More you might like
I think if you said that to the medieval artist they’d just go, “oh good you understand my vision”.
Like… that’s 100% what they’re going for. Does the tweeter think it looks like that by accident?
I apologize, but I'm taking this as an excuse to infodump just a little. I am excited to tell you a number of things.
First, it is genuinely medieval; that's a pilgrim badge. This particular photo may actually be a replica of the original -- I'm not sure -- but it's a medieval design.
Second, it's definitely supposed to be a vagina. It might also represent Jesus's side wound, but it's primarily a vagina. We know this because the "anthropomorphic vagina" thing is a recurring motif in pilgrim badges and a lot of those badges also have dicks, a context which I think makes the intent clear. (And, of course, there are plenty of badges that are just dicks.)
Third, nobody is exactly sure why this is a thing, but there is some ongoing academic debate on the subject. I've seen arguments for different theories, including:
- some kind of apotropaic function
- medieval hookup culture
- funy
Fourth, two badges have been found with this design, and it has developed a colloquial name -- here's an excerpt from an M.A. thesis by Lena Mackenzie Gimbel that mentions it. (I was just doing a quick check through the library catalog to make sure I could verify this was a real design, and then I found this source and had to show y'all the screenshot.)
ALTI love the Middle Ages, and so much of it is just objectively friggin' goofy. Also I will be referring to kings as "god's favorite munchkins" in future, thank you.
Reminder that the characters in the Canterbury Tales - some of the raunchiest stories available in any age - are religious pilgrims.
Medieval pilgrims were, at least some of the time, horny as fuck.
I did a work exchange at a museum in the netherlands for a bit when I was 16, and they had a whole cabinet in one of the stable storage rooms just dedicated to drawers and drawers of pilgrim badges shaped like dicks. big dicks, small dicks, fat dicks, skinny dicks, dicks in hats, regal dicks, dicks disguised as birds, dicks disguised as beasts, dicks disguised as pilgrims, ornate dicks, crude dicks. the curator who showed me around was so defeated like "we have no idea what to do with them all. people keep finding them and sending them to us. every time someone digs up a water main they find another dick badge. we have so many already."
in defense of the panera founder who said this. he was trying to say the idea that employers are motivated by this. is dumb as shit.
ALT
ALTim fucking sobbing why did they kill him twice in a row in the community notes
Aight y'all. Here's a lesson I learned from my wife, and I wish I'd learned it years ago:
Before you buy anything, take 5 minutes to search (preferably with a non-Google search engine like DuckDuckGo) "best [whatever] for [specific purpose if necessary]."
Make sure you look at who the reviews are from; there are a lot of bad spam sites out there, but you can find good lists on reputable sites. However, you'll get some of the best lists on Reddit.
Most of what you'll find at the top of the lists on Amazon (and Walmart) are people who have paid for that spot. You'll still have to use discernment to make sure you're picking a good review site, but I'm not kidding when i say that the last time we had to buy a plunger, I ended up on a thread on a plumber's forum where they were discussing which plunger they keep in their own bathroom. (The overwhelming winner was something called a Toilet Saber, and... it's much easier to use than the usual style of plunger, actually.)
She searches "best potato peeler" and "best pastry blender" and "best standing desk" and it seems so obvious, right, but she does it for literally everything and the average quality of things I own has gone way, way up since I started taking 5 minutes to search "best yoga socks" and "best cuticle trimmers" and then going to buy whatever it is.
Her research skills go into overdrive when it comes to big purchases; she's the one who researched our sublimation printer and found the desk I currently use. If there's an extremely passionate subreddit out there about the thing she wants to buy, she'll find it and then read half a dozen reviews.
I cannot stress enough how much she does this. About. Everything. And how much everything we own is better as a result.
It's amazing, honestly.
Also, check if your library has a Consumer Reports membership! Consumer Reports has quite a bit of useful information and reviews, even without membership. But you might be able to get even more, entirely for free, with a library card.
Here's some of the members-only benefits I get through my library:
- CR Savings: Member-specific discounts and deals
- Best Time To Buy: "Our experts share the best deals on our top-rated products every month."
- Repair or Replace: "Find out whether you should repair or replace a broken appliance."
- TV Screen Optimizer: Helps you change your TV picture settings to be ideal for your home.
- CR Selectors: Tools to help you choose which to buy of a certain product. Currently there are selector tools for mattresses, cars, refrigerators, and infant car seats.
- Car Recall Tracker
- Food Safety Alert: Text message alerts regarding food recalls.
Also, just in general, it is a good idea to check which services your library offers beyond book loans (and to check again occasionally, or to subscribe to the library newsletter, so you can know when new services are added). Lots of libraries offer a "library of things"; that can be useful both for items you only need temporarily and for trying out a certain product before you go and buy your own.
Oh, that's very cool! I didn't know that was a thing libraries might offer, and if I did know it once upon a time, I'd forgotten.