1 00:00:00,160 --> 00:00:02,759 Speaker 1: This episode is brought to you by squar space. Start 2 00:00:02,800 --> 00:00:06,280 Speaker 1: building your website today at squarespace dot com. Enter offer 3 00:00:06,320 --> 00:00:10,080 Speaker 1: code History at check out to get teen percent off squarespace. 4 00:00:10,320 --> 00:00:14,760 Speaker 1: Build it Beautiful. Welcome to Stuff you missed in History 5 00:00:14,760 --> 00:00:24,400 Speaker 1: Class from works dot com. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. 6 00:00:24,480 --> 00:00:27,200 Speaker 1: I am Trazy Wilson and I'm Holly Frying and we 7 00:00:27,240 --> 00:00:29,400 Speaker 1: have a guest on the show today. We are talking 8 00:00:29,440 --> 00:00:32,120 Speaker 1: to Dr Elizabeth p Archibald. She is the author of 9 00:00:32,200 --> 00:00:36,200 Speaker 1: Asked the Past Pertinent and Impertinent Advice from Yesteryear, which 10 00:00:36,200 --> 00:00:38,440 Speaker 1: started out as a blog just called Asked the Past. 11 00:00:38,920 --> 00:00:41,199 Speaker 1: If you're not familiar with it, it's this collection of 12 00:00:41,240 --> 00:00:45,600 Speaker 1: tidbits drawn mostly from medieval and early modern works, mainly 13 00:00:45,640 --> 00:00:48,199 Speaker 1: written in Europe, with a little brief commentary to And 14 00:00:48,240 --> 00:00:51,680 Speaker 1: this focus is really because of Elizabeth's focus and interest 15 00:00:51,760 --> 00:00:54,640 Speaker 1: in this time and place in history. We could foresure 16 00:00:54,720 --> 00:00:56,760 Speaker 1: talk about advice from the rest of the world and 17 00:00:56,800 --> 00:00:59,200 Speaker 1: the rest of history too, and if you're interested in that, 18 00:00:59,760 --> 00:01:02,040 Speaker 1: uh that the same same sorts of things we're going 19 00:01:02,080 --> 00:01:04,120 Speaker 1: to talk about today also make an appearance in our 20 00:01:04,160 --> 00:01:07,600 Speaker 1: episode on Say Shanagons Pillow book from the hay On 21 00:01:08,200 --> 00:01:11,679 Speaker 1: era in Japan, so advice is not limited just to Europe, 22 00:01:11,680 --> 00:01:15,039 Speaker 1: but that is Elizabeth's focus. So and some of this 23 00:01:15,120 --> 00:01:18,920 Speaker 1: advice is uh, flat out odd ball. The very idea 24 00:01:19,000 --> 00:01:21,160 Speaker 1: that somebody ever thought you might need to know or 25 00:01:21,360 --> 00:01:26,360 Speaker 1: tell someone how to trim your toenails underwater is a 26 00:01:26,360 --> 00:01:30,560 Speaker 1: little bit strange. There are also some really weird recipes. 27 00:01:30,720 --> 00:01:35,120 Speaker 1: There's one from five a recipe for making a sort 28 00:01:35,160 --> 00:01:38,119 Speaker 1: of snail based limbus, which apparently is like a theme 29 00:01:38,160 --> 00:01:41,160 Speaker 1: through our show Everything is like limbus, and another one 30 00:01:41,160 --> 00:01:44,920 Speaker 1: from sixteen sixty about making a giant egg as big 31 00:01:44,959 --> 00:01:49,600 Speaker 1: as twenty eggs out of twenty eggs with other assorted ingredients. 32 00:01:52,120 --> 00:01:55,280 Speaker 1: It's like a giant Japanese robot situation, but with eggs, 33 00:01:55,480 --> 00:01:57,559 Speaker 1: where they all come together and make a super egg. 34 00:01:57,800 --> 00:01:59,560 Speaker 1: There are other how to use in this book that 35 00:01:59,640 --> 00:02:02,640 Speaker 1: started making sense, but then they take this almost surreal turn. 36 00:02:02,800 --> 00:02:06,160 Speaker 1: So there's, for example, this six fifty advice for singing. 37 00:02:06,640 --> 00:02:09,840 Speaker 1: A singer should not sing through the nose. Sure, that 38 00:02:09,919 --> 00:02:13,840 Speaker 1: makes sense. He must not stammer lest he be incomprehensible, 39 00:02:14,280 --> 00:02:17,400 Speaker 1: So right, that works too. He must not push with 40 00:02:17,480 --> 00:02:20,400 Speaker 1: his tongue or lisp, else no one will hardly understand 41 00:02:20,440 --> 00:02:23,440 Speaker 1: half of what he says, so all this is still common, 42 00:02:23,800 --> 00:02:26,560 Speaker 1: valid advice. But then it says he should also not 43 00:02:26,600 --> 00:02:29,200 Speaker 1: close his teeth together, nor open his mouth to wide, 44 00:02:29,200 --> 00:02:32,040 Speaker 1: nor stretch his tongue out over his lips, nor thrust 45 00:02:32,080 --> 00:02:35,000 Speaker 1: his lips upward, nor distort his mouth, nor disfigure his 46 00:02:35,080 --> 00:02:37,760 Speaker 1: cheeks and nose like the long tailed monkey, nor crumple 47 00:02:37,840 --> 00:02:41,920 Speaker 1: his eyebrows together, nor wrinkle his forehead, nor roll his 48 00:02:42,040 --> 00:02:45,400 Speaker 1: head or eyes therein round and round, nor win with 49 00:02:45,440 --> 00:02:49,040 Speaker 1: the same, nor tremble with the lips, et cetera. Doesn't 50 00:02:49,040 --> 00:02:51,799 Speaker 1: that sound like the most pers nickety music teacher on earth? Yes, 51 00:02:53,760 --> 00:02:56,079 Speaker 1: somebody needed to put that in a book. And yet, 52 00:02:56,120 --> 00:02:59,200 Speaker 1: even with these silly and weird and whimsical and sometimes 53 00:02:59,680 --> 00:03:03,360 Speaker 1: frank dangerous uh bits, like training a cat to fire 54 00:03:03,360 --> 00:03:07,200 Speaker 1: a pistol, what you shouldn't do that? Or making bird muscles, 55 00:03:07,240 --> 00:03:10,760 Speaker 1: which is a thirteenth century invention, Sometimes it's reassuring that 56 00:03:10,800 --> 00:03:13,040 Speaker 1: people have wanted to know how to lose weight and 57 00:03:13,080 --> 00:03:15,720 Speaker 1: attractive partner and avoid acquaintances they don't want to see 58 00:03:15,919 --> 00:03:21,320 Speaker 1: for hundreds of years. So John H. Young sark One advises, 59 00:03:21,639 --> 00:03:24,720 Speaker 1: if you want to avoid an acquaintance looking away and 60 00:03:24,760 --> 00:03:28,440 Speaker 1: not making eye contact. That it's pretty basic. Yeah, I 61 00:03:28,480 --> 00:03:30,880 Speaker 1: guess that's Sydney. I hope they don't see me kind 62 00:03:30,880 --> 00:03:34,680 Speaker 1: of arena. But with all this in mind, I cannot 63 00:03:34,720 --> 00:03:37,720 Speaker 1: wait to hear your talk with Elizabeth, who pulled all 64 00:03:37,760 --> 00:03:40,960 Speaker 1: of this crazy stuff together from hundreds of years worth 65 00:03:41,000 --> 00:03:43,800 Speaker 1: of advice and books. Yeah. We've had several episodes lately 66 00:03:43,840 --> 00:03:45,680 Speaker 1: that you recorded while I was not in the room, 67 00:03:45,680 --> 00:03:47,880 Speaker 1: and this one I recorded while you weren't here, So 68 00:03:48,120 --> 00:03:57,040 Speaker 1: sighting twists. Yes. So today I am talking to Elizabeth 69 00:03:57,120 --> 00:04:00,560 Speaker 1: p Archibald, who is the author of Ask the Past, 70 00:04:00,800 --> 00:04:04,960 Speaker 1: Pertinent and Impertinent Advice from Yesteryear, which was also a blog. 71 00:04:05,160 --> 00:04:08,200 Speaker 1: Thank you so much for agreeing to be on the show, Elizabeth, 72 00:04:08,640 --> 00:04:11,400 Speaker 1: Thanks for having me on. So. I enjoyed this book 73 00:04:11,440 --> 00:04:14,680 Speaker 1: a whole lot. It's it's little snippets of advice from 74 00:04:14,680 --> 00:04:19,440 Speaker 1: the past, along with your commentary and artwork. Uh. It's 75 00:04:19,480 --> 00:04:24,719 Speaker 1: really funny and sometimes also weirdly touching. And it took 76 00:04:24,720 --> 00:04:26,880 Speaker 1: me about twice as long to read it as I 77 00:04:26,920 --> 00:04:30,760 Speaker 1: planned because I kept texting holly hilarious things that I 78 00:04:30,839 --> 00:04:34,080 Speaker 1: found in it. Um, can you tell us how all 79 00:04:34,120 --> 00:04:37,360 Speaker 1: of this started. How did you get into this chronicling 80 00:04:37,400 --> 00:04:42,440 Speaker 1: advice from the past. Yeah. Um, So my academic research 81 00:04:42,600 --> 00:04:45,320 Speaker 1: deals with the history of education and the history of 82 00:04:45,320 --> 00:04:49,720 Speaker 1: the book. So I am interested in asking questions like 83 00:04:49,839 --> 00:04:52,960 Speaker 1: what sort of advice people thought it was worthwhile to 84 00:04:52,960 --> 00:04:56,359 