On Sat, 29 Nov 2003 19:47:04 GMT, Jaques d'Alltrades
wrote:

The message
from Janet Baraclough contains these words:
The message
from John Towill contains these words:
On Fri, 28 Nov 2003 20:02:25 GMT, Janet Baraclough wrote:

Snip
Anything to oblige, Rodger. There are numerous apocryphal tales of EU
regulations, like "henceforward, bananas must be straight not bent",
which are just that. Urban legend. I suspect the one-size condoms are,
er, a load of old codswallop.

Janet.
So THAT is why they are called cod-pieces!

Early condoms were made from fish skin.

Early condoms were made from very thin leather, usually sheepskin, or
from the covering of sheep's small intestines.

Cod is Anglo-Saxon for a pocket or pouch.

A bit of condom history,
http://www.eros-uk.co.uk/History_of_Condoms.html
It's commonly reckoned that the first condoms were made from dried
sheep's intestines and used by Roman soldiers to protect themselves
from disease while "mixing with the natives" on long marches away from
home. Over the following 1,500 years or so, various accounts exist of
condoms being made from materials as diverse as linen and animal gut.

Some say that a courtier of King Charles II invented the condom in the
1600's and it is claimed that the great womaniser, Casanova, was a
condom user.

The first documented manufacture of the condom as we know it today is
attributed to Goodyear and Hancock, in the 1840's, who invented the
vulcanisation process.


--
Martin