You learn something every day. At least I do. Ok, I try. Whatever the case, I ran across something interesting when I was leafing through a 1950 edition of Better Homes & Gardens — a tiny little ad for Chore Girl.
The only reason it caught my eye, truthfully, is because I had recently picked up a familiar modern day product for cleaning my pots and pans. But alas, Chore Girl is no more, as it too has been swapped out for a new, more politically correct name as not to suggest that women are the housekeeping slaves that they once were:
There’s been mild improvement on the face of the Chore “Child.” Today’s modern day boy looks significantly less creepy than the Chore Girl of yesterday. As I said at the beginning of this post, however, I learn something every day. Upon searching for a reason as to why Chore Girl is now Chore Boy, I ran across this Wikipedia article that taught me more than I wanted to know about these handy scrubbers. Maybe I’ve been sheltered here in the Midwest to the point where I had no idea that these kitchen tools could be considered drug paraphernalia.
Guess I just don’t hang out with enough crack addicts to know these things. Better add that to my currently-nonexistent New Year’s Resolutions.
The article is almost comical in the way it stresses that Chore Boy scrubbers are not something solely for the rich crack addicts:
The crack cocaine epidemic saturated every part of America. And although this form of cocaine consumption was devastating to the African American community, use was not limited to the “more urban areas.” Nor, was the use of Chore Boy. They did not use something other than Chore Boy and screens in their pipes in the suburbs. The utensils of crack use were the same throughout America.
Chore Boy: the great equalizer of crack smokers everywhere! The more you know . . .
Woah, this is an amazing story! Thanks for posting!
When did the manufacturer change the name from Chore Girl to Chore Boy. I am thinking it was in the 1970s.