Top Ten Uses of Feathers
Almost every animal byproduct has some implication in human society, but none has shaped our history and culture quite like the feather. Whether it?s Shakespeare?s quill or that floating symbolic feather in Forrest Gump, feathers are everywhere. These are just a few of the ways they?ve made a mark in our collective unconscious.
Tarring and Feathering
Although it was far less hilarious than cartoons would have us believe, tarring and feathering is still synonymous with humiliating punishment.
Arrows
Bows and arrows redefined warfare as we knew it, and they made heroes like Robin Hood look really cool. "Fletchings" on the end, made from feathers, of course, are what gave them flight.
Currency
In the Solomon Islands, Santa Cruz, coiled rolls of 50-60,000 scarlet honeyeater feathers known as tevau still serve as the world?s prettiest money.
Fans
Ever since the birth of civilization, large plumes have served as nature's air conditioning and given sword-and-sandal movie extras something to hold.
Corsets
Although they'd existed in various forms for ages, it was the development of lightweight featherboning that made corsets quasi-comfortable for the first time.
Dusters
An invention that has yet to be improved upon, the feather duster is every clean freak and sexy French maid's best friend.
Fly Fishing Lure
"And iff ye fische for hym in the lapyng tyme ye must dubbe your hoke with the federys of a pertriche or with the federysse of a whyld doke?" (from a 15th Century English treatise on fly fishing)
Quills
Where would the written word and period costume dramas be without them?
Bedding
Pillows, mattresses, and down comforters - file under, things you don't appreciate until you're sleeping in a pile of hay.
Video Games
The Cape Feathers in SNES' "Super Mario World," like the raccoon leaves in precursor Mario 3, gave our beloved Italian plumber the power of flight and frustrated millions with their tendency to drift out of reach.