A barber pole design adorns this mooring pole in a little Venetian alley. I have no idea why that design is there (other than to look colorful) but barber poles themselves have an interesting meaning. Think back, way back: well beyond trimming hair, any self-respecting barber would also be a surgeon, and dentists! Of course by surgery we mostly mean bloodletting (i.e. make you bleed till you faint, and let's hope you feel better later). The thing is, "barbers" would hang the bandages to dry on a pole: white if they were fresh, and red if bloodstained (or just old?). The wind would blow on them and eventually roll them around, creating the well known pattern you see in the picture. Eventually the pole was made into a sign, and by the time doctors and dentists parted ways with their grooming colleagues, the barber had already laid claim to this symbol, surviving until today.
Un diseny de columna de barber adorna aquest piló per atracar vaixells en un carreró de Venécia. No em pregunteu pas que hi fa aqui (a part de maco), pero en qualsevol cas, les columnes de barber tenen tota una història. Penseu en fa temps, molt de temps: més enllá de tallar cabells, qualsevol barber respectable seria també dentista i cirurgià! Es clar que quan diem cirurgià ens referim a algú que feia sangries (es a dir, teure't sang fins que perdis el coneixement, i esperar a veure si et trobes millor). La qüestió és que els "barbers" solien penjar d'un pal les benes per assecar: blanques si estaven ben rentades, i vermelles si tenien taques de sang (o el barbe les portava usant des de feia anys?). Quan el vent bufava, les benes s'enroscaven al voltant del pal, creant el patró tant conegut que veieu a la foto. Finalment, del pal en van fer un cartell, i per quan els doctors i dentistes van deixar el ram dels escurça patilles, els barbers ja havien fet aquest símbol, que perdura fins avui
Friday, November 21, 2008
A Mooring barber pole in Venice
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment