The Demise of the Handkerchief and the Rise of Genomics

handkerchiefs vs genomics

…plus disposable rain bonnets and the Chinese river dolphin

Three sartorial items from my childhood have largely disappeared, at least in the company I keep: handkerchiefs, plastic head scarves, and galoshes. Some might say this is a good thing. Handkerchiefs are unsanitary, disposable rain bonnets are hardly fashionable, even among the grandmotherly set, and there is little of haute couture in a pair of rubber overshoes (in fact, there is none). So begone with them.

The merits of their passing into oblivion aside, around the time that these items disappeared from the landscape, the science of genomics arose. Is there a connection?

No, of course not. One would have to be completely and unhealthily obsessed with handkerchiefs to attempt to make that connection, or simply mentally deficient. Probably both.

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