this post was submitted on 07 Dec 2023
236 points (88.3% liked)
Showerthoughts
29666 readers
1317 users here now
A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. A showerthought should offer a unique perspective on an ordinary part of life.
Rules
- All posts must be showerthoughts
- The entire showerthought must be in the title
- Avoid politics
- NEW RULE as of 5 Nov 2024, trying it out
- Political posts often end up being circle jerks (not offering unique perspective) or enflaming (too much work for mods).
- Try c/politicaldiscussion, volunteer as a mod here, or start your own community.
- Posts must be original/unique
- Adhere to Lemmy's Code of Conduct-----
founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
Fun fact! It used to be called the parlor and was basically only used for home funerals, so was casually called the death room. When the funeral industry became a thing, rebranding it as "the living room" was an effort by the Ladies Home Journal in 1910 to get rid of the creepy feeling most people associated with that room, to make it a nice place for families to hang out while still alive.
https://armls.com/step-into-the-death-room
i strongly doubt that many people had the money for a room that they just used to present someones body if they died.
It was also used for formally entertaining guests and wedding receptions. It was where the expensive furniture and good dishes were kept, that you didn't really use except when trying to impress people. So yes, it wasn't for families who lived in a one room, dirt floor hovel, or families that had servants and many formal entertaining rooms that they could afford to use regularly and maintain, but if you were middle class and had enough for a "good room" that you wanted to "save for best" then that was what it was used for. https://www.simplysoldaz.com/the-death-room/
Also- 30% of people died before the age of 5 in 1900 England and USA, so it's not like they rarely had occasion to use it.
There's a part in one of the Disc World books by Terry Pratchett (which are fiction, but roughly analogous to that time period in England) where we are being introduced to Granny Weatherwax (a witch) and it is said of her that she never ever uses the front door of her own house, because that is for brides and corpses and she didn't plan on ever being either of those.
My parents grew up in working class 1950s Britain. My dad's parents slept in the kitchen (with a curtain round the bed for privacy), which was also the room that most "living" was done. The three kids shared a single small room, with both teenage boys sharing a double bed, their older sister got her own single bed, and she stayed there until she married and moved out in her early twenties. I remember seeing that room and even as a child it seemed cramped, no space really for anything else once the two beds were in it.
While the whole the family was living, eating and sleeping in two small room, an immaculate "front room" / parlour was kept solely for the two or three days a year where they had "company" (a family event like a wedding or funeral, or the priest visiting or something). The front room was bigger than both the others. It's hard to comprehend the priorities that led to this sort of thing, but it was apparently extremely common in that time and place.
Our lore is weird