Don’t wipe your nose on your sleeve. It’s uncouth. Use your hanky.
That’s what Mother used to tell the Dickies From Gunton: Canadian Brothers in Two World Wars.
In their day, early in the 20th century, it was essential to pack a hanky or handkerchief, a piece of clean, folded cloth that you kept in a pocket for just such occasions. When your nose ran, you didn’t sniffle. You blew it, in your hanky. When the heat of a summer day made the sweat pour down your face, you dabbed your forehead, with your hanky.
Hankies were not thrown away but washed and re-used. Unless they got exceptionally disgusting and then they would burn them with the trash. But mostly, they were reused.
The idea of having a box of tissues to draw from, use, and discard, was unknown to them. Facial tissues would be introduced later. Ensuing generations would turn to them for their runny noses. But in the early days of the 20th century, there was no box of disposable alternatives. A hanky it was.
Later, hankies become more of a luxury item. You can buy a classy matching tie and hanky set, or a dainty gift hanky for her that she might scent with her favourite fragrance. For the pocket of your suit, it would soon be called a pocket square, to offer some class and distinction from the nose rags. Those hankies were utterly useless, according to the old-timers.
In an October 1979 fashion article in the Winnipeg Tribune, Charles Hix writes: “You don’t blow your nose on them or even mop your brow with them. They’re tucked into the breast pockets of suit and sport jackets for show, nothing more – because they serve no useful purpose…”
“Those pieces of fabric can be liberated from jacket pockets too. Even back in the 1920s, some bon vivants tied their squares around their necks, while some others twisted them around their heads in pirate fashion. The latter ploy wasn’t to everyone’s taste, then or now…”
The boys would see larger hankies, kerchiefs or headscarves, worn over the hair by women. Ladies covered their hair in curlers while they slept or did housework, wrapping the cloth up and over their hair and tying it in the front like Rosie the Riveter. Princess Grace famously wore a scarf over her head and tied at the neck. Grandmothers tied theirs under the chin. Young girls wore them as headbands and bandannas, around the hair but tied underneath at the back.
But there’s no way the old boys would mistake any of these kerchiefs for a hanky. At least not in the traditional and useful sense. Because that would be uncouth.