14 kilograms of greens in a foot protection device?
And an N in both, but no B in either.
Don’t think “creamy coleslaw” because that is totally wrong. Think “leafy vegetable”, a category in which cabbage belongs, and VINEGAR. The vegetation holds the vinegar and allows it to caress the feet, and the vinegar kills odor and retards fungal growth. Obviously, with all the foot products readily available these days, it’s a method that would never be used. If you were a soldier at war, however, that was a different matter.
By God, man!!! You’ve done it!
The Holy Grail of SDMB hard questions is captured in your hand!!1!
All hail the mighty @bibliophage, the Greatest Doper of All Time.
Hail!!
Hail!!
Hail!!
In his war diaries Spike Milligan recounted new recruits (himself included) suffering appallingly from marching in ill fitting boots, and how an old lag advised them, “Piss in yer boots lads”.
Apparently it worked. Makes coleslaw sound not too bad.
j
Napoleon’s soldiers peed In their boots as well. In the best of time the army traveled with wagons laden with layers of hides ready to be turned into boots, so quality control was iffy. In an era when leather was tumbled in dog poo for conditioning, no big deal.
Robert Falcon Scott followed Sami practice and stuffed his shoes with grass for insulation. Here’s what they looked like.
Amunsen stuffed grass too, but that was one of five parts of his team’s protective footwear. You can see his entire trousseau here.
Was a glory hog that got four brave men killed, and who , despite his incompetence, was & I regarded as a hero in GB.
Remember in those sorts of riddle, they dont always have to make sense- they just have to match something widely and popularly know-15 m on a d m c means 15 Men on a Dead Man’s Chest (an old song) , even though 15 men can’t sit on a sea chest.
That specific technique was described in Time Enough For Tomorrow, when Lazarus Long time-travelled back to just before WWI, and was advised to do just that when he enlisted.
IIRC, no cabbage products were mentioned.
Piss is for dehairing hides prior to tanning. On already-tanned leather, it doesn’t do much
What you want for softening the leather is shit.
I tried very hard not to open this thread. Clearly I did not succeed. Yet I am somewhat disappointed that the question did not contain further absurd details or an even more absurd answer.
I can’t help but think this question arose from calling German soldiers Krauts and a Calvin’s Dad type explanation of why.
The topic reminds me of the habit of old time baseball players of putting a cold cabbage leaf under their hats to stay cool in summer.
https://www.grunge.com/914310/why-babe-ruth-put-cabbage-under-his-baseball-cap/
So Ren & Stimpy isn’t absurd enough for you? They’ve always seemed pretty wacky in my estimation, but I amuse easily.
Really. Ren and Stimpy are well beyond the border of absurd-land. And good for us!
My bad pun didnt do it for you?
If coleslaw is not your style, how about vodka? From this thread:
In that thread, a poster remarked on how cheap vodka worked well to soften and shape the leather to the wearer’s foot:
I can tell you that if you put a pinch of sage in your boots, then all day long a spicy scent will be your reward.
Dang, we unstiffened pointe shoes with steam.
Didn’t have fancy schmancy steam thingys.
So it was a steam iron, hard on the fingers. Or lots of time standing the hot shower. Trying not to get them too wet. But steamy enough to do the job.
Since we didn’t have an iron any more we went to rehearsals wrinkled (literally and figuratively)
Vodka on ice skates and we’d have been on-ice, literally and actually. Like on our bottoms, on-ice.
Beck, as I recall, you were a dancer. With a dancer’s sense of balance, you’d be fine on ice skates. Maybe a little wobbly at first, and I’m sure you’d end up on your butt once or twice, but I’m sure that you’d soon get the hang of it.
Yeah. They tell me I can ski too.
Maybe, some day.
Naw. For all that I could figure skate as well as I could, I couldn’t ski very well. Spent a lot of time skiing on my butt., as I recall. But skating is perfect for a floor dancer.
Hey if not, there’s vodka at the bar in the ski lodge. No need to put it in your ski boots. There are better places to put it 