May 30, 2007

Stinky 18th Century England. And again 100 years later. via
posted by kitfisto 17 years ago
  • Does the "Great Stink" feature in William Gibson & Bruce Sterling's The Difference Engine? There's something like that in the book.
  • I'm also reminded of The Crimson Petal and the White, in which feces, urine, semen and vomit are practically characters.
  • Nice post, kit. Good to know we can still count on you for the potty humour.
  • Well, somebody beat him to the furniture gangbang.
  • He was inspired for this post by his own underwear.
  • There's this novel by Clare Clark. Had to read it for a book group a couple of years ago. Everyone else enjoyed it (me - not so much but what do I know). Did think it was a fascinating piece of history. Interesting stuff.
  • Interesting post, thanks! Not to derail, of course, but I found it interesting that they mention flour being used in wigs to fight a greasy appearance, but that this attracted lice. I would've thought talc was available then - maybe much more expensive?
  • I'd like to thank you all for the kind comments. Names have taken, a list has been drawn up. Oh yes.
  • Nifty post there Sir Fisto! I have accordingly hereby upgraded London from "fictional" to "icky".
  • Where are the dogs in shawls?
  • That site no longer exists! Don't taunt me!!!
  • Taunt.
  • A poor imitation of the original splendour that was Dogs In Shawls. Your taunts fall on stony ground, Onan!
  • Touring the Fort York Armoury on Saturday, in the museum it had a giant camouflage vest for their Lab mascot. Presumably so that in combat conditions, the dog would be mistaken for something found in nature. A camo vest is not a shawl, but it was still splendid.
  • Touring the Fort York Armoury Even though I wasn't saying that out loud, I still think I pulled a muscle in my tongue reading those words together like that. "Towuru the ForyoorAhhmohaa?"
  • I'll keep my idealized historical England, thank you. Take this away, please.
  • You should smell my house! (or do I mean pants? Either way, there's a miasma about the place...)
  • Fascinating post, Stinky! Might I recommend this novel, about a plucky prostitute and an ambitious young surgeon in Cholera-ravaged Sunderland.
  • "See honey? I'm not THAT bad a slob: I keep my dungheap indoors!"
  • Someone should inform Terry Gilliam.
  • Amazing innit? Here we are, luckily born in a limited time and place such that we can only imagine what hardship, illness, and stink life can consist of....
  • Pungent post. For all the sensory experiences evoked by historic re-enactors, the olfactory dimension is very much neglected. In fact, in much of the developed world, stench is a most unfamiliar thing. *waves away flies, steps over full gutter, sniffs nosegay*
  • I had a curator friend whose job it had been to add appropriate smells to museum exhibits so patrons could get the full experience. She worked mostly with different kinds of aged wood, beeswax, botanicals, and the like. I wonder if she ever did anything with backsweat and moldy floured horsehair.
  • They wore hoodies back then?
  • Excellent book on the subject of 18th century French stank.
  • I was considering doing a summer program on nostalgic smells for the Hist Soc. Leaning more towards 'pie' and 'barbershop' and less towards 'stank,' but hey, authenticity prevails!
  • You rock, Gomi!
  • Seeing as Pediculus humanus humanus, Pediculus humanus capatus, and Pthirus pubis (that's human body lice, head lice, and crabs fer you non-entomologists) are sucking lice and only feed on blood, methinks that while the flour would attract all sorts of other unpleasant nasties (weevils, flour beetles, mites, moths), lice would not be amongst them. I guess there is the possibility that Mallophaga (chewing lice) infestations might be exasperated by dipping the host in flour, as they feed on dead skin, feathers, hair, clots of blood, skin oil, etc., but they are pretty host specific and there are none which are human parasites.
  • *shakes fist*
  • Koko has crabs AND stinks?
  • Well at least this thread can't get any worse. *reads fimbulvetr's comment* It's worse.
  • *sprinkles thread with flour to freshen, pauses, sniffs air, sprinkles flour on ripe hoodie*
  • You're welcome, petebest.
  • Didn't know Gaudi made tubs...
  • A multi-talented gentleman, that Antonio. Very clean, too.
  • MonkeyFilter: a high exalted essence of mingled odours, arising from putrid gums, imposthumated lungs, sour flatulencies, rank armpits, sweating feet, running sores and issues
  • I'm envisioning a horror film about a funkafied hoodie that, no matter how people try to destroy it, will not die...
  • They wore hoodies back then? Peaky blinders and scuttlers?
  • I bow to you, HawthorneWindgo. May I add my own small contribution: MonkeyFilter: they feed on dead skin, feathers, hair, clots of blood, skin oil, etc. And flesh. The flesh of the UNDEAD!
  • Ooooh, lice-ridden Georgian zombies!
  • [...] Diaries in this pre-antibiotics era, amply quoted here, are full of laments about eczema, impetigo, eyebrow dandruff, scabies, chilblains, boils, and ringworm. It was an itchy, itchy world[...] In a word? DELICIOUS!!! Oh, and speaking about host-specific parasites, I can't help but share my newest fascination, BOTFLY.
  • Met last night with the choreographer for our production of Cendrillon, to learn the minuet. When she talked about arm posture she stressed that the formal garments of the time wouldn't allow the dancers to raise their upper arms. I immediately thought of this thread and figured that them not raising their arms was A Very Good Thing.
  • So when we see dancers doing, say, the Viennese waltz with their elbows at the same level as their shoulders, is that a modern adaptation?
  • Those dancers are trying to kill you with their stank.
  • Imagine the trails of yellowy-green miasma following them around the dancefloor like con-trails...
  • We call that "ambience".
  • They're all shills for the underarm wax industry.
  • Let my pheremones go!