Martin RundkvistDec 22, 2024
The study of how people conceptualise Clean vs Unclean is a classic field in anthropology and comparative religion. If you touch an apple or a spoon with your bare hand, this does not make it Unclean in my local culture. But the dish rag that hangs on the water faucet in most Swedish kitchens is Unclean. I don't want to use a spoon or eat an apple that has been wiped with the dish rag. 1/2
Show threadMartin Rundkvist

For this reason I was kind of shocked when an acquaintance of mine offhandedly wiped a cutting board with the dish rag. This, in my view, made the cutting board and any food that touched it Unclean until the board would be washed with soap and warm water.

What's everybody's opinion?

2/2

Dec 22, 2024 at 8:10amWeb
Show threadMark AsserDec 22, 2024
@mrundkvist Yes, that's Unclean as far as I'm concerned.
Show threadL'égrégore André ꕭꕬDec 22, 2024
@mrundkvist They rinsed the rag first, right?
Show threadMartin RundkvistDec 22, 2024
@Mabande Yes. This does nothing for Clean/Unclean.
Show thread[email protected] is my main [fds]Dec 22, 2024
@mrundkvist Yes. Eww.
Show threadSimon dē Gulielmō 🐧Dec 22, 2024
@mrundkvist Usually we run hot water over the surface of the cutting board before using anything else.
Show threadMartin RundkvistDec 22, 2024
@simonwilliamson Yeah, otherwise it might be Unclean!
Show threadVirginicusDec 22, 2024
@mrundkvist Fascinating that the dishrag is Unclean, but the dishes it was used to wash are Clean.
Show threadMartin RundkvistDec 22, 2024
@Virginicus No no, it's *named* the "dish rag", but it cannot be allowed to touch dishes. That would make them Unclean.
Show threadVirginicusDec 22, 2024
@mrundkvist So totally the opposite of a New World dishrag.
Show threadMartin RundkvistDec 22, 2024
@Virginicus On the other hand, Swedish kitchens have something called a dish *towel*, which is Clean. It is used to dry wet dishes after they have been rinsed.
Show threadVirginicusDec 22, 2024
@mrundkvist We have those, too. They are usually printed with the name of a European city recently visited by relatives.
Show threadMartin RundkvistDec 22, 2024
@Virginicus "Tea towel"?
Show threadgrateful wolfDec 22, 2024
@mrundkvist casual visitor to neo-pagan 'goddesses' splinter group in small office building seen in shared kitchen drying dishes with THE DREADED HAND TOWEL !!! #GoddessMafia #unclean
Show threadJanne MorenDec 22, 2024

@mrundkvist
I need stuff to be washed with soap/washing liquid, or it doesn't feel clean. What I use to apply the soap is less important.

More interesting to me is that, living in a different culture than my native one, I run into this different way of seeing clean/unclean all the time.

Show threadHanna LarssonDec 22, 2024
@mrundkvist
My partner uses the dish rag for washing dishes. I've always regarded this with a suspicious eye, quite sure the dishes can't be clean after that. But I've never realised it has nothing to do with the efficiency of the rag compared to a brush or a sponge, but because the rag is unclean!
Show threadgrateful wolfDec 22, 2024
@mrundkvist 'goddess, in the kitchen, with a hand towel' #Cluedo https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cluedo
Cluedo - Wikipedia

Show thread🔥torstein🔥Dec 22, 2024
@mrundkvist same. Alltough we use that rag for wiping the table or the kitchen benchtop, it's Unclean. But a table wiped with the same rag is Clean, ie you can put a loaf of bread on it and nobody will react. Putting a slice of bread on the same table on other hand is a bit of a grey area.