Deltiology or Postcards: “A happy invention”

I grew up in Baton Rouge near “Delta” country. The American Heritage on-line dictionary points out this region’s relevance as “the home of some of the earliest blues music.” However, this happy occurrence does not make me a deltiologist. Deltiology deals not with the blues—at least not directly--but with the collection and study of postcards.

Many things, in addition to family and friends, make me happy. Potatoes, basset hounds, grocery shopping, and postcards come immediately to mind. As a child, I remember developing my writing skills by making grocery lists. However, I cannot remember exactly when I became enamored with writing postcards. As a child, I had many pen pals. Perhaps once my pen pals faded away in junior high school, I made up for this writing vacuum through writing postcards. I keep postcard stamps in my wallet so that I can spontaneously “postcard” someone easily.

Facebook before the internet

Recently, I read an intriguing account of the life of a vicar in Wales in the late 19^th century, “Kilvert’s Diary, 1870-1879.” In the entry dated 4 October 1870, Kilvert wrote, “Today I sent my first post cards, to my Mother, Thersie, Emmie and Perch. They are capital things, simple, useful and handy. A happy invention.” This entry caused me to ponder upon the history of postcards. According to the web site, The History of Postcards, as their popularity grew, postcards became a primary way to send friends and family a snapshot of surroundings while traveling, an early form of Facebook, or even photographs of home, family, or basset hounds during the Christmas holiday season. 

In discussing postcard history, the web site Smithsonian Institution Archives lists the “Pre-Postcard Period” as spanning the years 1848 through 1870, so Kilvert in rural Wales, was using the latest technology to communicate with family. Even in today’s Facebook world, postcard clubs exist. After all, you cannot hang Facebook posts on your refrigerator. I am a Facebooker. While technically I am not a deltiologist, I am very happy to be first and foremost a postcard enthusiast.

POTATOES!!!—WDSS? (What Does Shakespeare Say?) You WILL be surprised!

If I were marooned on a desert island with only one food, it would be POTATOES (white, not sweet)! Almost everyone who knows me knows that I love POTATOES as much as I love Shakespeare—and in my world, the two are comparable—supreme food for the soul and supreme food for the body. Recently, I decided to investigate what my literary love had to say about my culinary love, although I expected that Shakespeare had very little to say about potatoes.

Surprisingly, I found two references to potatoes in my Shakespeare lexicon. The first comes from “Troilus and Cressida.” In Act 5, Scene 2, Troilus, Ulysses, and Thersites spy on Cressida as she betrays Troilus by flirting with Diomedes, touching his face. Thersites, tormenting Troilus, comments, “How the devil luxury (lust), with his fat rump and potato finger, tickles these together!” A footnote informs that potatoes were regarded as a “sex stimulant,” thus Cressida’s “potato finger” has a seductive meaning.

In the second reference, Falstaff in “The Merry Wives of Windsor” is courting two married women in an attempt to scam money from them. In Act 5, Scene 5, they decide to teach him a lesson and arrange a meeting with him in a forest. One calls out to him and he replies, “Let the sky rain potatoes, let it thunder to the tune of ‘Greensleeves,’ hail kissing comfits (sweetmeats), and now eryngoes (an alleged aphrodisiac). Let there come a tempest of provocation, I will shelter me here.” He is saying that a rain storm of potatoes is a problem that would cause him to hunker down with this lady. Based on the fact that potatoes have an aphrodisiac quality, Falstaff chooses a potato storm on purpose.

In spite of my long-lived love of potatoes, I had no clue that they supposedly can serve as an aphrodisiac. I Googled “potatoes aphrodisiac” and found some interesting results. The first link came from WebMD, “Aphrodisiacs Through the Ages.”

An article on AlterNet, “Sex and Food: the World’s Strangest Aphrodisiacs Through Time,” discusses how at one time, potatoes were considered an aphrodisiac, citing Falstaff in “The Merry Wives of Windsor.” The article goes on to debunk the stimulating effect of potatoes. The piece notes the fact that while absence of something makes the heart grow fonder, the ready access of something does not. Once potatoes became commonly accessible, they supposedly lost their sex appeal.

Yet, an article from the PR Newswire reports on a baby boom beginning in 1997 on the island of Jersey in the United Kingdom associated with the Jersey Royal Potato season. The article quotes aphrodisiac expert James Sotte:

“Throughout history potatoes have been considered an aphrodisiac. Amazonian women ate them to stimulate their sex drive and in late 16th century Europe sweet potato tarts were recommended to increase sexual desire. The reason is that potatoes have the same affect on the body as chocolate; they increase serotonin levels. Insulin is produced when digesting potatoes, affecting the movement of amino acid from the blood to the brain, which stimulates serotonin production. Serotonin is the chemical that makes you feel happy and is similar to the feeling of being in love.”

Based on my newfound knowledge of potatoes as an aphrodisiac, perhaps I may want to rethink my choice of food if I am stranded on that deserted island alone!

NOTE: For my purposes in this blog, I decided not to define the word “potato,” as a definition would add nothing to my point. However, out of curiosity, I looked up “potato” in the on-line “American Heritage Dictionary.” The entry refers the reader to a note regarding the word “tater,” which intrigued me as a native speaker of the American Southern dialect. I included the link for those who are interested.

Hoghenhine—A Fishy Proposition

Guest or host—we have all been one or the other or both. When planning either to travel or host travelers, many factors influence the length of the visit.  Are the hosts good cooks? Are the beds comfy? Are the guests charming? Do they arrive bearing gifts, fish perhaps?  Benjamin Franklin offered the frequently-referenced guideline in his witty observation, “Guests, like fish, begin to smell after three days.” The length of time, three days, makes sense in terms of smelly fish as a yardstick for worn out welcomes.

However, imagine becoming legally responsible for guests after a three-day stay! If this situation were the case, many hosts would surely insist on sending their guests away with the smelly fish. Evidently, in the Middle Ages, this far-fetched notion was reality. Recently, the word “hoghenhine” arrived in my inbox in the form of the daily word from the “Oxford English Dictionary,” defined as “A person who has stayed in a household for three nights, and so becomes the legal responsibility of the host; a member of a household; a dependant.” The word derives from the early Middle English aȝen hine (also oȝen hine), and literally means “own servant” or “member of one's own household.”

The “American Heritage Dictionary” does not define the word. Perhaps it became obsolete for a reason.  Imagine waiting until time to send a child to college and then sending said child to stay with grandparents. After three days, the grandparents would be responsible for tuition bills! Of course, the concept of servitude in the word makes becoming a “hoghenhine” less attractive as a way to spice up the wardrobe or get that new car.

The word itself has an animal nature to it, consisting of “hog,” “hen,” and “hine,” which initially reminded me of a hind or deer. Such company would become undesirable in many homes after three days, if not sooner. While pet hogs or hens exist, usually these animals are associated with the barnyard.

In addition, looking at these words as slang, a “self-indulgent, gluttonous, or filthy person” or “one that uses too much of something” is informally known as a hog. In the slang world, “hen” describes an “older woman, especially one who is engaged in conversation with other women.” This type of hen has the reputation for gossip. “Hine” does not have the distasteful associations of “hog” and “hen,” but it is not an overwhelmingly positive word, either. A hine can be “a servant; a farm laborer; a peasant; a hind,” according to “The Free Dictionary.” “The Urban Dictionary,” defines hine as “inconsequential: the inconsequential passing of time. That thing that happens when you intend to have a bath and eat some food then alas it's quarter to midnight and you've.... done... nothing.” Combine the parts and we get a gossipy glutton who wastes time, certainly not the ideal guest in most cases.

Did Benjamin Franklin know the concept of hoghenhine when he penned his fishy admonition?  Regardless, three days is plenty of time for hosting or guesting, unless the fish are really tasty and the guests shower every day.