full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Stephanie Honchell Smith: The gory history of barber surgeons

Unscramble the Blue Letters


It’s a cold morning in 15th century France, and you're off to the barber for a shave and a haircut. You hear the familiar sound of singing inside and eye a bowl of blood in the window. Both chairs are taken. You grab a cup of ale and examine the aarry of teeth strung from the walls. sndudely, a scream. The barber’s apprentice wipes pus from the boil he’s just lnaced. By the other chair, the barber fixes a pair of pliers over a blackened, rotting tooth.

For centuries, brrabes in western and northern Europe didn’t just cut hair, they also peofmerrd a range of surgeries; from tooth extraction to sihttecs, and even amputation. There were two main factors that led to barbers fnililg this position. Before this, these surgical procedures were mostly performed by mnkos. The clergymen were required by the Catholic Church to sport a very specific haircut, called tonsures, and to rveome all facial hair, so the meaeoritnss genralely had at least one barber. Given their proximity and ability to work with sharp blades, these barbers often aitssesd in serreguis. And in 1215, the church issued an edict banning monks from any act that purposefully spilled blood.

Open Cloze


It’s a cold morning in 15th century France, and you're off to the barber for a shave and a haircut. You hear the familiar sound of singing inside and eye a bowl of blood in the window. Both chairs are taken. You grab a cup of ale and examine the _____ of teeth strung from the walls. ________, a scream. The barber’s apprentice wipes pus from the boil he’s just ______. By the other chair, the barber fixes a pair of pliers over a blackened, rotting tooth.

For centuries, _______ in western and northern Europe didn’t just cut hair, they also _________ a range of surgeries; from tooth extraction to ________, and even amputation. There were two main factors that led to barbers _______ this position. Before this, these surgical procedures were mostly performed by _____. The clergymen were required by the Catholic Church to sport a very specific haircut, called tonsures, and to ______ all facial hair, so the ___________ _________ had at least one barber. Given their proximity and ability to work with sharp blades, these barbers often ________ in _________. And in 1215, the church issued an edict banning monks from any act that purposefully spilled blood.

Solution


  1. monks
  2. remove
  3. monasteries
  4. assisted
  5. lanced
  6. stitches
  7. array
  8. filling
  9. performed
  10. barbers
  11. surgeries
  12. generally
  13. suddenly

Original Text


It’s a cold morning in 15th century France, and you're off to the barber for a shave and a haircut. You hear the familiar sound of singing inside and eye a bowl of blood in the window. Both chairs are taken. You grab a cup of ale and examine the array of teeth strung from the walls. Suddenly, a scream. The barber’s apprentice wipes pus from the boil he’s just lanced. By the other chair, the barber fixes a pair of pliers over a blackened, rotting tooth.

For centuries, barbers in western and northern Europe didn’t just cut hair, they also performed a range of surgeries; from tooth extraction to stitches, and even amputation. There were two main factors that led to barbers filling this position. Before this, these surgical procedures were mostly performed by monks. The clergymen were required by the Catholic Church to sport a very specific haircut, called tonsures, and to remove all facial hair, so the monasteries generally had at least one barber. Given their proximity and ability to work with sharp blades, these barbers often assisted in surgeries. And in 1215, the church issued an edict banning monks from any act that purposefully spilled blood.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations




Important Words


  1. ability
  2. act
  3. ale
  4. amputation
  5. apprentice
  6. array
  7. assisted
  8. banning
  9. barber
  10. barbers
  11. blackened
  12. blades
  13. blood
  14. boil
  15. bowl
  16. called
  17. catholic
  18. centuries
  19. century
  20. chair
  21. chairs
  22. church
  23. clergymen
  24. cold
  25. cup
  26. cut
  27. edict
  28. europe
  29. examine
  30. extraction
  31. eye
  32. facial
  33. factors
  34. familiar
  35. filling
  36. fixes
  37. france
  38. generally
  39. grab
  40. hair
  41. haircut
  42. hear
  43. issued
  44. lanced
  45. led
  46. main
  47. monasteries
  48. monks
  49. morning
  50. northern
  51. pair
  52. performed
  53. pliers
  54. position
  55. procedures
  56. proximity
  57. purposefully
  58. pus
  59. range
  60. remove
  61. required
  62. rotting
  63. scream
  64. sharp
  65. shave
  66. singing
  67. sound
  68. specific
  69. spilled
  70. sport
  71. stitches
  72. strung
  73. suddenly
  74. surgeries
  75. surgical
  76. teeth
  77. tonsures
  78. tooth
  79. walls
  80. western
  81. window
  82. wipes
  83. work