In honor of our nation’s birthday coming up on Friday (I’m taking a blog-day off), here’s some offbeat American history.
What was personal hygiene like in early America? For one thing, a person took a bath only semi-annually, in May and October. Also, because bugs and lice were a problem, women wore head-coverings and men who could afford it wore wigs over shaved heads.
But the wigs couldn’t be washed (the more expensive ones were wool). When it was time to clean his wig, a man would place it into a loaf of hollowed-out bread, and bake it for half an hour. Although it worked great for cleaning (and bug-killing), the wig came out fluffy and big.
Yes, that meant that it became a “big wig.” As a result, today that term refers to a person who seems to be rich and powerful.
Happy birthday, America!