Over the years, we’ve had several conversations about terms for washing up quickly without getting in the tub, such as taking a bird bath or a possible bath. A listener chimes in with her family’s version. They take an airplane bath — wings, nose...
Mary in Laramie, Wyoming, says her mother used to speak of taking a possible bath, meaning washing up using water from the sink instead of taking a bath or a shower. The idea is that you wash up as far as possible, then down as far as possible, and...
The name Jacuzzi comes from the Jacuzzi family, seven Italian brothers who emigrated to California and opened a Berkeley machine shop in 1915. Their work included propellers and irrigation pumps, and one pump became personally important when Candido...
Victoria from Tallahassee, Florida, weighs in on our discussion about terms for an extremely quick bath. When Victoria was young, her great-great grandmother from Poland, when checking if Victoria had indeed washed herself, would ask, “Did you spit...
Judy from Indianapolis, Indiana, remembers her great-aunt Fanny using the expression take a jaybird, meaning take a sponge bath. She explained it as when you wash under your wings and your tail feathers, and maybe polish off your beak. Great-aunt...
We spoke a little while ago about quickie baths, which one listener called a Georgia bath, but we got a letter from someone who’s grandmother used to refer to it as “swabbin’ the vitals,” that last word sounding like “vittles.” This is part of a...