>Ladies CERTAINLY did not get tattoos. Dames in prison got tattoos.
>Biker chicks. Pole dancers. But not ladies. Ever.

Of COURSE ladies don't have tats. It's a logical extension of sumptuary
laws.

Sumptuary laws restricted what each class of person could purchase
and wear. So, for instance, in Roman times purple was reserved for
senators, in France in the 1600s gold embroidery was reserved for
princes. In the Massachussetts Bay Colony, you could only wear lace
if you had a certain level of personal fortune. (Even then, in North
America, economic class replaced social class).

Aa major reason for sumptuary laws was to keep people in their place,
and this was especially important for undesirables. Rather than
forbidding the use of status items, ethnic groups were required to wear
certain articles of clothing (the infamous yellow star of David was a
modern effort). Those deemed beyond redemption, such as criminals, were
branded (or scarred or maimed) - a permanant mark.

Tattoos are irrevocable, and so those with tats fell into the category
of unredeemable and undesirable. Sailors, gang members, foreigners ...

Besides, in a culture that specifies appropriate dress codes, permanant
marks such as tattoos simply challenge the dictates of the fashionista
matrons. (Imagine if some Main Line or Beacon Hill matron decreed that
tatooos worn after labor day must be pastel..?)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Dress_Chart_%28Fashion%29_1902.jpg

Ferrets, of course, laugh at all this as they laugh at just about
everything. I bet a ferret would even dook during an audience with
the Queen!

-Claire

PS - I regret to inform you, Alexandra, that you are now forever banned
from burial in an Orthodox Jewish cemetary. Leviticus 19:28. Hope this
doesn't upset your plans.

PPS - Despite having a matrilineal conncection with Main Line society,
I am unfamiliar with the use of "CHUMP" in this context. Since humans
use their hands for things that self-respecting ferrets do with their
mouths, and use their mouths to verbalize their actions, and your
mother was busy attacking you with by thumping you with her hands, I
can only assume the word was actually "CHOMP".

[Posted in FML 6634]