Toothpicks

The humble toothpick likely has been around since the about the time of the discovery of the wheel. Christy G. Turner, an anthropologist at Arizona State University, was quoted as follows in Smithsonian magazine in 1997: “As far as can be empirically documented, the oldest demonstrable human habit is picking one’s teeth.” In America the toothpick is mentioned in the rules that have become known as “George Washington’s Rules of Civility” (adopted from Francis Hawkins’s Youth’s Behaviour, or Decencie in Conversation amongst Men, which appeared in 1664): “Cleanse not your teeth with the Table Cloth Napkin Fork or Knife, but if Others do it let it be done w/t Pick Tooth.” Washington’s preference was a toothpick made from goose quill. Until 1870 toothpicks were made of bone, quill, ivory, gold, or silver. They were often displayed as signs of personal wealth but were considered an American vulgarity when used in public, as Charles Dickens observed in the 1840s.