Speaker 1: put in writing, what kinds of things should be taught 85 00:04:56,400 --> 00:04:59,000 Speaker 1: by a book rather than by a teacher, and what 86 00:04:59,080 --> 00:05:00,880 Speaker 1: kinds of things it was a it was possible to 87 00:05:00,960 --> 00:05:05,080 Speaker 1: learn that way. And so I was teaching a course 88 00:05:05,279 --> 00:05:10,479 Speaker 1: at the Peaboddy Institute of Johns Hopkins University called how 89 00:05:10,600 --> 00:05:15,040 Speaker 1: To a History of Instruction, which I designed around the 90 00:05:15,240 --> 00:05:19,479 Speaker 1: idea that you can look at classic historical texts sort 91 00:05:19,520 --> 00:05:22,640 Speaker 1: of through the lens of the how To manual, so 92 00:05:22,800 --> 00:05:27,400 Speaker 1: Plato's republic As how To Manual and Machiavelli and so on. 93 00:05:28,040 --> 00:05:30,200 Speaker 1: And as part of this course, we've spent a lot 94 00:05:30,240 --> 00:05:33,440 Speaker 1: of time in the George Peabody Library looking at its 95 00:05:33,560 --> 00:05:37,680 Speaker 1: rare books collection, and the stuff that I turned up 96 00:05:37,880 --> 00:05:42,880 Speaker 1: was just great. Um. A sixteenth century book about swimming 97 00:05:43,279 --> 00:05:48,599 Speaker 1: that included advice on how to trem your toe nails underwater. UM. 98 00:05:48,760 --> 00:05:53,080 Speaker 1: Seventeenth century conduct manuals, eighteenth century books about how to 99 00:05:53,080 --> 00:05:58,120 Speaker 1: get rid of rats Um nineteenth century guides to palm 100 00:05:58,160 --> 00:06:01,359 Speaker 1: Reading UM. And at that point that was when I 101 00:06:01,400 --> 00:06:05,599 Speaker 1: began posting material to a blog. I just realized that 102 00:06:06,040 --> 00:06:08,080 Speaker 1: the world needed to know how to trim your tone 103 00:06:08,120 --> 00:06:13,920 Speaker 1: nails underwater in the sixteenth century. And the blog developed 104 00:06:13,960 --> 00:06:17,160 Speaker 1: an audience, and soon I started getting questions from around 105 00:06:17,160 --> 00:06:20,400 Speaker 1: the world, like how should I impress my boss, how 106 00:06:20,400 --> 00:06:22,880 Speaker 1: should I wash my hair? And it just sort of 107 00:06:23,360 --> 00:06:27,440 Speaker 1: went from there. So did did you notice any trends 108 00:06:27,440 --> 00:06:30,440 Speaker 1: in the sorts of things that people thought were worth 109 00:06:30,600 --> 00:06:34,680 Speaker 1: writing down instructions on how to do? Yeah, it's it's 110 00:06:34,680 --> 00:06:38,080 Speaker 1: really interesting. Some types of how to manuals and books 111 00:06:38,080 --> 00:06:42,000 Speaker 1: of advice are really actually pretty similar now to their 112 00:06:42,040 --> 00:06:46,880 Speaker 1: predecessors from centuries ago. UM, and in some cases the 113 00:06:46,960 --> 00:06:52,960 Speaker 1: actual advice even sort of remains in circulation. Etiquette handbooks 114 00:06:53,040 --> 00:06:57,080 Speaker 1: are one category that come to mind. UM. Jovanni de 115 00:06:57,160 --> 00:07:02,200 Speaker 1: la Caza's Galato is a really foundational text for the 116 00:07:02,240 --> 00:07:05,640 Speaker 1: history of etiquette, and that's one that was translated and 117 00:07:05,720 --> 00:07:10,320 Speaker 1: imitated almost immediately. UM, and the advice from that book 118 00:07:10,360 --> 00:07:14,640 Speaker 1: just sort of stayed in circulation. So instructions about how 119 00:07:14,680 --> 00:07:17,840 Speaker 1: to blow your nose politely? You know, use a handkerchief 120 00:07:17,920 --> 00:07:21,280 Speaker 1: and then UM, when you're done blowing your nose, don't 121 00:07:21,320 --> 00:07:23,880 Speaker 1: open the handkerchief in front of people. This sort of thing. 122 00:07:24,560 --> 00:07:30,280 Speaker 1: U And that was interesting because um, an early French 123 00:07:30,400 --> 00:07:34,040 Speaker 1: version of that text was translated into English, and then 124 00:07:34,880 --> 00:07:38,480 Speaker 1: that became the basis for a set of etiquette rules 125 00:07:38,560 --> 00:07:41,320 Speaker 1: that were copied out by George Washington when he was 126 00:07:41,920 --> 00:07:45,520 Speaker 1: sixteen years old or something. So it's sort of interesting 127 00:07:45,600 --> 00:07:49,120 Speaker 1: how some of these things actually just stick around, you know, 128 00:07:50,040 --> 00:07:53,840 Speaker 1: responding to universal human desires to know how to blow 129 00:07:53,880 --> 00:07:57,200 Speaker 1: your nose properly. I guess, um, there are a lot 130 00:07:57,240 --> 00:08:00,040 Speaker 1: of books like this. They just sort of repeated I 131 00:08:00,160 --> 00:08:04,080 Speaker 1: used over long periods of time. There's a book by 132 00:08:04,280 --> 00:08:09,640 Speaker 1: Thomas Lupton from the sixteenth century called A Thousands Notable Things, 133 00:08:09,760 --> 00:08:12,920 Speaker 1: and that one amazingly continue to be published in new 134 00:08:13,080 --> 00:08:16,920 Speaker 1: editions into the nineteenth century. UM. And then there are 135 00:08:16,960 --> 00:08:21,560 Speaker 1: things like UM plenty of the elder suggested violets as 136 00:08:21,600 --> 00:08:24,960 Speaker 1: a hangover cure. And I when when I posted this 137 00:08:25,000 --> 00:08:28,520 Speaker 1: on the blog, I actually heard from some people who said, oh, yeah, 138 00:08:28,560 --> 00:08:32,280 Speaker 1: you know, I've heard that too. I've tried it works, okay, 139 00:08:32,720 --> 00:08:37,640 Speaker 1: UM or Old Lives tales like the recommendation to put 140 00:08:37,760 --> 00:08:41,640 Speaker 1: butter on your cat's feet to keep it from running away, 141 00:08:41,800 --> 00:08:46,439 Speaker 1: or the notion that um, a pregnant woman who takes 142 00:08:46,480 --> 00:08:49,720 Speaker 1: a step first with her right foot is carrying a boy. 143 00:08:50,280 --> 00:08:54,280 Speaker 1: These pieces of advice, you know, are around from the 144 00:08:54,480 --> 00:08:57,839 Speaker 1: ancient world, and they're still sort of sticking with us, 145 00:08:58,080 --> 00:09:00,920 Speaker 1: So that's interesting to they. And it also seems like 146 00:09:00,960 --> 00:09:04,560 Speaker 1: the the general perception, not necessarily of people who have 147 00:09:04,679 --> 00:09:08,320 Speaker 1: really studied medieval life, but the sort of common perception 148 00:09:08,360 --> 00:09:11,079 Speaker 1: of the medieval world is that it was a gross, dirty, 149 00:09:11,160 --> 00:09:15,320 Speaker 1: mannerless place. But your book actually has a whole lot 150 00:09:15,360 --> 00:09:20,719 Speaker 1: of medieval manners in it, Yes, lots of manners um. 151 00:09:20,760 --> 00:09:23,319 Speaker 1: I think etiquette in particular is sort of an interesting 152 00:09:23,360 --> 00:09:27,599 Speaker 1: story because people who who know about the history of 153 00:09:27,600 --> 00:09:30,319 Speaker 1: etiquette think that it sort of began in the Renaissance 154 00:09:30,400 --> 00:09:33,120 Speaker 1: with Jovanni Dela hasa But in fact, there are a 155 00:09:33,120 --> 00:09:36,160 Speaker 1: lot of etiquette manual sort of conduct books from the 156 00:09:36,200 --> 00:09:41,640 Speaker 1: Middle Ages that are articulating these important principles of cleanliness 157 00:09:41,760 --> 00:09:45,000 Speaker 1: and politeness and things to do and not do at 158 00:09:45,000 --> 00:09:48,640 Speaker 1: the dinner table, and what types of animals you're allowed 159 00:09:48,679 --> 00:09:52,120 Speaker 1: to bring into the dining room and what types you're 160 00:09:52,160 --> 00:09:54,960 Speaker 1: not and all of that stuff. I like the one 161 00:09:55,000 --> 00:09:56,760 Speaker 1: about I think this was later than that, but the 162 00:09:56,800 --> 00:09:59,280 Speaker 1: one about leaving a party and not bringing your horse 163 00:09:59,320 --> 00:10:02,560 Speaker 1: into the hall unless you are instructed. But it's okay 164 00:10:02,600 --> 00:10:05,240 Speaker 1: to have your horse in the hall, yes, which is 165 00:10:05,280 --> 00:10:12,760 Speaker 1: excellent advice for a party even today. So let's take 166 00:10:12,760 --> 00:10:17,319 Speaker 1: a little break from this interview, Holly, I am