Maggie's Farm

We are a commune of inquiring, skeptical, politically centrist, capitalist, anglophile, traditionalist New England Yankee humans, humanoids, and animals with many interests beyond and above politics. Each of us has had a high-school education (or GED), but all had ADD so didn't pay attention very well, especially the dogs. Each one of us does "try my best to be just like I am," and none of us enjoys working for others, including for Maggie, from whom we receive neither a nickel nor a dime. Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for.

Our Recent Essays Behind the Front Page

Much Sorry with Delays
Birth, Death and All That Stuff in Between
How to Honor Labor Day, Every Day
My Yom Kippur Miracle (Repost from 2010)
Good intro to fly casting
Peach update, with pie
NYC update
Easy for you to say: To the elites on mass immigration
For NYC on 9/11, Sailors' Snug Harbor
Pickled Peaches
Water Shoes
Labor Costs in U.S.
Your "identity"
Good news about The Great Courses
Uses of Hot Pepper Jelly/Sauce, Chutneys, and Jams
A Saturday Drive to Litchfield County, CT
How to Pick a Kayak
Civilized: Fruit forks and knives
Loads of kayaking on Cape Cod
Psychology Experiments' Questionable Results

Categories


All categories

Quicksearch

Links

Blog Administration

Open login screen

RSS Readers

Add to Google

Subscribe with Bloglines

Sunday, October 12. 2008

A history of cleanliness

They said that Louis XlV had two baths in his life: one when he was born, and the second one killed him.

Interesting review of two books on the history of cleanliness at Wilson Quarterly, but it does not explain why gals like baths and guys like showers.

Our ancestors must have smelled ripe.

Posted by The Barrister in History at 12:24 | Comments (6) | Trackbacks (0)

Trackbacks
Trackback specific URI for this entry

No Trackbacks

Comments
Display comments as (Linear | Threaded)

Judging from the back of the bather in your photo I'd be willing to take up the sport if she'd show me the finer points of personal hygiene. And just to show I'm not an ingrate I'd help her wash her places to reach hard.
#1 Jephnol (Link) on 2008-10-12 13:19 (Reply)
Barrister my friend ... gals like baths because of the soak factor. At least they do as they get older and more arthritis-ridden. A hot bath just before bedtime is a wonderfully relaxing time. You can read a little, analyze your day's activities and plan your reparations for the day's mistakes. Very soothing. By the time you're through and have begun to wrinkle up from prolonged soaking, you've decided on your plans for the next day and can sleep comfortably -- or at least have a better shot at it than if you just took a shower.

Marianne

P.S. Jephnol ... as you indicate, baths offer great possibilities for game playing. And gosh knows, we all need a share of that in these tense times.

MM
#2 Marianne Matthews on 2008-10-12 14:26 (Reply)
I suspect a lot of men avoid baths just because of the standard tub size. I am 6'3" and 200#. And the tub is just uncomfortable.

Guessing from the tub in my home, a person of 5'9" or less could keep their legs straight.

Women have to be careful about their hair in a shower. Men are taller, and many won't care about the hair anyway.
#3 K on 2008-10-12 15:12 (Reply)
Not saying that nobama, hunting, autumn leaves, dogs, chopping wood, psychology God and Dylan are bad.

But would it be too much to ask to convert this blog to one which specializes in bathing young women?
#4 commander clopfelter (Link) on 2008-10-12 22:19 (Reply)
Hah. They can't even put up a little T&A without somebody bitching at the sinfulness of it. The blog favorite is a little hottie in a plaid skirt doing homework. No one pays one bit of attention to the post - they just want to talk about the tart. Then some ass comes in and calls them pedophiles.

Nice try, anyway.
`
#5 Meta on 2008-10-12 23:02 (Reply)
re gals bathe, guys shower: My thinking is that the activity parallels shopping. Men like to get in and get out. Women want to savor the moment. Why? I don't know. It is one of life's great mysteries.
#6 feeblemind on 2008-10-13 11:35 (Reply)

Add Comment
(Your e-mail will not show in your comment)

By commenting on this site you agree to the site rules listed here. Email
addresses will not be displayed and will only be used for email notifications.

Quick reference guide: [i] italics [/i], [b] bold [/b], [u] underline [/u],
[url] (web address) [/url]. More tips here.

Enclosing asterisks marks text as bold (*word*), underscore are made via _word_.
E-Mail addresses will not be displayed and will only be used for E-Mail notifications.

To prevent automated Bots from commentspamming, please enter the string you see in the image below in the appropriate input box. Your comment will only be submitted if the strings match. Please ensure that your browser supports and accepts cookies, or your comment cannot be verified correctly.
CAPTCHA

BBCode format allowed
 
 
A Chris Southern Consulting website.