Massive Myths of a Previous Thread

[deerstalkert]

A small partial roll of TP is the first thing I put in my pack or pocket whenever I go to the woods or an outdoor event!!! It can be worth a lot of money at times!

me and my hunting buddies refer to TP as mountain money.

 

[BadDaditood]

Ivory soap never made it to New Zealand . When I was a kid in the 50's we had an American book of things to make from household items . It had a lot of things to carve from floating soap . I wrote to my Cousins in Denver for floating soap and got instant coffee instead much to my parents delight .

Something got lost in translation!
Reminds me of “NZ and US: two countries separated by a common language “
;-)

 

[Eutycus]

A small partial roll of TP is the first thing I put in my pack or pocket whenever I go to the woods or an outdoor event!!! It can be worth a lot of money at times!

Just don't forget to unload yor pockets. It makes for a mess in the washing machine when you forget.Boy do I know

 

[Brokennock]

Wetting it would soften it up a bit, but there’s the question of the water supply….!

My gun clubs ranges, trout pond and warming hut all set down hill from the clubs lodge house with its modern facilities, so a port-John is conveniently located next to the range. Last week the Monday after field day I had a powerful need of that porta-John, no TP,catalogs or cobs!




I always have a clean white handkerchief in my back pocket. Now I’ve added a partial roll of TP to my range kit.

True EDC. These are just as much an Every Day Carry item as my pistol, i.d. wallet, and knives.
I have a partial roll of t.p. in my truck as well as in my hunting pack, scouting pack, and the bag I keep miscellaneous items in while period hunting/trekking. But, there is always at least one of these in my shirt pocket or some other pocket on my person.

 

[Whughett]

OK Tenngun, you got me. I am retired Air Force and have no idea what bug juice is ... must be navy code talk Polecat

Think military version of Kool-Aid.
A destroyer size ship at sea only has at most a week or two of fresh milk. Then it was sterilized milk, bug juice and coffee for beverages at meal times. Sterilized milk was god awful tasting and many a sailor learned to love coffee black or bug juice for beverages.

We also had plenty of bologna and SOS. The bologna had a special name also.

 

[deerstalkert]

Think military version of Kool-Aid.
A destroyer size ship at sea only has at most a week or two of fresh milk. Then it was sterilized milk, bug juice and coffee for beverages at meal times. Sterilized milk was god awful tasting and many a sailor learned to love coffee black or bug juice for beverages.

We also had plenty of bologna and SOS. The bologna had a special name also.

especially when folded.

 

[tenngun]

OK Tenngun, you got me. I am retired Air Force and have no idea what bug juice is ... must be navy code talk Polecat

Some sort of coolaid stuff.
I don’t care for sweet drinks so never was a drinker of it. But on the mess deck we had two big coolers of it that had an agitator inside.
When you had mess duty it was the worst job to clean them. We had red pink and greenish yellow. It came dry and you had to mix it with water to run.
Surprised Air Force didn’t say it. Army guys had it and there was a packet of it in c rats-mres

 

[tenngun]

Dental hygiene in the 18th century was rubbing your teeth with a rag covered in soot, alum or crushed sea shells. Brandy was also used, and most barbers would remove infected teeth. A Plains tribe, I forget which one, was noted for having big white teeth. It may be a myth, but I was told the reason people in the 19th century didn't smile in photographs is because they usually had missing or rotten teeth.

Again a myth. Early photography had real long exposure time. Up to two or three minutes. Wet plate got faster but even then was several seconds.
When snap shots came along about 1900 folks started smiling

 

[appalichian hunter]

Them air force boys had it pretty easy even had real plates no metal trays for them fellas when I was in. Stationed at camp Hansen Okinawa for a brief period, we went down to Kadena air base for air ops got to eat one meal in there dining facility (Marine known as mess hall ) hell them boys had table cloths, just about passed out. as to the bug juice it was with no ice for us.

 

[david w]

View attachment 166245 View attachment 166246
True EDC. These are just as much an Every Day Carry item as my pistol, i.d. wallet, and knives.
I have a partial roll of t.p. in my truck as well as in my hunting pack, scouting pack, and the bag I keep miscellaneous items in while period hunting/trekking. But, there is always at least one of these in my shirt pocket or some other pocket on my person.

I have used tree leaves in an emergency. You have to be careful not to choose the wrong one's. You will pay for it later. I speak with experience!

 

[tenngun]

My relative from Russia was University educated and came from a family of intellectuals. He was fluent in 8 languages and held an engineering degree in steam engine design. I have Russian Mennonite background also. They were a different sort of class. Both groups describe Russian peasants as a filthy, disease ridden, lower class. It seems to me that there is a tendency to see a nation of people and see one type. When in truth surely there was one extreme to another. There is an account of a traveler from the eastern states that was moving thru the Ozarks. He described what to him was deplorable conditions and behaviors that was beneath him. So it appear that his hygiene standards where far removed from the poor folks in the hills.

Often I take accounts at face value, and with a grain of salt. Today we read about the near east having poor body habits. But a Arab left us one of the few non Christian accounts of Vikings, and he was disturbed by their body habits.
Cultural prejudices often run in the accounts.
And it goes both ways. Some westerners got so taken with other cultures they over exaggerate good points. Seven pillars of wisdom comes to mind, or Sir Richard Burton.
Even journals run a gauntlet of recording every misery to one’s that make it paridise.

 

[Dale Lilly]

Some sort of coolaid stuff.
I don’t care for sweet drinks so never was a drinker of it. But on the mess deck we had two big coolers of it that had an agitator inside.
When you had mess duty it was the worst job to clean them. We had red pink and greenish yellow. It came dry and you had to mix it with water to run.
Surprised Air Force didn’t say it. Army guys had it and there was a packet of it in c rats-mres

Tenngun and Whughett ...Hey guys, I think I retired before or about the time you enlisted. I retired in 1973.. never heard of "bug juice." You learn a bit each day. Thanks

 

[Whughett]

Tenngun and Whughett ...Hey guys, I think I retired before or about the time you enlisted. I retired in 1973.. never heard of "bug juice." You learn a bit each day. Thanks

1960 to 1964 for me. Sea Duty on USS Ingraham. DD 694, home port Newport Rhode Island.
Also stationed in Hawaii for 14months.

 

[Coinneach]

I was raised on a side-hill subsistence farm in the mountains. We had spring water piped into the house (gravity feed) for all needs with a hand pump in the kitchen, a claw-foot tub for bathing and a flush toilet too, so we were “modern.” Some of my friends families made do with bucket water and an outhouse as did some of our closest neighbors, so we were very familiar with the use of old catalogs and corn cobs in the outhouse — but I reckon we were doing it wrong ? When the Sears and Monkey Wards catalogs ran out and it was corn cobs or nothing, we always used just the shucks and flung the dry cobs down into the pit. Leaving the shucks attached to the old cobs made them easy to hang on a nail, handy and easy to rip off what you needed, but it never occurred to me to use the dry cobs for cleaning m’self. Lordy I expect an old worn horseshoe rasp would be better … less abrasive and last longer too.
My hat’s off to whoever it was that said they used the cob. You’re a tougher ol’ bird than me. I always thought people were joking about using corn cobs.

Back in the 80's we had an arrogant Brit officer attached to our unit for 2 years, I suspect they send them out to the Aussie Army to "re-educate" them.

So there we were on an extended vehicle mounted recon exercise up in north West Australia which included some forays into the desert, towards the end we'd run out of TP ("bum fodder") and the Brit complained, my crusty old Troop Sgt told him to use sand which he did !
Until we got back to the coast there was one humbled Brit officer who had difficulty walking and sitting.

