Victorian Humor: Straight Blade Story

[Slock]

I found this on Kristen Holt website. I guess this goes for humor back than. She has a lot of stuff about Victorian shaving. I even found an bay rum recipe from the 1880s.

Victorian Humor: Straight Blade Story

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Transcription of the little story from Chetopa Advance of Chetopa, Kansas on April 20, 1870:

An English gentleman entered a barber’s shop at Calais, and addressed the barber: “I am delicate about the skin. Shave me without cutting me, and I will give you a sovereign. Cut me, and–here are two loaded pistols!” The barber, nothing daunted, shaved the delicate skin with admirable skill. “Humph!” said the Englishman, “then my pistols did not alarm you?” “No, sir.” “And why not?” “If my razor had slipped,” said the barber, “I should have finished by cutting your throat.” The Englishman disappeared.

 

[Rhody]

So he disappeared without paying that sovereign? Ha ha
I have wondered what trust folks must have had with barbers back in the day.

 

[hairless wonder]

So he disappeared without paying that sovereign? Ha ha
I have wondered what trust folks must have had with barbers back in the day.

They did also come up with Sweeney Todd. But every society has a system of implied trust in strangers. When you drive, you trust others to follow the rules of the road (including stopping at red lights and stop signs) and not to drive into you. When you ride in an airplane, you trust the pilot not to kidnap or to kill you. When you go to a restaurant, you trust the kitchen staff to adhere to the relevant health and safety codes and not to poison you.

 

[Rhody]

They did also come up with Sweeney Todd. But every society has a system of implied trust in strangers. When you drive, you trust others to follow the rules of the road (including stopping at red lights and stop signs) and not to drive into you. When you ride in an airplane, you trust the pilot not to kidnap or to kill you. When you go to a restaurant, you trust the kitchen staff to adhere to the relevant health and safety codes and not to poison you.

Agree with the exception of stop signs. They are mostly invisible to others around me. Decades ago I had an uncle who would blow his car horn going thru any intersection I’ve been doing that now on occasion.