delighted 167 00:10:17,360 --> 00:10:19,600 Speaker 1: to learn this idea that you should put butter on 168 00:10:19,600 --> 00:10:22,120 Speaker 1: your cat's paws when you move so that it doesn't 169 00:10:22,120 --> 00:10:25,760 Speaker 1: get lost goes way back in history. Yeah. I have 170 00:10:25,880 --> 00:10:28,400 Speaker 1: heard that advice for hairballs, you know, to help your 171 00:10:28,440 --> 00:10:31,480 Speaker 1: cat pass a hairball or cough one up, but never 172 00:10:31,559 --> 00:10:34,320 Speaker 1: as a trekking option. But it seems sort of brilliant 173 00:10:34,920 --> 00:10:37,520 Speaker 1: and possibly delicious. And the idea is that you put 174 00:10:37,520 --> 00:10:39,760 Speaker 1: the butter on the cat's paws and let it walk around, 175 00:10:40,200 --> 00:10:43,760 Speaker 1: leaving buttery tracks in your new home. But then it 176 00:10:43,800 --> 00:10:46,599 Speaker 1: will lick the butter off it's pause and get the 177 00:10:46,640 --> 00:10:48,400 Speaker 1: scent of the new place and not run away. That 178 00:10:48,520 --> 00:10:51,440 Speaker 1: is this idea that apparently has been around a really 179 00:10:51,440 --> 00:10:54,680 Speaker 1: long time, which somehow you cat lady have not heard. 180 00:10:54,679 --> 00:10:57,680 Speaker 1: But I cat lady have no, it's pretty ingenious. There's 181 00:10:57,679 --> 00:11:01,160 Speaker 1: a logic to it. Yeah, although I picture my very 182 00:11:01,280 --> 00:11:04,760 Speaker 1: chubby cat Mr Burns just sitting there and licking all 183 00:11:04,760 --> 00:11:10,600 Speaker 1: the butter off anywhere. But we are gonna actually, uh 184 00:11:10,840 --> 00:11:12,560 Speaker 1: take a brief word from a sponsor before we hear 185 00:11:12,679 --> 00:11:15,960 Speaker 1: the rest of this charming and really interestingly informative interview. 186 00:11:16,320 --> 00:11:19,079 Speaker 1: So let's go do that real quick. So for the 187 00:11:19,120 --> 00:11:21,640 Speaker 1: next portion of this interview, we are going to talk 188 00:11:21,679 --> 00:11:24,480 Speaker 1: a little bit about Elizabeth's process and making this book, 189 00:11:24,920 --> 00:11:27,240 Speaker 1: and then we will get into some of the oddity 190 00:11:27,360 --> 00:11:36,400 Speaker 1: that is involved in all this old advice. So you 191 00:11:36,520 --> 00:11:41,079 Speaker 1: have so much advice that's been gleaned from so many 192 00:11:41,120 --> 00:11:44,920 Speaker 1: places and over such a long span of history. What 193 00:11:45,000 --> 00:11:48,960 Speaker 1: was your process like for winnowing all this down. Yeah, 194 00:11:49,920 --> 00:11:53,120 Speaker 1: it's such a fun process. I mean really, it's it's 195 00:11:53,200 --> 00:11:56,240 Speaker 1: just so lateful to be able to look at old 196 00:11:56,280 --> 00:11:59,880 Speaker 1: books and sort of page through them and um by 197 00:12:00,120 --> 00:12:04,240 Speaker 1: these fascinating little pieces of advice and kind of um 198 00:12:04,400 --> 00:12:08,880 Speaker 1: track down leads, you know, if I find a reference to, 199 00:12:09,640 --> 00:12:13,240 Speaker 1: you know, an ancient technique for pet to removal, and 200 00:12:13,360 --> 00:12:16,520 Speaker 1: being able to just sort of look around until I 201 00:12:16,559 --> 00:12:21,920 Speaker 1: find something interesting Um, it's really great, and I'm very 202 00:12:22,000 --> 00:12:25,960 Speaker 1: lucky to be situated, uh in a in a nice 203 00:12:26,200 --> 00:12:30,320 Speaker 1: rare books collection at the George Peabody Library, UM, where 204 00:12:30,320 --> 00:12:32,880 Speaker 1: I can do a lot of that. But then, of course, 205 00:12:33,040 --> 00:12:36,160 Speaker 1: these days a lot of material has been digitized too, 206 00:12:36,240 --> 00:12:39,880 Speaker 1: so there's just so much stuff that are fingertips now 207 00:12:40,000 --> 00:12:44,600 Speaker 1: that it's possible to dig into medieval manuscripts at a 208 00:12:44,640 --> 00:12:49,600 Speaker 1: moment's notice, which is really exciting. So I found myself 209 00:12:49,640 --> 00:12:52,720 Speaker 1: being very envious of your time spent in rare book 210 00:12:52,800 --> 00:12:56,520 Speaker 1: collections while working on this book, because there there's so 211 00:12:56,559 --> 00:13:00,840 Speaker 1: many cool gems in rare book collections from around the world. 212 00:13:00,880 --> 00:13:04,040 Speaker 1: Did you have any just awesome discoveries as you were 213 00:13:04,080 --> 00:13:07,400 Speaker 1: pouring through these very old rare books to work on 214 00:13:07,440 --> 00:13:12,200 Speaker 1: this Yeah, absolutely, And I mean it's it's such a 215 00:13:12,280 --> 00:13:16,560 Speaker 1: quirky project to um. You know, it's it's really fun 216 00:13:16,600 --> 00:13:18,480 Speaker 1: to be able to look at the old books, but 217 00:13:18,679 --> 00:13:21,040 Speaker 1: it's also sort of funny to be in these very 218 00:13:21,040 --> 00:13:25,319 Speaker 1: serious libraries and you know, looking at old hangover cures 219 00:13:25,440 --> 00:13:30,000 Speaker 1: or um, looking in medieval manuscripts to try to find 220 00:13:30,120 --> 00:13:34,959 Speaker 1: the best illustration of a cat looking its rare end 221 00:13:35,040 --> 00:13:37,760 Speaker 1: and that sort of thing. So that's that's been fun 222 00:13:37,840 --> 00:13:40,520 Speaker 1: as well. Well, yeah, and I had I had sort 223 00:13:40,559 --> 00:13:44,240 Speaker 1: of I had noted almost for the end as an afterthought, 224 00:13:44,320 --> 00:13:48,280 Speaker 1: that the process of getting artwork to accompany all these things, 225 00:13:48,280 --> 00:13:52,440 Speaker 1: But that's that's Actually there's as much artwork in the 226 00:13:52,440 --> 00:13:56,120 Speaker 1: book as there is text. So did you feel like 227 00:13:57,440 --> 00:14:01,959 Speaker 1: the process for going through all of these uh instructions 228 00:14:02,160 --> 00:14:05,720 Speaker 1: compared to the process of finding artwork that that went 229 00:14:05,760 --> 00:14:10,120 Speaker 1: with it or was that a different experience? Well, I 230 00:14:10,160 --> 00:14:12,640 Speaker 1: mean it was in some ways a different experience. It 231 00:14:13,240 --> 00:14:15,400 Speaker 1: as much as I wish that each one of these 232 00:14:15,400 --> 00:14:19,000 Speaker 1: pieces of advice was illustrated, um, because in some cases 233 00:14:19,040 --> 00:14:23,760 Speaker 1: I think the results would be pretty fascinating, Um, they 234 00:14:23,760 --> 00:14:26,360 Speaker 1: don't all have illustrations. And yet it was sort of 235 00:14:26,400 --> 00:14:30,360 Speaker 1: important to me to be able to offer something from 236 00:14:30,600 --> 00:14:35,000 Speaker 1: the right time period that at least evoked the right technique. 237 00:14:35,960 --> 00:14:39,400 Speaker 1: And that was a fun process as well, just sort 238 00:14:39,440 --> 00:14:42,640 Speaker 1: of um, thinking of the right genres of book that 239 00:14:42,680 --> 00:14:47,760 Speaker 1: would have illustrations of, you know, people with union brows 240 00:14:47,920 --> 00:14:50,440 Speaker 1: and that sort of thing. So that that in and 241 00:14:50,480 --> 00:14:53,320 Speaker 1: of itself was just sort of an adventure in rare 242 00:14:53,360 --> 00:14:56,960 Speaker 1: books collections, one of the things that you wrote about 243 00:14:57,000 --> 00:14:59,640 Speaker 1: in the introduction to the book was about how it 244 00:15:00,120 --> 00:15:03,080 Speaker 1: got to the point that it was hard to distinguish 245 00:15:03,080 --> 00:15:08,040 Speaker 1: sometimes between parodies of instructions and actual instructions because some 246 00:15:08,080 --> 00:15:14,320 Speaker 1: of the instructions themselves are so weird. Uh. Are there 247 00:15:14,400 --> 00:15:18,760 Speaker 1: examples of ones that you either left out because they 248 00:15:18,840 --> 00:15:21,280 Speaker 1: definitely were a parody or ones that are in the 249 00:15:21,280 --> 00:15:23,880 Speaker 1: book that you're not quite sure if that was an 250 00:15:23,960 --> 00:15:28,640 Speaker 1: actual instruction or making fun of this whole uh genre 251 00:15:28,840 --> 00:15:33,640 Speaker 1: of book. Yeah, it's