Talk:Bathing/Archive 1

Archive 1

History

This or some other article should discuss the history of bathing. There is the common claim that people bathed only once every few months in the middle ages and that it was an insult to say someone bathed a lot. I'm quite skeptical of this claim. While I'm sure bathing was far less common given the lack of potable water amongst other factors I suspect it was more common then most of these claims, even in Europe. Also, I doubt it would have been an insult to say some bathed a lot. It sounds to me like rich people (lords etc) with their servants or slaves would have been the kind of people who bathed a lot since their servants/slaves could carry the water, help them bathe and wash their clothes etc (not that this is strictly necessary but it makes sense). They could also afford the time more easily. Therefore, logically bathing a lot would have been a sign of status. Also, I specifically mentioned Europe early for one reason. I would assume the amount of bathing depended a lot on where you lived and the season. Those in tropical countries who would have sweated a lot would have bathed far more frequently then those in temperate countries (especially during their winter). Presumuably, bathing during winter would have been fairly infrequent compared to during summer. Nil Einne 15:42, 13 April 2006 (UTC)

History of Bathing deserves a space in this article... There's a sort of urban legend that depicts the past as full of people unwilling to bath, that they had the idea that soap and hot water would be a deadly combination (and this reflects in media too; from The Story Teller Dædalus' myth episode to Pinky and the Brain in the Robin Brain episode... The first, althought aimed at children, had serious intentions, the second might had just been part of the goofy humour it has)... So its seen, this is needed too, but with facts... Which I lack. And at the end this could be no urban legend... Undead Herle King (talk) 04:23, 27 January 2008 (UTC)

EDIT; The question had been begged for before... I mean, the answer... And on similar sceptic grounds...Undead Herle King (talk) 04:31, 27 January 2008 (UTC)

Distribution

Another possible urban legend to debunk... That Europeans do not bath (And well, that Arabs do not bath very often; The later is an unjustified sentence in the article) Undead Herle King (talk) 04:23, 27 January 2008 (UTC)

Etymology

"Bath is also the name of the city where bathing is said to have orignated." I did fix this, but notice how the phrase "is said to" (the passive of non-attribution) is so often followed by a misstatement, eh. Wetman 09:45, 21 Sep 2004 (UTC)

From the Online Etymology Dictionary;

bath O.E. bæð "immersing in water, mud, etc.," also "quantity of water, etc., for bathing," from P.Gmc. *batham (cf. O.N. bað, M.Du. bat, Ger. bad), from PIE base *bhe- "to warm" (cf. L. fovere "to foment"). Original sense was of heating, not immersing in water. The city in Somerset, England (O.E. Baðun) was so called from its hot springs. Bathtub gin first recorded 1930. Bathroom is first recorded 1780, originally a room with apparatus for bathing, now often euphemistic for lavatory.

I ain't sure how to use this data without breaking OED's rights but... It must be considered... Undead Herle King (talk) 04:23, 27 January 2008 (UTC)

Suit distinction

A bathing suit is a garment designed for bathing. A swimming suit or swimsuit is a garment that is more streamlined than a bathingsuit, and is used for swimming.

I have never made this distinction. Do most other share this understanding? Notthe9 05:49, 29 Apr 2005 (UTC)

I'd always heard the terms used interchangeably. Merriam Webster says "bathing suit" is another word for swimsuit (swimsuit: "a suit for swimming or bathing"). Cambridge's dictionary gives the exact same definition of each. The OED simply says that bathing suit is a primarily North American version of the term swimming costume and that swimsuit is the feminine term. Online stores don't seem to make a distinction, either. The bathing suit article redirects to swimsuit, which lists bathing suit and bathing costume as synonyms. I changed the article to reflect this. Though I'm not sure the description of swimwear belongs outside of the swimsuit article at all. 24.4.199.243 03:52, 13 October 2005 (UTC)

Semi-colons

Is there a particular reason for the semi-colons at the end of each bullet point? --Turidoth 00:47, 21 May 2005 (UTC)

Request for clarification

The article says the Cleopatra bathed in "asses' milk". Is this a mule's milk, or is it diarrhea?

You're too witty for us. Maybe you should apply for a job writing for MAD? — KayEss | talk 08:40, 21 May 2005 (UTC)

Cleanliness

What is up with the 'Cleanliness is next to godliness' line? Does that belong?

I thought it didn't, so I removed it. --Delirium 13:52, 25 September 2005 (UTC)

Cleanup request

• Bathing - needs wikifying, some history and better definition. - MGM 09:43, Sep 21, 2004 (UTC) 09:23, 21 Sep 2004 (UTC)
  • Yeah! "A women's [bathing] suit often consists of two pieces that cover the top and bottom portions of the body" — what, the head and the feet? --Bishonen 02:06, 24 Sep 2004 (UTC)
    • Definetely, this needs some wikifying. It seems too subjective and informal. 71.250.68.205 14:28, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

Frequency

How often should one be bathing? Daily or every other day? Morning or nights? And do you really need soap? 70.111.251.203 13:27, 23 February 2006 (UTC)

It depends on the factors you are trying to maximize. Factors include time, cleanliness, freshness, blood-pressure and stress reduction, a good night's sleep, idea-seeking, etc. Other factors include:

• The level of perspiration causing physical activity.
• The level of expsoure to dust and/or other toxins and/or germs.

