3 ms·
My family tells a story about a distant great^n uncle of mine, who married a Cherokee woman. She had grown up without tables and chairs, as you might imagine,
by noahlt 11y ago
My family tells a story about a distant great^n uncle of mine, who married a Cherokee woman. She had grown up without tables and chairs, as you might imagine, and was more comfortable squatting than sitting. Of course, my uncle wanted his wife to be at the dinner table with him. So he built a stool of such height that she could squat on it and be roughly eye level with her European-descendant family members sitting around the table. And they lived happily ever after.
I like to tell that story any time someone claims that technology pushes people apart rather than bringing them together.
- jessaustin 11y agoWhen I worked in Singapore, our office building had only western-style toilets rather than the hole-in-the-floor type. So of course many employees had to climb up on them in order to squat.
- davidw 11y ago> western-style The holes in the ground are actually fairly common in Italy.
- mcv 11y agoAnd rural France.
- jessaustin 11y ago"Western-style" is what everyone called them when it made a difference. (In USA they're called just "toilets"; perhaps Europe is similar?) I've seen the hole-in-the-floor type in a fancy resort in Japan. Is that also the case in Italy? Keep in mind this hole still has standing water and a trap and still flushes. It shouldn't be confused with the vault style you see in more rustic locations, with or without a "toilet" seat.
- plonh 11y agoDid Cherokee not sit on the floor?
- mcv 11y agoApparently. Squatting instead of sitting is pretty common in some cultures. In Indonesia, for example. Friends went there for three years with their young kid, who has now turned into an expert squatter. Pencak Silat has some movements that start from a squatting position (where Japanese martial arts might have them start from a kneeling position, for example).