Just finished reading Bill Bryson's book, Home. It's chock full of tidbits about how our homes and the accoutrements of daily life came to be and be named. Very interesting.
One concept I found very surprising is that the idea of having comfort at home was foreign until the 18th century!! The word "comfortable" was only used in the context of "capable of being consoled."
Bryson says, "Comfort was something you gave to the wounded or distressed." At that time it was commonly referred to something given to the dying! He explains:
"The first person to use the word in its modern sense was the writer Horace Walpole, who remarked in a letter to a friend in 1770 that a certain Mrs. White was looking after him well and making him 'as comfortable as possible. ' "
Bryson notes that "by the early nineteenth century, everyone was talking about having a comfortable home or enjoying a comfortable living."
Doesn't that just sound foreign to our lives where we seek comfort in the normal course of our days?
Here at AirFlow Technology, we think about ways to create comfortable rooms and ideal levels of humidity and temperature all the time. To think that that concept would never enter the minds of people in the 1700s or 1800s is mind boggling!
But then, they didn't have HVAC systems or any thought of something like the AirFlow Breeze register vent booster fan to improve the comfort in their homes. They were just trying to get the room to a livable temperature with open fireplaces and primitive wood stoves.
If you have ever toured an ancient castle, you know heating a stone house or castle does present its own problems. Especially when the windows were just open to the out-of-doors since glass was expensive, fragile and highly taxed.
I am glad to live in these modern times when homes are much more comfortable. I don't think I will take it for granted - but I will probably continue to improve air circulation in my house and try to achieve a comfortable temperature and ideal humidity anyway!
-Elaine of the AirFlow Technology Blog Team
One concept I found very surprising is that the idea of having comfort at home was foreign until the 18th century!! The word "comfortable" was only used in the context of "capable of being consoled."
Bryson says, "Comfort was something you gave to the wounded or distressed." At that time it was commonly referred to something given to the dying! He explains:
"The first person to use the word in its modern sense was the writer Horace Walpole, who remarked in a letter to a friend in 1770 that a certain Mrs. White was looking after him well and making him 'as comfortable as possible. ' "
Bryson notes that "by the early nineteenth century, everyone was talking about having a comfortable home or enjoying a comfortable living."Doesn't that just sound foreign to our lives where we seek comfort in the normal course of our days?
Here at AirFlow Technology, we think about ways to create comfortable rooms and ideal levels of humidity and temperature all the time. To think that that concept would never enter the minds of people in the 1700s or 1800s is mind boggling!
But then, they didn't have HVAC systems or any thought of something like the AirFlow Breeze register vent booster fan to improve the comfort in their homes. They were just trying to get the room to a livable temperature with open fireplaces and primitive wood stoves.
If you have ever toured an ancient castle, you know heating a stone house or castle does present its own problems. Especially when the windows were just open to the out-of-doors since glass was expensive, fragile and highly taxed.
I am glad to live in these modern times when homes are much more comfortable. I don't think I will take it for granted - but I will probably continue to improve air circulation in my house and try to achieve a comfortable temperature and ideal humidity anyway!
-Elaine of the AirFlow Technology Blog Team
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