Enquire within

[gogmagog]

Today at the used bookstore I picked up Enquire Within Upon Everything, a facsimile of an 1856 book that, as the book jacket says, "is a fascinating compendium of lore on practically every aspect of domestic life in the mid-nineteenth century." Some entries at random (with my comments in bold):

583. THE BENEFICIAL EFFECTS OF CHARCOAL in stopping putrefaction are now well ascertained; fish or meat may be restored by boiling charcoal with them.
Ewww. I'm sorry, spoiled meat can NOT be unspoiled. I'm betting these Victorians had quite a few cases of food poisoning. XD

1930. PRESERVE FUNGI. - Receipt of the celebrated botanist, William Withering, Esq., by which specimens of fungi may be beautifully preserved. - Take two ounces of sulphate of copper, or blue vitriol, and reduce it to powder, and pour upon it a pint of boiling water, and when cold, add half a pint of spirits of wine; cork it well, and call it "the pickle." To eight pints of water add one pint and a -half of spirits of wine, and call it "the liquor." Be provided with a number of wide-mouthed bottles of different sizes, all well fitted with corks. The fungi should be left on the table as long as possible, to allow the moisture to evaporate; they should then be placed in the pickle for three hours, or longer, if necessary; then place them in the bottles intended for their reception, and fill with the liquor. They should then be well corked and sealed, and arranged in order, with their names in front of the bottles.
Only the Victorians would preserve fungi as a home hobby...of course, they'd also occasionally stuff their dead pets and keep them in the parlor, so I suppose it's not too surprising. XD

2528. ARSENIC may be detected by a solution of blue vitriol dropped into the suspected liquid, which will turn green, if arsenic be present.
Oh-KAY...

2545. WOW WOW SAUCE. - Chop parsley-leaves fine; take two or three pickled cucumbers, or walnuts, and divide into small squares, and set them bye ready; put into a saucepan butter as big as an egg; when it is melted, stir into it a table-spoonful of fine flour, and half a pint of the broth of the beef; add a table-spoonful of vinegar, one of mushroom catchup, or port wine, or both, and a tea-spoonful of made mustard; simmer together till it is as thick as you wish, put in the parsley and pickles to get warm, and pour it over the beef, or send it up in a sauce-tureen. This is excellent for stewed or boiled beef.
I totally picked this just for the name. XD

2915. WEDDING DRESS. - It is impossible to lay down specific rules for dress, as fashions change, and tastes differ. The great art consists in selecting the style of dress most becoming to the person. A stout person should adopt a different style from a thin person; a tall one from a short one. Peculiarities of complexion, and form of face and figure, should be duly regarded; and in these matters there is no better course than to call in the aid of any respectable milliner and dressmaker, who will be found ready to give the best advice. The bridegroom should simply appear in full dress, and should avoid anything eccentric and broad in style. THe bridesmaids should always be made aware of the bride's dress before they choose their own, which should be determined by a proper harmony with the former.
This is followed by a gigantic list of every wedding rule, down to where the chief bridesmaid stands and what she holds (the gloves, handkerchief, and flowers of the bride, for the record).

Just thought it would be a fun bit of historical folly for y'all to read.

Also, because jantalaimon reminded me of it, today's Thanksgiving selection comes from Addams Family Values:

Wednesday/Pocahontas: How! I am Pocahontas, a Chippewa maiden.
...
Wednesday/Pocahontas: We have brought a special gift for this holiday feast.
Pugsley/Turkey: I am a turkey. Kill me!
Amanda/Sarah Miller: What a thoughtful gift! Why, you are as civilized as we, except we wear shoes and have last names. Welcome, to our table, our new primitive friends!
Wednesday/Pocahontas: Thank you, Sarah Miller! You are the most beautiful person I’ve ever seen. Your hair is the color of the sun, your skin is the color of fresh milk, and everyone loves you.
Amanda/Sarah Miller: Stop! Sit!
Wednesday/Pocahontas: Wait.
Amanda: What?
Wednesday/Pocahontas: We cannot break bread with you.
...
Wednesday/Pocahontas: You have taken the land which is rightfully ours. Years from now, my people will be forced to live in mobile homes on reservations. Your people will wear cardigans and drink highballs. We will sell our bracelets by the roadsides. You will play golf, and enjoy hot hors d’oeuvres. My people will have pain and degradation. Your people will have stick shifts. The gods of my tribe have spoken. They have said, “Do not trust the Pilgrims – especially Sarah Miller.”
...
Wednesday/Pocahontas: And for all these reasons, I have decided to scalp you, and burn your village to the ground.

Let's Azumanga Linking!
- Azumanga Royale. (From eslington.) Think Azumanga Daioh meets Battle Royale. >D
- I don't normally link to AMVs, because IMO most of them kinda suck, but this one was too good not to give a nod to. It's to Bowling for Soup's "1985" (which I kinda have a hate/love relationship with - it's mildly clever but so overplayed) featuring Miss Yukari of Azumanga Daioh. The reason it's so good, though, is because of how the AMVer handles the pop-culture references - mostly by pulling from other anime or something in a way which struck me as really funny. (I especially like the way they handled the Nirvana and U2 references, as well as what they show the second time they refer to MTV music videos. XD)
- And then, of course, there's Lord of the Yen, a remake of all three Lord of the Rings trailers (using the original audio) with Azumanga Daioh video which made me laugh. A lot. (Sakaki as Aragorn and Kimura as Gollum especially.)

...oh, and having seen Azumanga Daioh will of course make these funnier, though I think the last two certainly are funny without it.

Edit: You know another thing that scares me about this "1985" song? A large number of its listeners were not yet born in 1985. (Way to make me feel old.)

Comments

[ahebert.livejournal.com]

"Wow Wow Sauce" sounds like an aphrodisiac.

[jantalaimon.livejournal.com]

that is completely and utterly the best scene in a totally brilliant movie. XDDDDDDDDDDD

it makes me even sadder that the last thing Raul Julia did before he died was the live-action Street Fighter movie. :I

[ahebert.livejournal.com]

Streetfighter might have been bad, but Overdrawn at the Memory Bank was ten times worse.

[yoshitsune.livejournal.com]

Yeah, Gomez Addams would have been a much better sendoff than M. Bison. ;_;

[rathershady.livejournal.com]

I know someone who is getting a big stocking of charcoal to stop meat putrefaction for Christmas!!

[yoshitsune.livejournal.com]

Ha ha ha, the joke's on you - I have no meat in the house to putrefy!

(Seriously, except when I go out to eat I'm practically vegetarian. Is pastatarian a word? Or candytarian?)