>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]