Blow or Show?

I got the idea, looking at the 3+ boxes of facial tissue I went through last week, that perhaps it is time to experiment with handkerchiefs. Without going into all the details of all my nose-blowing habits (can you say "allergic rhinitis"? I knew you could!), I do seem to be the kind of person who could benefit from using a handkerchief during the day and tossing it into the dirty laundry at night and selecting a new one in the morning with my underwear.


So I went handkerchief shopping. I have memories of running across them in the past... they'd be hanging out by the ties in the men's section of the department store. But the department store I visited didn't carry them. I tried using a bandanna from a craft store, but it was too rough and too big to stuff in my pocket. A friend of mine suggested looking at a Men's Warehouse. So last night I was walking from the restaurant where I had dinner to the office supply store to get some garden planning materials and I looked up and realized I was walking by a Men's Warehouse. I walked in, scouted out the tie section, didn't see anything and wondered whether handkerchiefs were so far gone from our psyche that they aren't stocked even here... when a guy behind the registers asked if he could help me find anything. I said, "handkerchiefs" and he said, "Show or Blow?" Which was a really cool way of saying they are still pretty common, but there are two kinds.

So I got myself a baker's dozen for a buck apiece, and we'll see how this goes. At least I know no old-growth forests are being cut down so I can wipe my nose this week.

~~~~~~~~~

I have been mulling over that couplet from "The Night Before Christmas":

Ma in her kerchief, and I in my cap,
had just settled down for a long winter's nap

and that got me to wondering what a "kerchief" was to have this common use... here's the Wikipedia link for those of you whose minds wander like mine. ;-)