# Tarring and Feathering

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tarring-and-feathering/602525>\
**Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\
**Created:** [November 10, 2011, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tarring-and-feathering/602525 "2011-11-10T18:33:18Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![gamerunknown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6bbea6/32.png) [@gamerunknown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gamerunknown)\
**Post date:** [November 10, 2011, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tarring-and-feathering/602525/1 "2011-11-10T18:33:18Z")

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[Link to article here.](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/632/has-anyone-actually-ever-been-tarred-and-feathered)

Unfortunately, there are still [terrorist groups](http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/6966493.stm) in the UK that perpetuate such practices. I’d have loved to have agreed with the analysis that people are becoming “less ignorant”, but every time I’m pleasantly surprised by how far society has come along, cases like that or the London riots or statistics on how many children are starving to death pop up and I’m lost to a melancholic reverie.

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**Author:** ![djgrendellv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c2a13f/32.png) [@djgrendellv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/djgrendellv)\
**Post date:** [November 10, 2011, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tarring-and-feathering/602525/2 "2011-11-10T20:50:01Z")

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Frank Tovey of Fad Gadget fame had himself tarred and feathered for the cover of his “Gag” album. You can look it up on Amazon.

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**Author:** ![Rickymouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/34f0e0/32.png) [@Rickymouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rickymouse)\
**Post date:** [November 10, 2011, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tarring-and-feathering/602525/3 "2011-11-10T21:30:07Z")

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From cleaning a bunch of Turkeys around Thanksgiving, I’ve gained a little insight into being full of feathers. Been full of tar from roofing and working with asphault in the past. Never had the two occur together though.

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**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\
**Post date:** [November 11, 2011, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tarring-and-feathering/602525/4 "2011-11-11T01:04:15Z")

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> [@djgrendellv](#):
>
> Frank Tovey of Fad Gadget fame had himself tarred and feathered for the cover of his “Gag” album. You can look it up on Amazon.

As a random comment, I would be willing to bet he used some form of cold tar such as pine tar, as hot tar would be fairly serious. The temperature of hot tar is 380F/193C. Ask any of the doctors on the board what 5 minutes of that would do to a person. Pine tar on the other hand softens at under body temperature so could be applied at a reasonably comfortable temperature.

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**Author:** ![gamerunknown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6bbea6/32.png) [@gamerunknown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gamerunknown)\
**Post date:** [November 11, 2011, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tarring-and-feathering/602525/5 "2011-11-11T01:19:46Z")

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Even if it were hot tar, there’s a distinction to be made between what people willingly go through and what is reasonable to do to people that don’t consent to it. See the two girls with their cup or Bernd Jürgen Brandes for example.