Before Showering and Bathing Every Day or Two Became the Norm, Did People just Constantly Smell Bad?
在人们可以每天洗澡以前，是不是所有人都很臭

 

获得4.9k好评的回答@Brock Pagnello

Yes.
是的。

“Don’t throw the baby out with the bath water” is a phrase from an almost-real threat at one time.
“倒洗澡水的时候别把孩子也倒掉了”这个说法曾经一度是正儿八经的。

A bath required a lot of water, and soap was a luxury item.
洗一次澡需要大量的水，而且肥皂是奢侈品。

You might have one bath per family per month.
可能每个家庭每个月只能洗一次澡。

The man of the house would be first, followed by his wife, and then the kids in descending order of age.
首先当然是这个家庭的男人，其次是他的妻子，接着小孩子按照长幼顺序洗澡。

The joke is by the end, you might lose the baby in the water because it was so filthy.
笑点在最后，小宝宝放进水里可能就看不见了，因为水真的太脏了。

 

获得84.2k好评的回答@Andie DeLuca

My grandmother, born in 1893, used to say that the dresses were beautiful—hand stitched, delicate lace, pin tucking and all. 
我的祖母，出生于1893年，过去常说那些手缝的、带有精致花边以及细褶的裙子是很美的。

Her family was quite well off, so she got new dresses (3 or 4) every year. 
她的家族相当富有，她每年都能得到3到4件新礼服。

However, people only bathed once a week, at most, and the clothes would be ironed but rarely washed, as they were too delicate. 
但是，人们一周最多洗一次澡；而且衣服也只是熨一下，很少洗，因为他们太过精致。

The ironing just sealed the BO smells into the fabric. 
熨衣服只是将体臭封到衣服里。

If you got mud on your clothes, you waited until it dried, then brushed off as much as possible. 
如果你的衣服沾到泥巴，你会等它干掉，然后尽量把它刷掉。

She said she and her sisters always dressed well, but stank.
她还常说她和她的姐妹虽然穿得光鲜靓丽，但却臭气熏天。

 

获得65.3k好评的回答@Bill Poser

When Europeans first visited Japan in the 16th century, the Japanese couldn’t believe the stench. 
当欧洲人在16世纪首次访问日本的时候，日本人没办法相信他们居然这么臭。

In one famous incident, a Japanese lord had a European delegation forcibly stripped and bathed before he met with them and had their clothes burned.
有一件相当著名的事件，一位日本官员在与欧洲使团见面之前强制剥光他们的衣服让他们洗澡，并将衣服烧掉摧毁。

 

（翻译：苏梨）