They’re only saying this because the Sousaphone hadn’t been developed yet at the time. Obviously.
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Jan. 16, 1886
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That’s some good tornado prediction.
-edited to correct typing.
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But then Victorians had… ideas… about what would befit a young gentleman and what wouldn’t.
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I really appreciate the evenhanded wisdom of #2 here. Uncommon humility for a contemporary advice columnist of the era.
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Jan. 16, 1886
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I was about to protest that rings ate typically worn between two knuckles and so it’s not helpful to denote “the knuckle” as an orienting polestar, but then it dawned on me that maybe I’ve been doing it all wrong. Ever since I started cracking my knuckles as a kid, I have assumed that the term refers to all 30 (or 28, I guess… the base of the thumb is practically the wrist) finger joints, but maybe “knuckle” only means the big 8 that you punch people with.
Guess I should look it up.
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It is a little-known fact that you can in fact use bread as an eraser. The modern equivalent is the “kneaded eraser."
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Oxford Languages says:
"a part of a finger at a joint where the bone is near the surface, especially where the finger joins the hand.
Well that should settle it.
They give this example:
“Charlotte rapped on the window with her knuckles”
Oh damn. 
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And Merriam Webster doesn’t add that particular especially either:
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a
: the rounded prominence formed by the ends of the two adjacent bones at a joint —used especially of those at the joints of the fingers
b
: the joint of a knuckle
In fact, they make it sound like the knee is a knuckle! (Well, okay, strictly speaking the “rounded prominence” is formed by the kneecap, not the femur and shinbone, but still…)
Charlotte raps on the window like a grumpy unpaid landlord.
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Charlotte raps on the window like a grumpy unpaid landlord.
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At least the other guideline, fingers pointed away, is clearer and makes sense when you consider it. One does not boastfully display one’s family motto to all and sundry, but rather carries it in such a manner as to inspire oneself with the memory of one’s illustrious progenitors, the first of whom had the motto (Excelsior!) bestowed upon him by the monarch on some 15th century battlefield.
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But if worn the other way, one has a better chance of embossing one’s motto upon the face of the nazi one is currently punching.
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My BF and I have discussed using this stuff as the third color in our home’s paint job. It would look wonderful with the hunter green and the ivory-y beige we’re using.
Edited to add b/c completely forgot:
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You are aware that anti-fouling is by definition toxic, right?
Every time I see people swimming in a marina I think they should know that they are swimming in stagnant water together with objects that were engineered to release toxins into the water.
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What is more Victorian than using toxic chemicals to make your life more attractive? One might lose a few chuckaboos, but they were fabulous while they lasted.
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Well, now I am!
The description on the site says
Not an antifouling paint.
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