Thursday, August 30, 2012

Men and Women and the BabyBjorn

This is really just an observation that my wife and I made a few weeks ago, but every time I put baby in the BabyBjorn I'm reminded of it.

When putting baby in, you clip one side then put baby's foot through that side before clipping the other side.  When I do it, I start with the side on my right.  When my wife does it, she starts with the side on her left.  Every time we use it the same thing happens: she starts with the left and I start with the right.  This has to be because of the difference between men's and women's garments; men's clothes button from the right and women's from the left.

This explanation I knew for this is from the Victorian era, when affluent women generally wouldn't dress themselves.  Servants would dress and button up the women, so the buttons were designed for right-handed people facing the garment.  Well-to-do men would have their clothes laid out for them by their servants, but they would actually dress themselves.

I found another explanation, that men would button their armor from the right to prevent right handed opponents from getting through the armor from that side.  Women's clothing buttons from the left so that while nursing a child they have easier access to the right side, then believed to be closer to the heart.  CLOSER TO THE HEART, YEAH bum bum bum, beeeeeeew, beeeeew beeew, buh nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh bunluhla bunluhla bunluhla bunluhla buuuuuuh...

I'm not afraid to say I like Rush, although not as much as I used to, so the nonsense above are the lyrics to the guitar solo from Rush's "Closer to the Heart."


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