"sended" & "immaculate purity"

[szaroczek]

Hello everyone in New Year! :-D Just an easy one at the beginning. ;-)

When the floor in an inn (tavern) is "thickly sanded, but of no immaculate purity" would that mean it is covered with a lot of send (not just polished or clean with it) and NOT very clean...? If this is the case, why is there "but" between both statements (which seems to suggest that thickly sanded floor SHOULD in fact be of "immaculate purity")?

Thanks.

 

[emsr2d2]

Hello everyone in New Year! :-D Just an easy one at the beginning. ;-)

When the floor in an inn (tavern) is "thickly sanded, but of no immaculate purity" would that mean it is covered with a lot of send (not just polished or clean with it) and NOT very clean...? If this is the case, why is there "but" between both statements (which seems to suggest that thickly sanded floor SHOULD in fact be of "immaculate purity")?

Thanks.

I thought you said it was an easy one! ;-)

I, for one, have no idea why the writer seems to think that a thickly sanded floor should, by definition, also be of immaculate purity. In fact "a floor of immaculate purity" sounds very odd to me.

I can't see any reason why he used "but" not "and".

 

[konungursvia]

It's a hard one. But let's remember that the big cities of Europe were once very unhygienic; floors, in simple dwellings or public houses were often just beaten dirt covered with threshes of dried grass (up to the threshold, which kept this material in)...

So I think this place, as there was lots of beer and vomit being spilt, must have used sand to cover the surface of the floor, perhaps of unfinished wood, to hide the "accidents."

In Canadian schools, custodians clean the tiled floors with sawdust and a dry mop, some of the time; at a bar here, where pistachios were served (or some similar nut) the policy was to pour all of the shells onto the floor, so we all tread on them and created a crunchy but dry surface underfoot.

Just a guess.

 

[emsr2d2]

I must admit that I was stupidly thinking of "sanded" as meaning "flattened by use of a sanding implement" (like when you sand floorboards), as opposed to meaning actually covered in sand. That's why I thought "thickly sanded" was a strange phrase anyway. I'll go away and get some sleep I think! ;-)

 

[szaroczek]

It's a hard one. But let's remember that the big cities of Europe were once very unhygienic; floors, in simple dwellings or public houses were often just beaten dirt covered with threshes of dried grass (up to the threshold, which kept this material in)...

So I think this place, as there was lots of beer and vomit being spilt, must have used sand to cover the surface of the floor, perhaps of unfinished wood, to hide the "accidents."

In Canadian schools, custodians clean the tiled floors with sawdust and a dry mop, some of the time; at a bar here, where pistachios were served (or some similar nut) the policy was to pour all of the shells onto the floor, so we all tread on them and created a crunchy but dry surface underfoot.

Just a guess.

Are you kidding me, man! :lol: Did people once really do such things??? That was disgusting!!! :scramble: (And I thought I had a mess in my room... ;-)) It, however took place in America (not in Europe), which I believe didn't change a lot, since Europe (British) customs and culture (? :roll were probably transmitted there directly with Europe colonists... :-?

 

[bhaisahab]

Are you kidding me, man! :lol: Did people once really do such things??? That was disgusting!!! :scramble: (And I thought I had a mess in my room... ;-)) It, however took place in America (not in Europe), which I believe didn't change a lot, since Europe (British) customs and culture (? :roll were probably transmitted there directly with Europe colonists... :-?

The plants, not just grasses, that were used for the purpose mentioned by konungursvia, were called "strewing herbs" because they were "strewn" on the floor. Have a look at this link: Strewing herb - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[szaroczek]

Thanks God I live "today"! :shock:

But anyway, we shifted this subject to "hygienic" plants, which of course are closely related and definitely great to know about, but that "sand" issue and its influence to purity of the floor still remains an unsolved mystery...

So, in the context of the above discussion here is my proposal of interpretation: Send in this case acted in a similar way as "strewing herbs" (except emitting ' fragrant or astringent smells' and serving 'as insecticides or disinfectants'), but the place was such a mess, that even great amount of it couldn't have made the job done... How about it. Sounds reasonably? :-|

 

[konungursvia]

History of housekeeping, household antiques, domestic objects

 

[bhaisahab]

It's "sand" not "send".

 

[bhaisahab]

I've never heard of sand being used in this way. At one time it was common for pubs (taverns) to have sawdust on the floor.

 

[emsr2d2]

I've never heard of sand being used in this way. At one time it was common for pubs (taverns) to have sawdust on the floor.

That's exactly what I was just thinking. The term I was scrabbling around my brain for was "spit and sawdust pub/bar" - the type of place where people just spit on the floor and there is sawdust thrown down to cover and dry up the vomit.

 

[konungursvia]

Given that it says "thickly sanded but still unclean" I imagine its meaning is like hands that are "thoroughly soaped but still dirty." After all, we've established that sand was once a common method of cleaning floors. And R2 is right, the sandpaper interpretation doesn't make sense. So, I think sanded here is similar in meaning to 'soaped.'

 

[emsr2d2]

Given that it says "thickly sanded but still unclean" I imagine its meaning is like hands that are "thoroughly soaped but still dirty." After all, we've established that sand was once a common method of cleaning floors. And R2 is right, the sandpaper interpretation doesn't make sense. So, I think sanded here is similar in meaning to 'soaped.'

I'm getting more confused. I agree that I think my original interpretation of "sanded" was incorrect, but I then moved on to agreeing with someone else (sorry, can't get into previous messages) who thought that it meant that a thick layer of sand had been spread on the floor to protect it from dirt, as opposed to actually cleaning it with sand. On that basis, I wouldn't say it was similar in meaning to "soaped".

 

[bhaisahab]

It would be interesting to know where the original text came from.

 

[szaroczek]

Exactly: "sand", not "send" - thank you. And I went through the passages in this link form "konungursvia" regarding floor maintaining and sand was also really used for "scrubbing" there, not for just "covering" floor with some "thick" layer or something... :-? Ok. I think we can leave it here 'cause it's not the main concern of the story; I just thought it might by something clear and obvious for general public for simple and easy explanation. ;-) Thank you all for your effort. :up:

 

[szaroczek]

Guys, sorry, I've lost touch with you 'cause I haven't noticed there is another page of this topic! So, with regard to "bhaisahab" question, the sentence comes form Nathaniel Hawthorne's "My Kinsman, Major Molineux". It's part of a discription of the inn, in which Robin tried to get direction to the dwelling place of his kinsman Molineux, after leaving a ferry and getting into town. I can add that there is no any helpful context to this matter. :-|