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System Metternich posted:
Related to this, sort of, I remember reading that decorative buttons on jacket sleeves originated with Napoleon, who got tired of seeing soldiers wipe their grubby noses and mouths on their sleeves. Since men's fashion has always been pretty heavily influenced by the military, it just kind of caught on for everyone, and is still standard to this day.
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Nov 4, 2015 17:51
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Czar Peter I "the Great" of Russia (reg. 1682-1725) was determined to drag his realm kicking and screaming into modernity after being enormously impressed with what he saw on an incognito 18-month tour through Western Europe (which he had initially begun to ask for aid against the Ottomans). Not only did he upgrade his army, reorganise Russian beueaucracy and create a powerful navy out from virtually nothing, he also thought that even European fashion should be emulated. Most men in Russia wore beards back then, as opposed to the clean-shaven trend that was popular in Europe at the time. In 1698 Peter met with a number of high-ranking military officers and noblemen when he suddenly pulled out a massive barber's knife and started shaving them (they were too stunned by this turn of events to protest and probably also frightened by the loving 6'8" tall czar leaning over them with a sharp knife). Afterwards, he sent out police officers with the order to forcibly remove the facial hair from everyone who wasn't a clergyman or a peasant,. When this proved deeply unpopular for some reason, he instead instituted a (progressive, so a rich merchant would have to pay much more than a poor craftsman) "beard tax". After paying the tax, you would receive "a copper or silver token with a Russian Eagle on one side and on the other, the lower part of a face with nose, mouth, whiskers, and beard. It was inscribed with two phrases: 'the beard tax has been taken' (lit: 'Money taken') and 'the beard is a superfluous burden'"
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| # ¿ Apr 26, 2024 21:05 |
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Eggbeater Jesus posted:President Benjamin Harrison had two opossums as pets. They were named Mr. Protection and Mr. Reciprocity. I'm not really sure why, but those are fantastic opossum names. In Victorian era Paris, gay men would advertise themselves to other gay men by wearing a green carnation in their lapels.
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Nov 5, 2015 04:31
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I dunno. I used to own a gynecology textbook from the 1920s, with horrible illustrations and anecdotes that would make me believe anything. We really, really tend to take personal hygiene for granted.
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Nov 6, 2015 02:24
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On top of the lack of bathing and modern feminine hygiene products, I think pubic hair maintenance was probably the province of prostitutes and noblewomen. I can imagine things getting pretty gross pretty fast. Also, women didn't free bleed, they used rags. Which, interestingly enough, came into play in the Lizzie Borden trial. They found parts of a blood-soaked dress of her's somewhere on the property, she swore it was menstrual blood, and the (entirely male) court was too proper or embarrassed to question her further about it. Not that I'm saying she did it, necessarily, but she's probably lucky she lived when she did. I apparently know a lot about old-timey vagina.
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Nov 6, 2015 05:08
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Oscar Wilde was pretty great.
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Jun 13, 2016 13:11
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DC is still a putrid swamp in the summer, though.
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Jul 1, 2016 00:50
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I live in Baltimore, and I dated a guy who lived in DC a few years ago. Broke up with him in late spring, in part because I couldn't stand the idea of having to visit in the summer. Baltimore's pretty bad too, but at least there's a breeze once in a while.
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Jul 1, 2016 00:58
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| # ¿ Apr 26, 2024 21:05 |
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Helena Handbasket posted:Speaking as a Campbell on my mother's side, Americans who are super into their Scottish heritage love to keep flipping Campbells poo poo about the massacre. In fairness, the Campbell motto is "never forget," so I guess they kind of walked into that one. But if there is some Highland games or ancestry nerd around and they find out you are related to Campbells, you will loving hear about it. Pete Campbell on Mad Men got into a fist fight after his daughter was denied a space in private school by the dean, a descendant of another clan who was still holding grudges centuries later. It was pretty cool they included that, and seeing Pete get punched was always nice.
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Sep 26, 2016 00:26
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