Monday, October 4, 2010

Seriously?

WARNING: THIS POST COULD BE CONSIDERED ADULT CONTENT! Do not read if you could be easily embarassed or offended by the word PENIS. Or GREEN. ***** Yesterday, we spent the afternoon at the Renaissance Faire. We met fairies and saw the Queen and met an enchanted statue and watch many groups of singers and learned about pounding steal and about using an abacus and lots of other things. One thing caught my eye and has me truly scratching my head. There was an area set aside for fighting and we saw some cool battles- knights in various types of armor, kids checking out foam weapons. And fencing. Fencing is a really cool sport- I've always been intrigued by it but have to admit to not knowing a lot about it. For example, I know the sword thing is called a foil. And I know they were cages on their heads. And I know there is a lot of tradition and you get points for certain moves or hits. Beyond that, I know nothing. Most of all, I don't know why you would need to sew a green cloth, cotton stuffed penis to your outfit. Any ideas or info on THAT one? Photobucket

16 comments:

mimbles said...

You should have asked him for his historical references for the *ahem* costume embellishment ;-) From what I understand of codpieces that looks like a fairly tame member* of the family.

*yes, I did that on purpose :-D

Crazed Nitwit said...

Hahahaha. Thanks for the giggle before I head off for a long Monday at work!!

Jeff said...

Those pictures don't do it justice. It was very distracting. Perhaps that is the point, no pun intended...

Eternal Lizdom said...

Jeff's right- the pics, even if you click on them to see in better detail, don't really capture the detail of this, um, piece. Head and shaft were clearly defined.

I'm all for historical accuracy... but I'm also very glad my 5 year old daughter didn't see this guy. Especially glad he didn't walk up to my family since his piece would have been right at face level of my kids.

Unknown said...

Renaissance's version of a cup??? Cause I'm thinking nothing ruins a perfectly good fencing match like getting your weiner sliced off...sorry...had to go there.

Bill Lisleman said...

thanks for those pictures - LOL
Some guys feel the need to brag.
Look up "King Harry's codpiece"
Here's what one site (with great photos) said:
Some think the considerable size of the groin defence, commonly known as the cod piece, was a propaganda device to promote Henry's virility, despite his difficulties in fathering a son and heir
The link
http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/gallery/2009/apr/02/monarchy-henry-viii#/?picture=345412044&index=11

Also in a book from the Royal Armouries is this bit of info.
"the story was put about that if a woman who had failed to bear children stuck a pin into the codpiece lining, she might be enabled to conceive"

Liz Mays said...

I am actually speechless.

kbiermom said...

I'd have the same reaction if I had been there w/ my young kids -- I'd find the historical and anatomical accuracy a bit much. You kind of just want to know what to expect when you take your kids places, that's all.

lisleman, your info from Royal Armouries gives new meaning to the phrase, "stick it to the man." ;)

Jenni said...

yes, that is a fairly tame codpiece. They were commonly made in contrasting colors of fabric (remember the old Zeferelli version of Romeo & Juliet?) Some even had things like tassles!

And no, it's not for protection. It's to draw attention to the area. People didn't used to be so puritanical as we are in the USA. (Seriously, we haven't moved on much since Salem and the puritans and victorians.) Since greek times drawing attention to the phallus has been a way of showing off ones virility and strength (in ancient Greek plays they would actually wear HUGE fake penises!!)

So there you go, theatre/costume history 101. Or 301 maybe ;)

Garret said...

<< giggles like a school girl...

Anonymous said...

Maybe so they are identified as male fencing competitors.

you vs. femail competitors...i wonder what their outfits would look like! LMAO! :)

Mandi said...

Its their Banana hammock! Duh! (heehee...)

Anonymous said...

great big tires and really loud mufflers are 2 new forms of the cod piece. I always just assume that the real pennis is very (Very) small.....the bigger the tires/louder the muffler (or fancier the cod piece) the smaller the pennis actually is.

C. Beth said...

I've never seen a "codpiece" before, but now that I have, I'm totally going to crochet myself some fake boobs and sew them to my shirt. I think my body would look great with some B cups.

I even learned to crochet little "popcorns" (pokey-out bumps) recently, which will be quite a convenient skill for this project!!

Mrs4444 said...

OMG-The comments on this post are worth tweeting all by themselves! lol

Matty said...

I took fencing classes in college. It served no useful purpose, and was designed to attract attention to the groin area. Back in those days, norms and values were very different.