Muckinder

A child’s handkerchief tied to the side.

Handkerchiefs have never had a place in my life. The results of a nose blow do not belong in a monogrammed piece of silk or flannel, nor does that piece of snot-stained fabric belong in my pocket. The seemingly obligatory withdrawal of the handkerchief when someone cries or sneezes is additionally puzzling to me. Re-usable snot rags? What genteel society presented this unsanitary notion?

Now, I do not know what handkerchiefs are made of. Maybe the fabrics resemble porcelain in their ability to deflect stains and absorption of foul matter.

Nose-blowing is a strange cultural taboo. It is neither intimate nor is it something you share.

But this issue is one with which I could fill screen after gross-out screen, and it’s not the time for that.