Submitted by: Bernie Sinwell

A question was recently submitted to the staff of "The Straight Dope" about the origin of the striped barber pole. The Straight Dope Advisory Board replied:

Back in the 17th century, doctors were forbidden by the Catholic church to perform surgery. Their reasoning was that the human body was sacred, and men of God shouldn't touch the "shameful parts." At the time almost all the major medical schools were located at church-controlled universities, and most doctors were actually clergymen.

The slack was taken up by barbers, who conveniently had the sharp blades already on hand. Thus was born the surgeon-barber (insert your own "close shave" joke here).

Later, surgeons decided to distance themselves from the lowly barber. The Barber-Surgeon Company (guild) of England split up in 1745. The guild symbol was a red-and-white striped pole, meant to represent bloody rags hung out to dry. This was topped by a brass bowl or basin which was used to catch the blood from bloodletting, a common "cure" at the time. Patients used to grab this self-same pole to make their veins swell for easier puncturing.

After much debate over who would get this symbol when the barbers and surgeons split, it was decided that the barbers got to keep the pole.

--SDSTAFF slythe
Straight Dope Science Advisory Board