Finally, it is not possible to remove sweat, dead cells, and dirt properly without using soap. Try it...

P.S.: The above is of course not a complete answer and only states what's common sense. --Amit 03:36, 26 February 2006 (UTC)

Well I think that you can remove sweat, dead cells, and dirt without soap, it's just a little harder. As for the frequency in washing hair, check out this article. [1] 71.250.9.119 14:07, 25 March 2006 (UTC)

Health

Besides the obvious, what are the negative health effects of not bathing optimally? It may help to see some discussion of this in the article as well. --Amit 03:56, 26 February 2006 (UTC)

I'm wondering if we should include information on hot vs. cold showers and how they affect a person post-bathing. ---

Either here or in the hot tub section, people should be told that a hot tub should never be set higher than 105 degrees F (and C eqiv.). Thus should a person faint while therein or stay in one longer than otherwise good for them (a variable depending on body mass and weight), their body teperature does not elevate to the point of frying their brain cells. --jce

Also, there is no mention of Sitz bathing [2] or whirlpool bathing for muscular therapies.

This could be helpful http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moist_heat_therapy

Drowning in the bath

Is it really possible to drown when taking a bath? I would have thought you would wake up before you slid under the water . .

If you pass out, yes. skorpion 13:01, 15 May 2006 (UTC)

You can also drop electrical items in a bath tub and this could lead to death from drowning if the shock does not subdue--Nytemunkey 03:52, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

Bathing

I think it would be a good idea to mention that the verb used in British English in reference to taking a bath is 'bath'. We also say we're bathing, pronounced bah-th-ing, rather than bay-th-ing (and yes, my phonetic spelling needs some work). To bathe is to swim, or to clean a wound, the progressive form of which is bathing pronounced bay-th-ing.

Also, we'd never call a bath a bathtub here, in fact, I can't find bathtub (or bath tub) in any of my dictionaries...--Jcvamp 20:02, 14 July 2006 (UTC)

Hazards of Bathing

It looks like someone tried to add the following item to the hazards section, but ended up copying the whole hazards section to the See Also section... Saved below in case anyone wants to put it in the appropriate spot:

Infertility- having too may hot baths can cause infertility in men. This is because the testicles are meant to be outside the rest of the body to keep them cool, they arent cool in lots of hot baths reducing the sperm production

- V6stang 08:35, 27 November 2006 (UTC)

Falling asleep in the bath?

If somebody were to fall asleep in the bath and go underwater, would they wake up? or would they drown?

HAZARDS?

Hazards of bathing gets a whole section and there is no history section?! Is this a reseource for 6 yo boys paranoid about taking a bath. Is bathing such a hazardous activity??

There is no hazards section in the wikipedia articles on haircuts, or brushing your teeth, although there is a section on food safety in the cooking article, and cuts in the shaving article. Wikipedia is stupid. 203.206.58.192 14:22, 15 March 2007 (UTC)

I have entered a citation needed tag on the claim of drowning in a shower and will remove the phrase after a while if no citation is provided Sultec (talk) 11:30, 13 December 2009 (UTC)

Unverified statement "Drowning has been known to occur in a shower, though the risks are less than in an immersion bath." removed. Sultec (talk) 10:52, 20 December 2009 (UTC)

Viewpoint one-sided

This article focuses almost entirely on Western aspects of bathing. There is no mention of bathing practices in Africa, the Middle East, Asia (save a small remark about the time of day) or the bathing traditions of ancient societies. Perhaps some text could be incorporated from other articles about the bathing habits of say... the ancient Romans? It could definitely use some more perspective though.--Chopin-Ate-Liszt! 21:20, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

People in Taiwan usually bath once a day (not twice), in the evening or at night. JimQ (talk) 05:50, 20 June 2008 (UTC)

　Japanese Link corrected　

"Bathing" was linked to ja:風呂=Bathtub, but correctly linked to Bathing=ja:入浴 in Japanese. Please correct all other language edition bathing in Japanese is ja:入浴. I do not understand other than English so I can not work on other languages. Also for external link if necessary. Thanks.--Namazu-tron (talk) 10:46, 17 January 2008 (UTC)

Arabs never bath?

An anonymous user (69.143.105.153 (talk · contribs)) insists to add the sentence Arabs are known to go years in between baths. into the article, which - even with the {{fact}} behind it - in this form only serves one purpose: insulting all Arabs, as it is easy to understand as Arabs are dirty. He even chose to call me a Nazi because removing a racist comment - how fitting... As he wrote once in the editing comment that in fact he only refers to the nomads - can someone more familiar with the culture in Arabia rewrite this statement to stop this anonymous in this nonsense editing war. The Arabs living nomadic in the desert due to the scarcity of water have to do other ways of personal hygiene than bathing, but I have no idea on the customs in Arabia. andy (talk) 07:27, 27 February 2008 (UTC)

I believe steam bath is the method the Arabs used, not confirm and no reliable source of this... — Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.82.80.11 (talk) 10:00, 17 November 2011 (UTC)