That’s also where the concept of a “barbershop quartet” came from. Dentists would have the aforementioned quartet singing loudly outside of their shop to drown out the screaming of patients inside.
One might ask, “why the barber”? Well, they had the sharpest blades in town which made them the defacto surgeon, and before anesthesia, amputations involved at least as much screaming as pulling teeth.
That’s also where the concept of a “barbershop quartet” came from. Dentists would have the aforementioned quartet singing loudly outside of their shop to drown out the screaming of patients inside.
One might ask, “why the barber”? Well, they had the sharpest blades in town which made them the defacto surgeon, and before anesthesia, amputations involved at least as much screaming as pulling teeth.
In those days, asking your barber to “take a little off the top” ended in either circumcision or lobotomy.
Either way, hopefully they got a sweet coin as a souvenir.
lol right, I totally forgot to explain that barbers often did surgery and dentistry.
At least? I would have thought it was the other wag around, sawing off a leg off hurts at least as much as pulling a tooth?
I suppose it depends on how drunk your barber/dentist/surgeon/bartender got you beforehand… and how drunk they got themselves.
Drunk? Pass the laudanum
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbershop_music#Historical_origins