 

[stephenprops1]

I have enjoyed reading the stories and experiences shared in this thread. Here is another story of growing up in a home free from modern conveniences. Born in Western Colorado in the mid-1940s to a family that was not well off financially, I was 11 years of age before we lived in a house that had indoor plumbing or a source of heat other than a wood or coal fired stove. Our water came from a concrete cistern on the property that was periodically refilled by a water delivery truck. The water was pumped from the cistern by hand and carried into the house in buckets. Our bathing was once per week in a galvanized tub filled with water warmed on the stove that, for me as the eldest child, had previously been used by my father, followed by my mother, then me, and in succession the children younger than me. Down a cold, dark pathway from the house was an outhouse, which we shared with unpleasant odors, spiders, and other imaginary dangers. Within the privy, there was usually to be found discarded newspaper or the pages remaining from an old mail order catalog which were repurposed as an improvement on the legendary corn cob. Used for this purpose, we didn’t consider the distribution of catalogs containing slick four color illustrations to be an advancement. None of us preferred to brave the elements and challenge its dangers by answering nature’s call in the dark of night so, beneath each bed was placed a “thunder mug” to accommodate these poorly timed necessities. Somehow we survived, what would be thought to be deprivations today, and grew up to be healthy, educated, productive people. To this day, my wife, who was raised as the pampered daughter of a well-to-do doctor, listens to my descriptions of the conditions that existed for my social class with a goodly amount of skepticism.

Heck, I was born in the early 1950's and my family experience was much like yours. We did use the corn cob in the privy. I did not know of anyone that used the shucks. I guess, out of necessity, we were a hardy bunch. We had a well and a cistern. To get water we had to toss a bucket into the water and haul it back up with an attached rope. The very first time I did that I got a lesson regarding not letting the rope slide across the palms f your hands. Rope burn really hurts.

 

[Rum River]

I have used tree leaves in an emergency. You have to be careful not to choose the wrong one's. You will pay for it later. I speak with experience!

Yup, emergencies.
Long time ago deer hunting northern Minnesota. Forgot the tp in camp. Desperation set in....

The snow was 8" deep and packed up perfect for snowmen, snowballs, or......the tp that was back in camp.

I was very alert the rest of the day.

Since then, anytime anybody tells me they had a "chapped a##" about something or other - I can honestly say they have no idea what they're talking about.

 

[Coinneach]

Wetting it would soften it up a bit, but there’s the question of the water supply….!

My gun clubs ranges, trout pond and warming hut all set down hill from the clubs lodge house with its modern facilities, so a port-John is conveniently located next to the range. Last week the Monday after field day I had a powerful need of that porta-John, no TP,catalogs or cobs!




I always have a clean white handkerchief in my back pocket. Now I’ve added a partial roll of TP to my range kit.

Pack a convenient envelope of Wet Wipes when youre out and around, according to the Lakota Sioux historical accounts Custer regretted overlooking that......

 

[Siringo]

Dental hygiene in the 18th century was rubbing your teeth with a rag covered in soot, alum or crushed sea shells. Brandy was also used, and most barbers would remove infected teeth. A Plains tribe, I forget which one, was noted for having big white teeth. It may be a myth, but I was told the reason people in the 19th century didn't smile in photographs is because they usually had missing or rotten teeth.

That smiling thing is a myth. When photography first appeared, it was proper to have your picture taken as you would appear in public without facial gestures. Such as smiling, laughing or sticking your tongue out. This tradition is still carried on today in mug shots and ID photos.

 

[jefair1]

OK Tenngun, you got me. I am retired Air Force and have no idea what bug juice is ... must be navy code talk Polecat

Bug juice is like off brand Koolaid. It is also a good rust remover. I was also on subs.

 

[david w]

Bug juice is like off brand Koolaid. It is also a good rust remover. I was also on subs.

How to clean the deep fat fryers in a ship's galley: Pour bug juice powder (Kool aid) over coils after draining tanks. Let sit for 10 minutes, then wash with hot water. The coils come out sparkling clean. Being buddies with the cook has it's perks! He didn't eat the slop the crew got either.