Friday Fun Facts Five: (In)Famous Inventors
Thomas Edison: He invented a helicopter that ran on gunpowder. It blew up and damaged his factory. (He put the HELL in hel-icopter).
Leonardo DaVinci: This Renaissance Man invented the scissors. (All that genious and he still couldn't make Mona Lisa smile).
Joseph Gayetty: When he invented toilet paper in 1857, he had his name printed on every sheet. (How Gay...etty. Question: so what did they use to wipe prior to 1857???).
Dr. Albert Southwick: He is the one that came up with the idea of the electric chair...and the dude was a DENTIST! (As if we needed yet another reason to fear the dental chair).
Marcel Bich: This French inventor created the Bic pen. They dropped the "h" from his name because they feared Americans would pronounce it "bitch pen." (Bic also makes Bitch lighters and Bitch shavers).
Leonardo DaVinci: This Renaissance Man invented the scissors. (All that genious and he still couldn't make Mona Lisa smile).
Joseph Gayetty: When he invented toilet paper in 1857, he had his name printed on every sheet. (How Gay...etty. Question: so what did they use to wipe prior to 1857???).
Dr. Albert Southwick: He is the one that came up with the idea of the electric chair...and the dude was a DENTIST! (As if we needed yet another reason to fear the dental chair).
Marcel Bich: This French inventor created the Bic pen. They dropped the "h" from his name because they feared Americans would pronounce it "bitch pen." (Bic also makes Bitch lighters and Bitch shavers).
posted by The Phoenix
at
6:49 AM
24 Comments:
I knew those fuggin' dentists were all sadists!
Hey, I got me one of those Bitch shavers! ;)
Before toilet paper was invented they used either old scraps of paper, bibles, books or birch bark.
Ever wonder where all those books, flyers and other paper items went? I mean, the printing press has been around for how long? You'd think we'd be overrun with books eh?
What did they use to wipe before?
Have you seen that Erol Morris documentary about the electric chair?
Can't think of the name, and don't have the time to look it up, but it's really good.
Great stuff, as always.
My grandpa once told me that they used to use old Sears catalogs before toilet paper. Actually, I think he still used the catalogs even after toilet paper was invented. He had an outhouse, I kid you not. He lived far out in the country and didn't have plumbing or electric. He got his water from a pump, and used Coleman lanterns for lighting.
Some Americans probably call it Bitch Pen anyway.
Thank the Lord for TP!! Newspaper, old catalogues, and corn cobs would have been unacceptable to my bohunkus.
Have a nice weekend.
Man I would hate to have that guy as my dentist. And I believe they used cats to wipe themselves prior to 1857. That is why cats are so unfriendly.
A friend of mine told me that some places in the Middle East (and the told me this 20 years ago) they use the fingers on their left hand to wipe. He'd been places where the bathroom had crap streaks on the wall from people wiping their hands off.
Kathy Griffin recently told a similar story about an experinece she'd had there.
Rat's. I hate it when I screw up and leave anonymous comments.
And here I thought Nikola Tesla invented EVERYTHING. As always, you make me smarter.
-- david
Why would anyone want their name printed on toilet paper..Seriously, people would be soiling your good name.
That last part was hilarious.
(All that genious and he still couldn't make Mona Lisa smile)
Or give her eyebrows. WTF!
Bitch pen sounds so much better. I can see the tag line now. 'Make sure that you have the real bitch.' It would be marketing genius.
Thank you for sharing these. I smiled all the way through. I LOVE learning where everyday stuff comes from!
BTW, I found your link on Jamie Dawn's blog and decided to follow it home. I'm glad I did, as your site is a great read.
I look forward to reading more of your work, and hope you'll pop by my blog as well.
All the best,
Carmi
http://writteninc.blogspot.com/
The electric chair makes so much more sense now.
Thanks!
Ah yes, some of my best work was done with a bitch.
Of course the electric chair was the brainchild of some dentist...
To whom do I owe the most debt?
Probably the toilet paper guy. I can't imagine a life of gathering leaves.
Interesting facts and very cool blog page!!
Yeah, my fav is the TP too. Of course, I have a particular appreciation for it because being from up north there'd be large stretches during the winter where I would've had to use branches from pine trees due to the lack of leaves.
Although I'm also with Grafs in terms of befuddlement as to why you'd want to remind people of your name when wiping their tushies.
What about Tesla!
I thought the Chinese invented toilet paper, and the egg noodle, but they got them confused and invented Bubonic plague.
I really do think the Chinese invented tp in the 6th Century -- maybe your guy invented the 'roll'
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