Kind of silly, but kind of rather useful for the future, too.bernards66 wrote:...Even though I post ( obsessively...sigh ) in the SOTD forum almost daily, in a sense, it's kind of silly...
See, part of my work involves teaching final-year students about a very ancient dramatic form. SWMBO is an ancient historian. We both know - as everyone remotely engaged in this field knows - that some of the most fascinating things are those we will never know because they were to mundane to write about at the time. Did the drains from the Baths of Caracalla get clogged with grease? What did the baths smell like? Did the toga uirilis itch? How often -- and how -- did they clean them? And so on.
Two thousand years from now -- if certain ill-informed, plausible madmen haven't extinguished our posterity -- historians of the future may say "I wonder how they shaved, back in the 2nd millenium CE? How long did it take? What did the stuff smell like? Did they cut themselves, did they enjoy it, how long did it take, was it itchy?"
And, thanks to SOTD, and the rest of this board - not to mention BreadknifeAndBeaver - they will know. So we may joke among ourselves about our ADs and general geekery (but let anyone from the Outside joke and we'll damn it SHAVE them) but in reality we're providing not just a place to chat about stuff which, let's face it, would bore many of our friends and family into a cosy oblivion, but also a truly valuable cultural/historical resource.
And with that thought I will now find myself so intimidated that I will never be able write another wor...