A WWII vet told me about a kid from Arkansas going into a French bathroom. He came out saying. "Boy, they've got some short people here. You should see that drinking fountain they've got in there."
Posted on 06/25/2021 9:48:45 AM PDT by Red Badger
I just use dollar bills these days.
I just use dollar bills these days.
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Described as-such by the author of “Rich Dad, Poor Dad”.
https://youtu.be/SAaHe26RdsY?t=222
I remember a story about the Sears Roebuck catalog from when my dad was a kid in the 1920s living on a farm. His aunt ordered all thing needed for the family and workers. So she once send in an order by mail for toilet paper. Sears Roebuck wrote back, “please include the catalog item number when you order.”. She wrote back “if I had the catalog, I wouldn’t need the toilet paper!”
A WWII vet told me about a kid from Arkansas going into a French bathroom. He came out saying. "Boy, they've got some short people here. You should see that drinking fountain they've got in there."
I went on a three month backpacking adventure in my youth. River rocks work quite well.
Yes I remember.
People tell me that today is better...
Hah hah!
Ah, yes, the old Muzzie saying, “Eat right, wipe left.”
...which is why Arabs traditionally cut off the right hand as punishment.
I hate going to the store and always forget stuff so.... I do what I call paper runs. When my supply of tp and paper towels gets low I make one run and fill up my car. You know, 10-12 packs of the 12 double rolls of tp and 6 or so of the huge packs of paper towels. Then I just stack them all in the garage. When Covid hit with the tp shortage I had just done a run and had 12 of the huge packages of tp stacked up in the garage. lol
That was my first thought, too. “Gargantua and Pantagruel” is the like the OED on the subject.
All the others just left!
https://www.sapiens.org/column/curiosities/ancient-roman-bathrooms/
So you carried your tersorium around with you?
Or used a communal one when in a public loo?
What did they do with it after use?
EUW.
My husband served during the Korean War. One day while handling a payroll at the Bank of Seoul he went to the restroom. It was a round room with seats all around the wall, like the Roman one shown here but round. There were several men seated. Then a woman walked in and the men nodded their heads politely. She also sat down, as did my husband. I wonder if they knew any Romans? He also learned to eat Kimchi. Every country home had a barrel of the stuff outside the house, and he figured if captured, he could escape and eat Kimchi until he rejoined our troops.
We had a summer country cottage with an outhouse. One year bees built honey combs under the seat. Using the toilet was a nervous experience, but we were never stung. We avoided going in the late afternoon. The bees seemed more agitated and numerous at that time. Perhaps coming home from a hard days work. Perhaps our smell seemed like part of the hive from the years of accumulation, so we were not perceived as an enemy.
We had a summer country cottage with an outhouse. One year bees built honey combs under the seat. Using the toilet was a nervous experience, but we were never stung. We avoided going in the late afternoon. The bees seemed more agitated and numerous at that time. Perhaps coming home from a hard days work. Perhaps our smell seemed like part of the hive from the years of accumulation, so we were not perceived as an enemy.
When I landed in Korea, and was housed temporarily not far from Kimpo airport, waiting our transportation to our assignments, I smelled the smell of Kimchi in the air; it was so new to my senses that merely the hint of it flowing in the air was enough for me to say: “what is that smell”.
I became a Kimchi fan while I was there.
Traditionally a mixture that becomes Kimchi is prepared in the fall or winter, buried in ceramic pots in the ground, where it ferments. It is after the fermentation has occurred that Kimchi has the familiar Kimchi taste.
In truth though, spicy hot Kimchi is no earlier than the 17th century. Before that many of the “hotter” spices were not well known or much available in Korea. I don’t think modern Koreans care so much about that, as it is the spicier versions so many Koreans like today.
OK, so ancient Roman pooping habits seem strange, but what about their customs around pee?
As best we can tell from historic and archaeological data, ancient Romans peed in small pots in their homes, offices, and shops. When those small pots became full, they dumped them into large jars out in the street. Just like with your garbage, a crew came by once a week to collect those hefty pots of pee and bring them to the laundromat. Why? Because ancient Romans washed their togas and tunics in pee!
Human urine is full of ammonia and other chemicals that are great natural detergents. If you worked in a Roman laundromat, your job was to stomp on clothes all day long—barefoot and ankle deep in colossal vats of human pee.
(Frankly, I wonder why we haven’t emulated this aspect of Roman culture in our age of green, eco-friendly, and sustainable businesses. I’m thinking of opening a chain called Urine-Urout All-Natural Laundromat. It’s a sparkling business opportunity!) As peculiar as personal hygiene practices in ancient Rome may seem to us, the historical fact is that many Romans successfully and sustainably used tersoria and washed their clothes in pee for several centuries—far longer than we’ve used toilet paper. Indeed, toilet paper is not a universal technology even today, as any trip to India, rural Ethiopia, or remote areas of China will make abundantly clear.
I’ve been to Pompeii and Herculaneum.
Gotta say, was pretty impressed with their plumbing.
Works better than a lot of modern American major metros I’ve been in...
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