it's so interesting, I mean, it's 252 00:15:33,680 --> 00:15:37,160 Speaker 1: it is actually very difficult some tends to know how 253 00:15:37,240 --> 00:15:40,200 Speaker 1: serious the text is, whether the past is sort of 254 00:15:40,240 --> 00:15:44,080 Speaker 1: pulling your leg a little bit. Um. In some cases 255 00:15:44,120 --> 00:15:49,080 Speaker 1: it's pretty clear. There are some parody recipes, um, where 256 00:15:49,120 --> 00:15:53,600 Speaker 1: it's actually pretty clear that it's a parody, so they 257 00:15:53,720 --> 00:16:01,520 Speaker 1: call for ingredients like, um, goldfinches feet and the sweat 258 00:16:01,680 --> 00:16:05,040 Speaker 1: of a pebble and these kind of made up things, 259 00:16:05,080 --> 00:16:08,160 Speaker 1: so that's a good cue. Um. On the other hand, 260 00:16:08,560 --> 00:16:12,080 Speaker 1: there are recipes that are apparently serious that call for 261 00:16:12,200 --> 00:16:17,920 Speaker 1: some some pretty strange ingredients. UM. So you know, when 262 00:16:17,960 --> 00:16:20,400 Speaker 1: you keep seeing the goal of a weasel, you start 263 00:16:20,440 --> 00:16:23,160 Speaker 1: to wonder at a certain point how serious it is. 264 00:16:23,280 --> 00:16:28,200 Speaker 1: But Um. In most cases, I think the outlandish ingredients 265 00:16:28,240 --> 00:16:33,400 Speaker 1: are serious. Um. Then there's the problem of I mean, 266 00:16:33,440 --> 00:16:36,080 Speaker 1: it's not really a problem that you will encounter texts 267 00:16:36,120 --> 00:16:38,360 Speaker 1: that just sort of have a funny tone to them, 268 00:16:38,480 --> 00:16:42,040 Speaker 1: these authors from the past who are being a little 269 00:16:42,040 --> 00:16:45,040 Speaker 1: bit ridiculous in the presentation of their advice. And I 270 00:16:45,080 --> 00:16:50,040 Speaker 1: think that is what's going on in one selection from 271 00:16:50,040 --> 00:16:54,400 Speaker 1: the book on How to Give Birth from the fifteenth century, 272 00:16:54,480 --> 00:16:57,360 Speaker 1: where the author recommends that women who are in labor 273 00:16:57,440 --> 00:17:01,520 Speaker 1: should squeam a lot so that everyone hears them and 274 00:17:01,760 --> 00:17:05,240 Speaker 1: feels petty for them, and then we'll bring them um 275 00:17:05,560 --> 00:17:09,800 Speaker 1: roast chickens and fine wines in order to make them 276 00:17:09,800 --> 00:17:14,120 Speaker 1: feel better. You encounter that too, you know, just these 277 00:17:14,119 --> 00:17:18,400 Speaker 1: sort of funny authors who are enlivening their serious advice 278 00:17:18,520 --> 00:17:22,760 Speaker 1: with a little bit of playfulness. Circling back to the 279 00:17:23,320 --> 00:17:26,560 Speaker 1: weird ingredients. As I was reading there, there are lots 280 00:17:26,560 --> 00:17:29,239 Speaker 1: of things that call for things like pigeon blood and 281 00:17:29,359 --> 00:17:33,280 Speaker 1: lots of animal blood. Uh, And I was thinking, Okay, 282 00:17:33,320 --> 00:17:35,280 Speaker 1: that made me make sense if people were eating a 283 00:17:35,280 --> 00:17:37,439 Speaker 1: lot of pigeon as their diet, that they might have 284 00:17:37,480 --> 00:17:40,000 Speaker 1: pigeon blood around. But then it would get into okay, 285 00:17:40,040 --> 00:17:43,320 Speaker 1: and now you need elephant dung, and I would think, 286 00:17:44,560 --> 00:17:47,760 Speaker 1: how am I getting elephant dung? That doesn't that seems 287 00:17:47,800 --> 00:17:49,920 Speaker 1: like it would be a little hard to come by. Yeah, 288 00:17:50,840 --> 00:17:53,919 Speaker 1: And I think what's going on there is, you know, 289 00:17:53,960 --> 00:17:57,760 Speaker 1: there are some ingredients that you use because you have 290 00:17:57,880 --> 00:18:02,919 Speaker 1: them on hand. Um. So that can be herbs in 291 00:18:02,920 --> 00:18:10,119 Speaker 1: the garden, and various types of animal parts and products, um, 292 00:18:10,160 --> 00:18:13,600 Speaker 1: you know, the beef blood and the weasel sad and 293 00:18:13,920 --> 00:18:18,080 Speaker 1: this sort of thing, um. And then there are things 294 00:18:18,119 --> 00:18:21,480 Speaker 1: that I think are supposed to have sort of an 295 00:18:21,480 --> 00:18:25,719 Speaker 1: aura of strangeness, and you know, you might sort of 296 00:18:25,760 --> 00:18:28,760 Speaker 1: believe in the efficacy of the recipe more because the 297 00:18:28,920 --> 00:18:34,879 Speaker 1: ingredients seems a little bit uh out of the ordinary. Um. 298 00:18:34,920 --> 00:18:39,240 Speaker 1: I think one example of that is recipes that call 299 00:18:39,440 --> 00:18:46,040 Speaker 1: for unicorn torn um. And nearly all of the recipes 300 00:18:46,080 --> 00:18:49,720 Speaker 1: that I looked at that involves unicorns horn sort of 301 00:18:49,840 --> 00:18:53,359 Speaker 1: acknowledge that this is not something that's going to be 302 00:18:53,440 --> 00:18:59,080 Speaker 1: accessible to everyone. It's expensive. Um. So if you have 303 00:18:59,200 --> 00:19:02,040 Speaker 1: the means to choires and unicorns for and then go 304 00:19:02,200 --> 00:19:04,560 Speaker 1: right ahead, and if not, then you can use this 305 00:19:04,600 --> 00:19:08,520 Speaker 1: other thing, that'll be fine. So some of the advice 306 00:19:08,600 --> 00:19:14,280 Speaker 1: that's in here seems so bizarre, but I wonder how 307 00:19:14,320 --> 00:19:16,920 Speaker 1: anybody ever thought that it would work. And one of 308 00:19:16,960 --> 00:19:18,720 Speaker 1: the things that really jumped out with me at me 309 00:19:18,840 --> 00:19:22,160 Speaker 1: is the one that was about killing the snakes by 310 00:19:22,280 --> 00:19:25,320 Speaker 1: luring them with crab cakes and then hitting them with rashes. 311 00:19:27,840 --> 00:19:30,720 Speaker 1: Yeah right. I have to say that I have not 312 00:19:30,880 --> 00:19:35,639 Speaker 1: tried this one, um, but if anyone has, let me 313 00:19:35,680 --> 00:19:42,199 Speaker 1: know how that turned out for you. Um. Yeah. The 314 00:19:42,280 --> 00:19:44,960 Speaker 1: radish does not seem to be seemed to me to 315 00:19:45,040 --> 00:19:48,800 Speaker 1: be the most obvious weapon to use against the snake. 316 00:19:49,200 --> 00:19:53,720 Speaker 1: I have to admit, why are radish? I think it 317 00:19:53,840 --> 00:19:57,680 Speaker 1: says a large radish. It specifically is a very big radish, 318 00:19:58,000 --> 00:20:01,840 Speaker 1: but if it's big enough. Another of the oddities that 319 00:20:02,119 --> 00:20:05,440 Speaker 1: that kind of jumped out of me is too jump 320 00:20:05,520 --> 00:20:07,920 Speaker 1: back to the idea of manners, is that a lot 321 00:20:07,960 --> 00:20:12,240 Speaker 1: of these pieces that are about etiquette are simultaneously written 322 00:20:12,280 --> 00:20:16,399 Speaker 1: in a way that we would consider to be rather rude. 323 00:20:16,720 --> 00:20:19,560 Speaker 1: So one of the very first pieces of advice is 324 00:20:19,960 --> 00:20:22,520 Speaker 1: is all about etiquette, and it's about not burping or 325 00:20:22,520 --> 00:20:25,919 Speaker 1: passing gas while you're dancing with a lady. But the 326 00:20:25,960 --> 00:20:28,879 Speaker 1: way that it's written, people would think that that's at 327 00:20:28,960 --> 00:20:33,720 Speaker 1: least at the very least very indelicate by today's standards. Um. 328 00:20:33,880 --> 00:20:36,359 Speaker 1: Did you often as you were working on this, find 329 00:20:36,400 --> 00:20:40,080 Speaker 1: this disconnect between advice that holds up, but a way 330 00:20:40,080 --> 00:20:43,000 Speaker 1: of discussing it that just seems off compared to what 331 00:20:43,040 --> 00:20:48,000 Speaker 1: we would expect people to talk about that way today. Yeah, 332 00:20:48,040 --> 00:20:51,280 Speaker 1: and I don't think that that's entirely a coincidence, um, 333 00:20:51,359 --> 00:20:55,520 Speaker 1: in the case of that particular text. Um. And this 334 00:20:55,600 --> 00:20:58,320 Speaker 1: is something that I find with how to manuals generally 335 00:20:58,880 --> 00:21:01,240 Speaker 1: for everyone where read the piece of advice and you 336 00:21:01,320 --> 00:21:03,760 Speaker 1: sort of scratch