid-15th century is generally credited with spreading learning.
But Mostert said that although literacy did not become widespread until the 19th century, it was more common in the Middle Ages than many believe because of cheap paper made from rags.
LOL ... underwear is a step up from fish wrap, no?
Perfect solution for Cheryl Crow.
And when the underwear was worn out, it provided a steady supply of material used by papermakers to make books....needless to say, some pages had racing stripes.
I think you just hit a brown note. 8-D
TRA-LA-LAAA!!
And they say today's books are crap...
The better explanation for the availability of cloth for paper-making has been around for a long time: 1/3 of the population had died from the plague, and their unused clothing was available for fiber.
“Well, chicks dig me, and that’s mainly because I rarely wear underwear. And when I do, it’s usually something exotic like fur or a fish-net type of brief...”
Yeah, but you don’t go an make them into books do you?
Books, we don't need no stinkin'...nevermind. Actually, the underwear quote in the post just before yours is a quote of Bill Murray in that movie "Stripes". It pretty much killed off this thread. Ha!
even an "underwear" search didn't undercover on this.Yeah, there should have been a skidmark or somethin' that showed up.
This thread needs more thongs and bras!!!
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