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Time for a Little Hanky-panky and It’s Not What You Think
An opinionated piece on the soggy handkerchief
A lot of writers are weeping right now, so the timing is perfect for a product review of the various snot-catchers available to blow your nose.
Tears disappear without effort — they drip dry when you stop crying.
Nasal mucus is not that easy to dispose of in a hygienic fashion.
A brief history of the little square cloth
Hankies have been around for ages, as far back as 1000 BC in China’s Chou dynasty. People used them to shield their faces from the sun.
They also wiped the sweat from their brows, as we do when we check our statistics and earnings. We can clean up after crying over spilled milk, or blow our schnozzles after hours of bawling at the sorry state of our writing careers.
The Ancient Greeks and Romans blew their noses, but their togas didn’t have pockets, so I’m unsure where they stored their wet kerchiefs afterward.
In Elizabethan times, the Chieftainess of Connaught denounced the Royal Court for their deferential treatment of the handkerchief. When a lady-in-waiting (aren’t we all?) offered her a pocket handkerchief — a recent addition to the court — she…