your head and you think, I am 337 00:21:03,760 --> 00:21:06,919 Speaker 1: not so sure about that. Um. You know, what's the 338 00:21:06,960 --> 00:21:11,600 Speaker 1: point of a how to manual whose advice doesn't actually 339 00:21:11,600 --> 00:21:15,720 Speaker 1: accomplish what it says it's going to accomplish. Um. There's 340 00:21:15,800 --> 00:21:19,960 Speaker 1: another one that actually does sort of more than what 341 00:21:20,320 --> 00:21:24,040 Speaker 1: it is presenting it face value. UM. And that's that's 342 00:21:24,080 --> 00:21:27,200 Speaker 1: one of them. And I think it's because it's a 343 00:21:27,640 --> 00:21:30,800 Speaker 1: Latin poem. Actually it's this is this is a poem 344 00:21:31,680 --> 00:21:37,000 Speaker 1: on dancing advice. Um. And not in the first edition 345 00:21:37,000 --> 00:21:40,399 Speaker 1: of this poem, but in later editions it includes the 346 00:21:40,520 --> 00:21:45,680 Speaker 1: sort of ridiculous comic advice about kind of the earthlier 347 00:21:45,800 --> 00:21:49,919 Speaker 1: aspects of the dance. And so that that piece of 348 00:21:49,920 --> 00:21:54,040 Speaker 1: advice about um, not eating onions before you go to 349 00:21:54,040 --> 00:21:57,000 Speaker 1: the dance and not burping, and you know, if you 350 00:21:57,080 --> 00:21:59,800 Speaker 1: have to sneeze, here's how you should do it. This 351 00:22:00,160 --> 00:22:02,760 Speaker 1: seems ridiculous, and it sort of is. I mean, I 352 00:22:02,760 --> 00:22:08,040 Speaker 1: think the intention of that is not purely too explain 353 00:22:08,160 --> 00:22:12,320 Speaker 1: to incompetent youth how they should behave at a dance, 354 00:22:12,440 --> 00:22:17,240 Speaker 1: but um, to entertain people who are reading this, you know, 355 00:22:17,280 --> 00:22:21,000 Speaker 1: it's actually a work of literature. And then in other 356 00:22:21,080 --> 00:22:27,879 Speaker 1: cases another advice on etiquette, I think sometimes just effective 357 00:22:28,280 --> 00:22:31,960 Speaker 1: presenting it in a sort of ridiculous way might help 358 00:22:32,040 --> 00:22:36,240 Speaker 1: to convey the advice a little bit more forcefully, um, 359 00:22:36,440 --> 00:22:39,440 Speaker 1: sort of make it more more memorable and kind of 360 00:22:39,760 --> 00:22:49,040 Speaker 1: shame you into behaving properly. Before we talk about some 361 00:22:49,119 --> 00:22:52,360 Speaker 1: of the modern parallels of all this weird old advice, 362 00:22:52,760 --> 00:22:56,240 Speaker 1: let's have another reef word from a sponsor. So we're 363 00:22:56,240 --> 00:22:58,879 Speaker 1: going to close out our interview with Elizabeth by talking 364 00:22:58,880 --> 00:23:02,360 Speaker 1: about some of the modern parallels to these old advice 365 00:23:02,440 --> 00:23:05,399 Speaker 1: and etiquette manuals, a couple of which I had not 366 00:23:05,520 --> 00:23:08,320 Speaker 1: considered at all. And we're also going to hear about 367 00:23:08,359 --> 00:23:10,600 Speaker 1: one of her favorite pieces of advice, which is one 368 00:23:10,680 --> 00:23:14,840 Speaker 1: that surprisingly holds up pretty well today, and then stay 369 00:23:14,840 --> 00:23:17,280 Speaker 1: tuned afterward on talking because we are going to have 370 00:23:17,359 --> 00:23:25,520 Speaker 1: some pretty important listener mail. When I before I started 371 00:23:25,520 --> 00:23:29,119 Speaker 1: reading this book, I was sort of expecting it to 372 00:23:29,280 --> 00:23:35,240 Speaker 1: be like a medieval slash early modern version of like 373 00:23:35,320 --> 00:23:39,560 Speaker 1: an advice column. But after getting to the end, it 374 00:23:39,640 --> 00:23:44,159 Speaker 1: feels almost like uh, medieval and early modern version of 375 00:23:44,600 --> 00:23:50,040 Speaker 1: men's and women's magazines today. It's it's like a collection 376 00:23:50,200 --> 00:23:53,320 Speaker 1: that that turns into a five hundred year old Cosmo 377 00:23:53,920 --> 00:23:57,320 Speaker 1: five hundred years from now. What kind of things do 378 00:23:57,400 --> 00:23:59,840 Speaker 1: you think people are going to be turning to two 379 00:24:00,040 --> 00:24:03,800 Speaker 1: to figure out the same sort of of weirdness about 380 00:24:03,840 --> 00:24:08,440 Speaker 1: how we lived at this point. Yeah, that's a great question, 381 00:24:08,600 --> 00:24:12,040 Speaker 1: I think. Um, it's true some of some of this 382 00:24:12,160 --> 00:24:16,680 Speaker 1: material does sort of remind me of magazines. Um. I 383 00:24:16,720 --> 00:24:20,440 Speaker 1: think the reason for that is, you know, it's responding 384 00:24:20,480 --> 00:24:27,000 Speaker 1: to me that we still have UM so for instance, um, 385 00:24:27,119 --> 00:24:32,960 Speaker 1: we're still on the eternal quest for brilliant little life hacks. Right, Um, 386 00:24:33,000 --> 00:24:35,399 Speaker 1: you know how to soap rab how to how to 387 00:24:35,440 --> 00:24:37,640 Speaker 1: make a cake when you run out of sugar, how 388 00:24:37,640 --> 00:24:40,200 Speaker 1: to overcome your fear of heights. Um. All of these 389 00:24:40,200 --> 00:24:45,160 Speaker 1: things you can find in seventeenth century books. Um, that's 390 00:24:45,160 --> 00:24:48,199 Speaker 1: all stuff that I think we would probably turn to 391 00:24:48,320 --> 00:24:52,159 Speaker 1: the internet for today, and a lot of categories. I 392 00:24:52,200 --> 00:24:56,080 Speaker 1: think that, you know, the internet has become our collective 393 00:24:56,280 --> 00:24:59,280 Speaker 1: how to manual. Yeah, and and now I had not 394 00:24:59,400 --> 00:25:00,840 Speaker 1: made that kind of action at all, But now that 395 00:25:00,880 --> 00:25:02,960 Speaker 1: you pointed out, some of the life packs that exist 396 00:25:03,040 --> 00:25:07,040 Speaker 1: out there are just as absurd as things in the book, 397 00:25:08,800 --> 00:25:12,520 Speaker 1: or like instead of instead of scrubbing your potatoes, put 398 00:25:12,520 --> 00:25:16,479 Speaker 1: them in the dishwasher. I think that's the most absurd 399 00:25:16,480 --> 00:25:18,399 Speaker 1: one that I could think about or think of it 400 00:25:18,560 --> 00:25:22,119 Speaker 1: at this at this particular moment. Do you have a 401 00:25:22,160 --> 00:25:27,000 Speaker 1: favorite of all these just delightful gems of odd and 402 00:25:27,240 --> 00:25:29,760 Speaker 1: sometimes touching advice. You have a favorite one of all 403 00:25:29,800 --> 00:25:33,200 Speaker 1: of them? Um? Well, I have a lot of favorites. 404 00:25:33,320 --> 00:25:38,920 Speaker 1: But um, one of my very favorites is about traveling. Um. 405 00:25:39,960 --> 00:25:46,560 Speaker 1: And this is from a work from the fifteenth century 406 00:25:46,680 --> 00:25:54,879 Speaker 1: uh by Santobraska, who wrote Died to pilgrimage to the 407 00:25:54,880 --> 00:25:58,480 Speaker 1: Holy Land, some sort of a common genre, and the 408 00:25:58,520 --> 00:26:02,640 Speaker 1: advice that he gives about traveling is not completely unique, 409 00:26:02,680 --> 00:26:06,760 Speaker 1: but I just really like the way that he articulates it. Um. 410 00:26:06,840 --> 00:26:11,440 Speaker 1: So he says that a traveler should have two bags 411 00:26:11,560 --> 00:26:14,800 Speaker 1: with him, and one of them should contain a lot 412 00:26:14,840 --> 00:26:19,080 Speaker 1: of money, and the other one should contain patients. And 413 00:26:19,160 --> 00:26:22,840 Speaker 1: I think that anyone who has ever gone through an 414 00:26:22,880 --> 00:26:28,480 Speaker 1: airport in the modern era has encountered that problem. You 415 00:26:28,560 --> 00:26:31,400 Speaker 1: really need to have your suitcase with patients. And then, 416 00:26:31,440 --> 00:26:32,960 Speaker 1: of course he else ha says that you need a 417 00:26:33,000 --> 00:26:38,240 Speaker 1: lot of cured tongue and ginger syrup in order to 418 00:26:38,280 --> 00:26:42,120 Speaker 1: settle your stomach while you're traveling. But but I really 419 00:26:42,119 --> 00:26:46,000 Speaker 1: like the suitcase full of patients well, and the ginger 420 00:26:46,080 --> 00:26:48,200 Speaker 1: to settle your stomach is one of those that carries 421 00:26:48,240 --> 00:26:50,400 Speaker 1: all the way through until today. I hear people recommend 422 00:26:50,400 --> 00:26:54,720 Speaker 1: that all the time, exactly. Yeah, So is there anything 423 00:26:54,760 --> 00:26:57,000 Speaker 1: else that you just you want to make sure that 424 00:26:57,080 --> 00:26:59,919 Speaker 1: the world knows about your book? I guess one thing 425 00:27:00,000 --> 00:27:04,720 Speaker 1: I'd like to add is UM just sort of the 426 00:27:04,800 --> 00:27:08,679 Speaker 1: idea of what a how to manual is um. And 427 00:27:08,960 --> 00:27:12,960 Speaker 1: I think in the Renaissance, which is sort of from 428 00:27:12,960 --> 00:27:15,479 Speaker 1: from my perspective at least, kind of the great age 429 00:27:15,520 --> 00:27:18,879 Speaker 1: of the how to manual Um, the thing that I 430 00:27:18,920 --> 00:27:23,080 Speaker 1: really love about how to manuals is that they offer 431 00:27:23,160 --> 00:27:26,880 Speaker 1: a kind of possibility. They sort of make this promise 432 00:27:27,080 --> 00:27:31,280 Speaker 1: that you can become someone new and it doesn't require 433 00:27:31,960 --> 00:27:35,520 Speaker 1: divine intervention or you know, a special status that you're 434 00:27:35,520 --> 00:27:39,080 Speaker 1: born with, or even ten hours of practice. You just 435 00:27:39,200 --> 00:27:41,960 Speaker 1: need this clever technique that the book is going to 436 00:27:42,040 --> 00:27:46,639 Speaker 1: teach you, and you know, maybe a few quirky household ingredients. 437 00:27:46,760 --> 00:27:49,680 Speaker 1: So you can read these books and find out how 438 00:27:49,760 --> 00:27:55,000 Speaker 1: to have blonde hair, or improve your memory, or become 439 00:27:55,040 --> 00:27:59,040 Speaker 1: a you know, smooth courtier or lover instead of a bumpkin. 440 00:27:59,800 --> 00:28:03,920 Speaker 1: And and that's what I think is really appealing about 441 00:28:03,920 --> 00:28:08,280 Speaker 1: how to two manuals, and it ties back to that 442 00:28:08,680 --> 00:28:13,000 Speaker 1: idea of men's and women's magazines and life hacks like 443 00:28:13,080 --> 00:28:15,359 Speaker 1: these things where if you follow these steps, your life 444 00:28:15,359 --> 00:28:19,320 Speaker 1: will be easier and better exactly, and you know, who 445 00:28:19,359 --> 00:28:23,680 Speaker 1: knows how many cases it actually played out that way, 446 00:28:23,720 --> 00:28:31,960 Speaker 1: but there's just such openers and in the genre. So 447 00:28:32,080 --> 00:28:35,080 Speaker 1: I would like to thank Elizabeth the Archbald again for 448 00:28:35,200 --> 00:28:37,359 Speaker 1: taking the time to talk to me. Her book asked 449 00:28:37,359 --> 00:28:41,880 Speaker 1: the past pertinent and impertinent Advice from Yesteryear is out 450 00:28:41,920 --> 00:28:46,560 Speaker 1: now it is delightful. Her blog is also delightful. Thank 451 00:28:46,600 --> 00:28:50,680 Speaker 1: you again for talking to us. Do you also, I 452 00:28:50,720 --> 00:28:52,560 Speaker 1: know you do because you mentioned it already, have some 453 00:28:52,760 --> 00:28:56,280 Speaker 1: important and interesting listener mail I do. We've gotten some 454 00:28:56,600 --> 00:29:00,840 Speaker 1: pretty valid uh corrections on the podcast lately. We got 455 00:29:00,840 --> 00:29:03,680 Speaker 1: a couple of notes after our episode about the Saint 456 00:29:03,760 --> 00:29:07,480 Speaker 1: KITT's Slave Revolt about how to say Nevus and Antigua, 457 00:29:07,560 --> 00:29:10,440 Speaker 1: which you say as I just said them, rather than 458 00:29:10,560 --> 00:29:12,800 Speaker 1: Nevis and Antigua, which is how we said them on 459 00:29:12,840 --> 00:29:16,680 Speaker 1: the show. But you have traveled there and you heard 460 00:29:16,760 --> 00:29:19,240 Speaker 1: most people that you spoke to saying Nevis, which is 461 00:29:19,280 --> 00:29:21,880 Speaker 1: why you presumed that was cool. I did not look 462 00:29:21,920 --> 00:29:23,840 Speaker 1: it up because I had heard so many people saying 463 00:29:24,080 --> 00:29:26,800 Speaker 1: them that way. What I have learned since then is 464 00:29:26,840 --> 00:29:28,960 Speaker 1: that because most of the people I was talking to 465 00:29:29,160 --> 00:29:31,400 Speaker 1: were ship's staff and ship's crew, and a lot of 466 00:29:31,440 --> 00:29:35,000 Speaker 1: them their first language was Dutch or maybe Hindi, or 467 00:29:35,040 --> 00:29:37,959 Speaker 1: maybe they were from the Caribbean and had a like 468 00:29:38,080 --> 00:29:44,040 Speaker 1: a Caribbean various Caribbean accent. Those accents affected that pronunciation 469 00:29:44,200 --> 00:29:46,560 Speaker 1: and it didn't quite translate to how we say it 470 00:29:46,640 --> 00:29:50,680 Speaker 1: in English in America. So that to be fair is 471 00:29:50,720 --> 00:29:53,640 Speaker 1: one I did not look up. Uh. The other one 472 00:29:54,080 --> 00:29:57,000 Speaker 1: we have gotten possibly the most email about of any 473 00:29:57,080 --> 00:30:03,080 Speaker 1: correction ever. In the correction Olympics ranks high. It's quite high. 474 00:30:03,120 --> 00:30:06,520 Speaker 1: And most of these letters were kind. Thank you for 475 00:30:06,720 --> 00:30:10,120 Speaker 1: the most of you who were kind. However, most of 476 00:30:10,160 --> 00:30:13,920 Speaker 1: them were also incorrect. So this is our episode recently 477 00:30:13,960 --> 00:30:17,800 Speaker 1: about the Texas Revolution, which that we took. We talked 478 00:30:17,800 --> 00:30:20,800 Speaker 1: about a siege. A lot of the corrections we got 479 00:30:20,960 --> 00:30:25,600 Speaker 1: our analogous too. If we had done an episode about 480 00:30:25,720 --> 00:30:31,640 Speaker 1: uh uh Juan Ponce de Leon, and then the entirety 481 00:30:31,680 --> 00:30:35,000 Speaker 1: of Atlanta wrote to us to say, it's Ponsta Leon right, 482 00:30:35,120 --> 00:30:37,200 Speaker 1: which is how there's for those of you who don't know, 483 00:30:37,280 --> 00:30:41,000 Speaker 1: there is a famous road here in Atlanta. Our offices 484 00:30:41,040 --> 00:30:44,200 Speaker 1: in fact are on it, which everybody here calls Ponst 485 00:30:44,360 --> 00:30:48,000 Speaker 1: Leon right, which when I first moved here it made 486 00:30:48,000 --> 00:30:51,080 Speaker 1: my stomach hurt. But right, that's not how you say 487 00:30:51,080 --> 00:30:54,280 Speaker 1: his name went in Rome, but you know, centuries later 488 00:30:54,360 --> 00:30:56,640 Speaker 1: that is how people say the name of the road 489 00:30:56,760 --> 00:30:59,720 Speaker 1: that was named after him. So what we should have 490 00:30:59,760 --> 00:31:02,880 Speaker 1: said d in our siege episode about the Texas Revolution, 491 00:31:02,920 --> 00:31:07,080 Speaker 1: we should have called it the siege of Beijar. We're 492 00:31:07,080 --> 00:31:09,040 Speaker 1: going to talk about why with two different pieces of mail. 493 00:31:09,560 --> 00:31:12,400 Speaker 1: The first of them is from my friend Hayden from college, 494 00:31:12,840 --> 00:31:15,400 Speaker 1: and he uh, I'm not gonna read the whole thing 495 00:31:15,480 --> 00:31:17,560 Speaker 1: because it was a note to me, not to the podcast, 496 00:31:17,600 --> 00:31:20,680 Speaker 1: and he said Texas history, particularly the period of the revolution, 497 00:31:20,760 --> 00:31:22,680 Speaker 1: can be a real mess, so it was nice to 498 00:31:22,720 --> 00:31:24,800 Speaker 1: hear a clear summary of the events. I have just 499 00:31:24,840 --> 00:31:28,400 Speaker 1: a couple of comments. First, the pronunciation of Behar when 500 00:31:28,440 --> 00:31:30,720 Speaker 1: speaking of the village of bejart As is as it 501 00:31:30,800 --> 00:31:33,800 Speaker 1: was generally known during the colonial and republic periods. The 502 00:31:33,880 --> 00:31:37,880 Speaker 1: generally accepted pronunciation is Beihar. In modern Texas, the city 503 00:31:37,920 --> 00:31:40,880 Speaker 1: of San Antonio is in Bear County, and the residents 504 00:31:40,880 --> 00:31:44,800 Speaker 1: they are pronounced it Bear. You also mentioned that Texas 505 00:31:44,840 --> 00:31:47,880 Speaker 1: independence was declared March first, thirty six. It