This is totally random, but I saw a depiction of an outhouse the other day and got to wondering...why do outhouses have half-moons on them?
The answer, according to straightdope.com, is that in the past (ie Colonial times) when not everyone could read or write, the moon was there to denote a female restroom (if you can call an outhouse a restroom) and a sun was put on a men's. As time went on, this fell by the wayside, and today, it is more of something you see in cartoons, not in the real world. The reason, supposedly, that the moon has prevailed over the sun is that women's outhouses were maintained better than men's. The funny thing is, that I never think of outhouses as being just for men or women...they are mostly for both to use.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment