Friday, June 06, 2008

Barber

BARBER, n.  (Lat. barbarus, savage from barba, the beard.)  A savage whose laceration of your cheek is unobserved in the superior torment of his conversation.

2008 Update:  A man of the professions, wise enough to keep a blade to his customers throat and still receive a tip.

15 comments:

Mutha said...

Hey! First?
...and didn't I hear that barbers used to also act as dentists? In your head...on your head... what's the difference?

Anonymous said...

While watching The Godfather, it occurred to me that the first plastic surgeons were probably Italian barbers. Their work had a certain permanence to it.

I wonder why barbers never really got into the business of shaving hair on women... perhaps some things are best left in the wonder why category.

TLP said...

I'll never think of barbers the same way after seeing Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. Far too much blood for me!

Sauerkraut is on to something: barbers could shave women's legs for free, and charge guys for watching.

Tom & Icy said...

Maybe shoe salesmen should be a woman's leg barber on the side.

mireille said...

Icy, personally, I don't want a shoe salesman that far up my leg. I mean, what are they doing above the arch, much less the ankle. Hope that's family-friendly enough.

Speaking of barbers, weren't the colors of their advertising apparatus (red and white) supposed to have some political significance at one time? xoxo

Mutha said...

I vote that any conversation about a "woman's leg barber" is rated PG-13

Anonymous said...

No thankee, tlp... ;-) was invited to watch a bikini wax once and that was twice too many. ixnay on the shaving too far up-aye.


meow.

Jamie Dawn said...

I tend to think of barbers giving men military-style haircuts, and fancy salons giving men feathered hairstyles and using mousse.
This leads my mind to a family story:
My Gramillo was a manicurist. She was giving her brother a manicure because he'd never had one. He was a tough, old bird. Near the end she asked him if he wanted her to put clear nail polish on his nails or just buff them to a shine. He grunted out strongly, "Buff 'em!!"
Maybe that's just funny to us, but it cracks me up. I am surprised he let her even touch his nails.

G said...

Bikinki waxing, men shaving women's legs - see what a word such as barber brings out here?

Barber: I'm quite fond of mine. I highly recommend him.

Ariel the Thief said...

Ah barbers! Do you remember the opening scene of the movie, My Name Is Nobody?

Doug The Una said...

And doctors, Mutha. It's all in the blade.

Sauerkraut, you might be right. Most of culture begins with barbers, it seems.

TLP, I fell asleep in that movie.

Icy, I bet pedicures would go down well.

Mireille, that's a fascinating question. According to Wikipedia, the barber pole symbolizes bloodletting. I wonder why no one tells you that?

Mutha, you win.

Sauerkraut, this site is getting too democratic, I think.

That is funny, JD. I'll remember "Buff 'em!"

G, I don't think the problem is the word but where it lands.

Ariel, I haven't seen that one. I wonder if I can rent it.

Anonymous said...

Arg. Where did my comment go? That's what I get for not double checking. It's been long enough that I certainly should have learned by now.

Barber -- isn't that the guy who puts points on fish hooks?

Ariel the Thief said...

Doug, you're gonna love Henry Fonda in that movie.

Cooper said...

Johnny Depp: my favorite barber.

Be good to your barber.

Anonymous said...

Twentieth-century composer, noted for his violin concerto and "essays" for orchestra.