Dear Cecil,
Having just read this column, I would like to make the following comment:
I would not dispose the half-moon hole theory as something a cartoonist dreamt up, which never actually existed. In Sweden (where I come from originally) it was customary that all outdoors facilities had - not a half-moon - but a small heart-formed hole in them, sort of like a small Valentine’s heart. In fact, facilities are still today sometimes referred to as the “little hearts house” (one could easily replace “little” with a superlative and “he” with the fifth letter to make it more close to the, ehrmm, truth…Especially on Thursdays, when Swedes consume the tradiional pea-soup by the gallon).
My theory as for the reason for this opening on the door is as follows: It is not there for ventilation reasons, the poor user would have passed out long time ago, if the amount of gas produced during his/her manouevers would be expected to expell through the aforementioned orifice (no more than maybe 2 inches across). Besides, the lower end of the operator is usually placed over the facilitys main feature at the time of gas-production - the Seat - a conduit maybe 15 inches across, leading right out to Gods nature.
The reason for the heart-shaped hole is simply because most of the outdoors facilities did not have a door-handle at all ! (Why they didn’t could be the subject of another quest…never mind). So, to open the door, you would insert your index finger, bend it at the second knuckle and pull briskily to grant access to the long-sought “place of relief” - or the “Little Hearts House”.
Plausible ?
Ingemar Lampa
Hong Kong
Cecil’s column:
Why do outhouse doors have half-moons on them?
Couldn’t the hole serve
[ul]
[li]to let some light inside[/li][li]to allow the person inside to look out[/li][/ul]
Dear Arnold,
I’m afraid that your suggested reasons for “the hole” do not make sense. At least not on those outdoor facilities I have seen.
“Used for letting light in” - Too small. Also, at least in Sweden, what would be the point since it is usually pitch dark for several months of the year. Further, taking in to account the customary diet people “enjoyed” in those days, daily grunting would best be performed in an obscure place at any rate…
“Peeping out hole” - The holes I have seen are usually placed in the highest quarter of the door, or around 5 feet above ground level. The operator of the facility is usually required to sit down, which would make it impossible to perk out through the hole at the same time. However, once through with the chores one could imagine that the hole could be used to verify if the “coast is clear”, while buttoning up. On the other hand, remembering the odours associated with OD facilities, I have a hard time imagining that anybody would dwell in there more time than absolutely necessary - certainly not to use it as some kind of lookout point to the outside world.
IMHO as always.
Ingemar Lampa
[sarcasm enabled]
Anybody who has ever used a real farm outhouse will know that the reason the hole is there is to facilitate the movement of the resident mud daubers in and out. Wasps are valuable predator species; isn’t it wonderful that our pioneer forefathers seemed to understand this, and did everything possible to ensure comfortable nesting sites for them?
[/sarcasm]