Handkerchief

According to Webster, a handkerchief is "a small usually square piece of cloth used for personal purposes (as blowing the nose) or as a clothing accessory."
It is also known as a handkercher, hankie, kerchief and probably other names.
It is usually made of cotton, cotton-synthetic blends, silk or linen.

Now what do people use hankies for?
These days we usually see them in suit coat pockets or around someone's neck or head.
Back in the day, a handkerchief was just used to blow your nose.
Many people had a special design or their initials embroidered on them.
Today we have disposable handkerchiefs.
AKA Kleenexes.
Did you know that were originally intended to be used to remove make-up? When people started using them to blow their nose, Kleenex changed their marketing. Brilliant!

Back to handkerchiefs. (Such a long word.)
My dad used handkerchiefs.
He had 2 kinds: good and every day.
Those terms actually described all of our clothes, good or every-day.
You wore good clothes to town.
Every-day clothes were for, well, every day. They were older clothes that could get splashed with hog manure and still be OK.
It wasn't until I was in college that I realized everyone doesn't categorize their clothes this way. Who knew?

Back to handkerchiefs.
I remember being out in the middle of a pasture and needing to blow my nose. No disposables in my pocket so I would resort to dad's hankie.
Sometimes you would be lucky and it would be un-used.
Other times, not so lucky.
Gross.
It was always tricky trying to find a dry spot on the hankie.
Ewwwww.
Then one day I learned how to "farmer blow."
Plug one nostril and blow, all the while watching out that your snot doesn't get on your clothes.
And if it does, that's actually OK since there's probably some pig manure already on your leg.

My dad always had a handkerchief in his pocket.
They were useful for a number of things, not just blowing your nose.
Sometimes James carries a handkerchief, but he uses them to wipe sweat off his face.
No snot there.

It's a cute little accessory, really. Perhaps we should bring them back.