LOS ANGELES (KNX) - If you’ve ever visited the barbershop, you’ve probably noticed the pole out front with the red, white, and blue stripes.
But what’s the story behind this swirly cylinder? Are the colors particularly patriotic? Or do they mean something else altogether?
Peter Geiger, the Editor of the Farmer's Almanac, said the pole stood for the services a barber offered back in the Middle Ages (and the job was much more than cutting hair).
“So then barbers took on the duties all treated for wounds, broken bones, taking out your teeth, bloodletting, especially bloodletting,” Geiger said. “So if you had a disease or to let blood out of that part of body, they cure you. Regular surgeons felt that was minuscule for them, so barbers became these barber-surgeons.”
Geiger said barbers would advertise their business with a bucket containing what they’d collected from that person (and it wasn’t money).
But when the buckets became banned, that’s when barbers turned to the poles.
Geiger said the poles were red and white, the red symbolizing blood and the white symbolizing the bandage.
As for the blue, well, no one really knows. It’s not exactly an itch someone is wanting to scratch.
Speaking of scratching itches, why does it feel so good? And also, we do we refer to ships as “she?”
For those answers, listen to the full episode of “I’ve Got Questions” in the audio below.
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