was actually 506 00:31:47,920 --> 00:31:50,920 Speaker 1: declared March second, which was Sam Houston's birthday. I don't 507 00:31:50,920 --> 00:31:53,520 Speaker 1: know where the second air came from, so that was 508 00:31:53,680 --> 00:31:57,240 Speaker 1: that was Hayden on how to pronounce Behar. I also 509 00:31:57,360 --> 00:32:02,120 Speaker 1: got a great email from Samantha. Samantha says, I've been 510 00:32:02,160 --> 00:32:05,120 Speaker 1: listening to the podcast for years, hoping to hear something 511 00:32:05,160 --> 00:32:07,040 Speaker 1: that could spark and excuse to write in and I 512 00:32:07,080 --> 00:32:09,880 Speaker 1: finally have one, but unfortunately, instead of a cute story, 513 00:32:09,880 --> 00:32:13,440 Speaker 1: it's a slight correction. I appreciate your caveat at the 514 00:32:13,480 --> 00:32:16,280 Speaker 1: top of the cast regarding the improper pronunciation of the 515 00:32:16,360 --> 00:32:18,720 Speaker 1: rold are at the end of bey heart, something few 516 00:32:18,720 --> 00:32:21,600 Speaker 1: people who did not learn the correct malformation to pronounce 517 00:32:21,640 --> 00:32:24,920 Speaker 1: that particular sound as a child can accomplish. However, the 518 00:32:24,920 --> 00:32:27,720 Speaker 1: rest of the word is also mispronounced, and then she 519 00:32:27,800 --> 00:32:31,360 Speaker 1: has like this slanty face in moodicon with the like 520 00:32:31,880 --> 00:32:35,560 Speaker 1: slightly frown email. I have to start by admitting I 521 00:32:35,600 --> 00:32:38,040 Speaker 1: am not a native Spanish speaker or a linguist, but 522 00:32:38,080 --> 00:32:40,240 Speaker 1: I did grow up in San Antonio, and I took 523 00:32:40,280 --> 00:32:43,240 Speaker 1: Spanish and German in high school. And the proper pronunciation 524 00:32:43,280 --> 00:32:46,160 Speaker 1: of Bear County, where San Antonio is located, was discussed 525 00:32:46,200 --> 00:32:48,440 Speaker 1: several times as an example of the influence of the 526 00:32:48,560 --> 00:32:52,680 Speaker 1: linguistic traditions of the region's main cultural groups on our 527 00:32:52,760 --> 00:32:57,160 Speaker 1: modern pronunciations of traditional words and names. The original word 528 00:32:57,360 --> 00:33:01,240 Speaker 1: by heart, being Spanish, was most likely announced behar, treating 529 00:33:01,240 --> 00:33:04,520 Speaker 1: the the x like a J to sound like ye, 530 00:33:04,640 --> 00:33:08,200 Speaker 1: yea or ha. We can see this in the original 531 00:33:08,200 --> 00:33:12,000 Speaker 1: pronunciation of Texas as Taijas, and in the correct pronunciation 532 00:33:12,040 --> 00:33:14,360 Speaker 1: of Wahaka, a word I love to see non Spanish 533 00:33:14,400 --> 00:33:18,200 Speaker 1: speakers struggle to pronounce in Mexican restaurants. My language teacher 534 00:33:18,280 --> 00:33:22,680 Speaker 1: always explained that that beijar pronounced beijar softened to bear 535 00:33:23,160 --> 00:33:26,280 Speaker 1: under the influence of Germanic language traditions, which came in 536 00:33:26,320 --> 00:33:29,320 Speaker 1: with large numbers of German immigrants to the area, settling 537 00:33:29,400 --> 00:33:32,840 Speaker 1: towns like Fredericksburg and New Bronzels. And I should have 538 00:33:32,840 --> 00:33:34,840 Speaker 1: looked up how to say that before I read this letter, 539 00:33:34,880 --> 00:33:37,800 Speaker 1: but I didn't. In fact, until about thirty years ago, 540 00:33:37,880 --> 00:33:40,400 Speaker 1: a form of German was still spoken by elderly native 541 00:33:40,400 --> 00:33:43,080 Speaker 1: born residents of these towns, much like Creole is still 542 00:33:43,120 --> 00:33:46,280 Speaker 1: spoken in small parts of Louisiana, and some people even 543 00:33:46,280 --> 00:33:49,160 Speaker 1: thought the word was actually German in origin but rewritten 544 00:33:49,160 --> 00:33:52,600 Speaker 1: in Spanish. I think the memory of this story, as 545 00:33:52,640 --> 00:33:54,520 Speaker 1: well as spending a lot of time in St. Louis 546 00:33:54,520 --> 00:33:56,640 Speaker 1: and New Orleans, where the mix of French, English, Spanish, 547 00:33:56,640 --> 00:34:00,160 Speaker 1: and Native American languages have created some very interesting pronunciation 548 00:34:00,240 --> 00:34:04,280 Speaker 1: standards that are seemingly at odds with traditional correct pronunciations 549 00:34:04,560 --> 00:34:08,560 Speaker 1: turned into a dilettant fascination with the evolution of language. Uh. 550 00:34:08,600 --> 00:34:13,560 Speaker 1: And then she actually then she actually recommends um an 551 00:34:13,560 --> 00:34:16,640 Speaker 1: audiobook of the Great Courses, The Story of Human Language, 552 00:34:16,680 --> 00:34:19,440 Speaker 1: which is a full semester's worth of classroom lectures about 553 00:34:19,480 --> 00:34:22,160 Speaker 1: the evolution of language. Um. And then she says that 554 00:34:22,440 --> 00:34:24,480 Speaker 1: said she was really great that we did the episode. 555 00:34:24,560 --> 00:34:28,960 Speaker 1: So here's what happened. I looked up how to say 556 00:34:29,000 --> 00:34:32,680 Speaker 1: beijar at four vo, and we got the Spanish version. 557 00:34:32,840 --> 00:34:35,839 Speaker 1: We got the Spanish version thinking it would be more 558 00:34:35,880 --> 00:34:37,960 Speaker 1: correct to the place and time. We were talking about 559 00:34:38,760 --> 00:34:42,120 Speaker 1: the Spanish language pronunciation of bejar at four vo. When 560 00:34:42,120 --> 00:34:45,799 Speaker 1: we looked at it was wrong, Like it was frankly wrong. Um. 561 00:34:45,880 --> 00:34:48,960 Speaker 1: And because you know T e x a s has 562 00:34:49,320 --> 00:34:53,840 Speaker 1: pronounced Texas Yenglish and and M e x i ceo 563 00:34:54,080 --> 00:34:57,000 Speaker 1: was pronounced in Mexico and English. And the fact that 564 00:34:57,040 --> 00:35:01,840 Speaker 1: I have never studied Spanish beyond I think a semester 565 00:35:02,040 --> 00:35:06,840 Speaker 1: in third grade with yeah or maybe a quarter. It 566 00:35:06,880 --> 00:35:09,680 Speaker 1: was a very small amount of of third grade Spanish, 567 00:35:09,680 --> 00:35:13,080 Speaker 1: where we mostly learned numbers in the alphabet. Uh. It 568 00:35:13,120 --> 00:35:15,120 Speaker 1: did not occur to me that that was wrong. So 569 00:35:15,360 --> 00:35:19,120 Speaker 1: I'm sorry I messed that up. However, everyone who angrily 570 00:35:19,160 --> 00:35:24,200 Speaker 1: wrote to us, Uh, we got an email that literally started, um, 571 00:35:24,200 --> 00:35:28,200 Speaker 1: it's pronounced bear, like, don't don't, don't write to anyone 572 00:35:28,239 --> 00:35:33,160 Speaker 1: like that. It would not actually have been correct to 573 00:35:33,239 --> 00:35:36,759 Speaker 1: have called that town bear, but it also was not 574 00:35:36,840 --> 00:35:39,520 Speaker 1: correct to call it Bexar, which we should have called 575 00:35:39,560 --> 00:35:43,000 Speaker 1: it Behar. And just as a public service announcement, Uh, 576 00:35:43,040 --> 00:35:44,799 Speaker 1: most of you were nice. Thank you so much for 577 00:35:44,880 --> 00:35:47,120 Speaker 1: most of you being nice, But like, just in general, 578 00:35:47,160 --> 00:35:49,799 Speaker 1: as a general rule, if you're if you're writing to 579 00:35:49,960 --> 00:35:52,560 Speaker 1: anyone in the world to correct something they have done, 580 00:35:52,880 --> 00:35:57,080 Speaker 1: imagine that you yourself have just made a large and 581 00:35:57,280 --> 00:36:01,160 Speaker 1: and and irritating an upsetting air in front of literally 582 00:36:01,200 --> 00:36:04,600 Speaker 1: thousands of people. Kind Of imagine how you would feel 583 00:36:04,600 --> 00:36:07,640 Speaker 1: about that before you write your email to yell at 584 00:36:07,680 --> 00:36:09,840 Speaker 1: them about it, and know that you're one of thousands 585 00:36:09,840 --> 00:36:13,719 Speaker 1: of people doing something. Yeah, we got literally hundreds of emails. 586 00:36:14,360 --> 00:36:17,040 Speaker 1: My my, I mean, I don't. People are welcome to 587 00:36:17,800 --> 00:36:20,520 Speaker 1: couch their complaints anyway they want. I'm not there the 588 00:36:20,520 --> 00:36:23,040 Speaker 1: boss of them. My thing that is always like when 589 00:36:23,040 --> 00:36:27,280 Speaker 1: people start something like that and it's my ears bled 590 00:36:27,320 --> 00:36:29,399 Speaker 1: and I cried and I'm like, okay, Nobody on this 591 00:36:29,440 --> 00:36:31,879 Speaker 1: podcast is like, let's make some mirrors bleed today. We're 592 00:36:31,880 --> 00:36:34,680 Speaker 1: going to really rock this. You know, I don't want 593 00:36:34,719 --> 00:36:38,560 Speaker 1: to hurt anybody with mispronunciation. It is an accident, always right. 594 00:36:39,000 --> 00:36:41,200 Speaker 1: Neither of us are ever like I don't care, just saying, however, 595 00:36:41,280 --> 00:36:43,800 Speaker 1: you well, and to start of give you a little 596 00:36:43,840 --> 00:36:46,200 Speaker 1: behind the scenes, behind the scenes of stuff you missed 597 00:36:46,200 --> 00:36:49,600 Speaker 1: in history class. The level of effort that we take 598 00:36:49,640 --> 00:36:53,600 Speaker 1: to find correct pronunciations just does not correspond to a 599 00:36:53,680 --> 00:36:56,600 Speaker 1: reduction in how many corrections we get about it. It 600 00:36:56,680 --> 00:36:59,680 Speaker 1: does regardless of what steps we take. Like for example, 601 00:37:00,040 --> 00:37:05,520 Speaker 1: he gave the say Shanagon outline that I took for 602 00:37:05,560 --> 00:37:07,719 Speaker 1: the episode we mentioned at the top of the show. Coincidentally, 603 00:37:07,760 --> 00:37:09,759 Speaker 1: we gave it to someone who spoke Japanese and has 604 00:37:09,800 --> 00:37:12,960 Speaker 1: lived in Japan, and that person gave us phonetic pronunciations 605 00:37:13,000 --> 00:37:15,680 Speaker 1: for every single word in it. We still got pronunciation 606 00:37:15,680 --> 00:37:19,960 Speaker 1: corrections for Japanese. Or our Treaty of White Tangy episode. 607 00:37:20,640 --> 00:37:26,560 Speaker 1: I looked up documentary footage of New Zealanders talking about it, 608 00:37:27,360 --> 00:37:29,960 Speaker 1: and then then we imitated that, and we still got 609 00:37:30,920 --> 00:37:35,440 Speaker 1: corrections about that. So regardless of whether we're talking about uh, 610 00:37:36,080 --> 00:37:38,920 Speaker 1: accents of English that are not American English, or words 611 00:37:39,320 --> 00:37:41,480 Speaker 1: in languages that we don't speak, Like, regardless of what 612 00:37:41,560 --> 00:37:46,920 Speaker 1: steps we take, we still get things wrong. Sadly, we 613 00:37:46,920 --> 00:37:49,680 Speaker 1: cannot speak We don't speak all the languages, and Bracy 614 00:37:49,760 --> 00:37:54,160 Speaker 1: has more Spanish training than I do. And when it 615 00:37:54,200 --> 00:37:58,080 Speaker 1: comes to weird regional pronunciations, what these are actually good 616 00:37:58,080 --> 00:38:00,839 Speaker 1: for is separating who's from here with who's not from here, 617 00:38:00,880 --> 00:38:04,360 Speaker 1: and we're not from there. Uh, And we're gonna do 618 00:38:04,440 --> 00:38:06,640 Speaker 1: our best, but we are seriously always going to get 619 00:38:06,680 --> 00:38:09,480 Speaker 1: stuff wrong regardless of what effort we take. Yeah, it's 620 00:38:09,520 --> 00:38:12,720 Speaker 1: just kind of um comes with the package. Somebody suggested 621 00:38:12,760 --> 00:38:14,920 Speaker 1: asking fans on Twitter, and I was like, this is 622 00:38:15,040 --> 00:38:17,160 Speaker 1: that's an idea, but that like we don't have a 623 00:38:17,200 --> 00:38:20,200 Speaker 1: way to figure figure out which responses are legitimate and 624 00:38:20,239 --> 00:38:23,400 Speaker 1: which ones are people trolling us, and like regional pronunciations 625 00:38:23,400 --> 00:38:26,480 Speaker 1: can be so wacky, but it's hard to tell the difference. Well, 626 00:38:26,480 --> 00:38:29,640 Speaker 1: and even when we've done episodes and gotten really irate corrections, 627 00:38:29,680 --> 00:38:32,440 Speaker 1: they have often come in with like seven different options 628 00:38:32,480 --> 00:38:36,920 Speaker 1: about they are not all in agreement either, So at 629 00:38:36,920 --> 00:38:39,120 Speaker 1: that point you're kind of opening a can of worms 630 00:38:39,160 --> 00:38:41,680 Speaker 1: of like, let's start a Twitter fight over how things 631 00:38:41,719 --> 00:38:44,960 Speaker 1: are bron again. I don't want to do this podcast 632 00:38:44,960 --> 00:38:48,279 Speaker 1: to cause violence or unrest or make people's eyears lead 633 00:38:48,320 --> 00:38:51,000 Speaker 1: with our with our pronunciation. I don't want any of that. Yes, 634 00:38:51,160 --> 00:38:53,560 Speaker 1: So thank you Samantha for writing, and thank you Hayden 635 00:38:53,640 --> 00:38:55,359 Speaker 1: for writing, and thank you all the other people who 636 00:38:55,360 --> 00:38:58,160 Speaker 1: sent us nice corrections, and thank you to the people 637 00:38:58,160 --> 00:39:00,479 Speaker 1: who sent us main corrections to for taking the time. 638 00:39:00,920 --> 00:39:04,160 Speaker 1: Uh some of the things that I answered, I'm sure 639 00:39:04,200 --> 00:39:08,080 Speaker 1: I sounded frustrated and discouraged because I had answered literally 640 00:39:08,360 --> 00:39:13,080 Speaker 1: fifty mean emails that day. Yeah, by the seventieth time 641 00:39:13,120 --> 00:39:15,360 Speaker 1: that you've been told in like a three hour period 642 00:39:15,719 --> 00:39:18,480 Speaker 1: how terrible you are and that like you are killing 643 00:39:18,920 --> 00:39:23,759 Speaker 1: the universe with your evil, poorly pronounced words, it's hard 644 00:39:23,800 --> 00:39:26,719 Speaker 1: to maintain, Like, Hey, how you do him? Thanks so much. 645 00:39:27,040 --> 00:39:30,719 Speaker 1: I'm really I'm really sorry. I'm so I'm actually mortified, 646 00:39:30,840 --> 00:39:34,520 Speaker 1: frankly still that we got that so spectacularly wrong. But 647 00:39:34,719 --> 00:39:36,799 Speaker 1: it should not have been there, based on when we 648 00:39:36,840 --> 00:39:39,880 Speaker 1: were talking about it should have been by hard anyway. 649 00:39:40,239 --> 00:39:43,880 Speaker 1: So thank you so much to everyone who who correct 650 00:39:43,960 --> 00:39:46,359 Speaker 1: us on that. Please don't correct us anymore. We got 651 00:39:46,400 --> 00:39:49,600 Speaker 1: it now. If you would like to learn more about 652 00:39:49,640 --> 00:39:52,359 Speaker 1: what we talked about today a p M two our 653 00:39:52,400 --> 00:39:54,399 Speaker 1: website which is missing history dot com, and you will 654 00:39:54,440 --> 00:39:57,279 Speaker 1: find show notes, including the note where we corrected that 655 00:39:57,400 --> 00:40:00,680 Speaker 1: pronunciation the day of the episode came out. You can 656 00:40:00,760 --> 00:40:03,040 Speaker 1: also find a whole archive of everything we've talked about. 657 00:40:03,120 --> 00:40:05,200 Speaker 1: You can go to our parents company's website, which is 658 00:40:05,239 --> 00:40:07,359 Speaker 1: how stuff works dot com and find out all kinds 659 00:40:07,360 --> 00:40:10,239 Speaker 1: of stuff about etiquette. We have a whole collection of 660 00:40:10,280 --> 00:40:12,520 Speaker 1: etiquette articles if we put etiquette in the search bar. 661 00:40:12,960 --> 00:40:14,600 Speaker 1: If you want to write to us about things, we're 662 00:40:14,600 --> 00:40:16,680 Speaker 1: at history Podcast at how stuff works dot com. We're 663 00:40:16,719 --> 00:40:18,960 Speaker 1: also on Facebook at Facebook dot com slash miss in 664 00:40:19,040 --> 00:40:21,239 Speaker 1: history and on Twitter at missing History. Our tumbler is 665 00:40:21,280 --> 00:40:23,200 Speaker 1: missed in History dot tumbler dot com. We're on Pinterest 666 00:40:23,200 --> 00:40:25,839 Speaker 1: at pinterest dot com slash miss in history. So come 667 00:40:25,960 --> 00:40:28,000 Speaker 1: visit us at how stuff works dot com or missed 668 00:40:28,000 --> 00:40:30,399 Speaker 1: in history dot com and take a look at ask 669 00:40:30,480 --> 00:40:37,320 Speaker 1: the Best for more on this thousands of other topics 670 00:40:37,400 --> 00:40:51,200 Speaker 1: because it has stuff works dot com