Barney & Clyde by Gene Weingarten; Dan Weingarten & David Clark for June 09, 2024

Mr. Pillsbury should be getting a discount with that nearly bald head of his. But it is generally not a good idea to tick off someone holding razors or scissors.

TIL that USA barbers have blue on their poles.

…or I can offer you an enema AND a bloodletting, free of charge. Do we have a deal Mr Pillsbury?

“I demand a discount!”

‘I have already discounted your rantings.’

Never insult the people you’re trusting your appearance to.

I know Gene is old, but “clip joint” is pretty dated slang.

I think there’s about to be some blood letting

“Let me get my pliers and scalpel and we’ll pull a few teeth and take a pint”.

He should get a discount anyway since he only has three hairs.

“You may feel a slight sting”……….

The barber on “Dr. Quinn” resented that the town didn’t consider his abilities to be sufficient.

Until 1163,

The task of drawing blood would go

To monks, but then a pope’s decree

Forbade them to continue so.

The academic surgeons thought

That drawing blood was too mundane

For them, and thus the barbers got

Another source of fiscal gain.

These barber-surgeons had the skills

And tools to cut the patients’ skin,

Extract their teeth (no dental drills),

And tend their wounds through thick and thin.

The patients gripped a staff to make

Their veins stand out for blood to flow.

The barber-surgeons came to take

The symbol of a staff to show

Their business to the public eye.

Used bandages were wrapped around

The staff to hang them out to dry,

So stripes of red and white were bound.

It’s possible the twining meant

To bring to mind Asclepius,

The healing god whose serpent went

Around a rod—a medic’s plus.

The barber poles no longer use

Real bandages but keep the look

Of helices of certain hues.

Some rotate for an extra hook.

Americans have added blue,

To match the nation’s flag, I’d think.

Some claim it’s an allusion to

The blood in veins; I doubt the link.

—me

Give him an enema instead.

Au contraire, Mr. Pillsbury, that makes him a specialist, so he should charge more.