Chris from Williamsburg
asked about the origin of neat’s foot oil. That’s something I used in my youth
to prep a new baseball glove.
Neat’s foot oil is made
by boiling the heel of a cow. Neat is a very old word, going back to Old
English, meaning a bovine animal, an ox or bullock, a cow or heifer. It is
related to a cluster of words in Old Frisian, Swedish, Danish, Icelandic, and
Germanic, all of which designated livestock.
The Encyclopedia
Brittanica has this: “After the slaughterhouse scraps are rendered in water,
the oil is skimmed off, filtered through cloth, and subjected to two pressings,
the first yielding pure neat’s-foot oil, used to lubricate fine machinery, the
second, a lower grade, used in the textile and leather industries. The solid stearin
obtained in the second pressing is used in soap manufacture.”
Listen to Mike’s
program in real time every Tuesday morning, 9:00 - 10:00 a.m. EST, by going to
wtcmradio.com and clicking on Listen Now.
There is a collection of
podcasts. Go to wtcmradio.com and click on Podcasts. Scroll down The Ron Jolly Show to find the Words to the Wise audio
button.
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