Random Thursday

Continuing with the chapter on Customs in The Little Book of Answers by Doug Lennox we will continue to learn about the ordinary customs we likely never gave a second thought to!

(image borrowed from Ties.com)

Roman soldiers used to wear a strip of cloth around their necks to keep them warm in winter and to absorb sweat during the summer. Soon other armies followed the same trend and it was during the French Revolution that Royalists and Rebels used colored ties to show their allegiance. They had borrowed this design from the Croatian Army and called it a "cravat" and that's basically how men came to wear neckties!

(image borrowed from It's Interesting)

Ever notice that on men's and women's shirts the buttons are on opposite sides? It basically came down to that men commonly dressed themselves and were more likely to be right-handed. Though the wealthier women tended to have servants who dressed them, so having buttons on the opposite side made it easier for them to dress the woman.

That's odd and yet rather intriguing! Though it makes you wonder how the poor woman struggled or the rare left-handed man for that matter!

(image borrowed from BeginStartUp.com)

It's common for boy babies to wear blue and for girl babies to wear pink. It's said in the year 1400 boy babies were made to wear blue because blue was the color of the sky and therefore it's "heavenly" and that it would ward off evil. Boy babies were considered a greater blessing than girls and it was assumed that demons had no interest in girls. Girl babies were later made to wear red which was later turned to pink.

Never knew that it had such convoluted reasoning for why baby boys wore blue and baby girls wore pink. These days it's just so strangers can tell what the baby is!

(image borrowed from The Muse)

The handshake has a rather colorful history! Its first appearance was as an Egyptian hieroglyph as an extended hand which meant "to give." Then later, Babylonian kings confirmed their authority by grasping the hand of the statue of their chief god, Marduk. Finally, we saw it with the Roman soldiers who carried daggers on their right wrist and would grasp one another's weapon wrist in a nonthreatening sign of goodwill.