The past few days, every afternoon the weather has “clouded up” and while we didn’t get much rain, we did have a few showers. It reminds me of when I first came to Washington — during the summer, it seemed like every day at just about five o’clock, it would rain, usually not heavy but enough to get you wet. These were referred to as “executive showers.”
All the government and office workers would come out of their buildings and up would go the umbrellas. I thought it was interesting that it seemed to rain just about every afternoon at the same time, but the sight of all those umbrellas was maybe more interesting.
Growing up in Oklahoma, I almost never saw an umbrella. I remember that one of my grandmothers had an umbrella, but she only used it to keep out of the sun when she was out for a walk.
The umbrella is an interesting device — the word itself comes from the Latin “umbra” meaning shade or shadow. Like a lot of things, nobody knows who invented the first umbrella — or when. A lot of people think the basic umbrella was probably invented by the Chinese more than 4,000 years ago. But there is evidence of umbrellas being use, in ancient art and artifacts, about the same time in Egypt and Greece. The first umbrellas were designed to provide shade from the sun. The Chinese first waterproofed their umbrellas using oiled, or waxed, paper and used mulberry bark or bamboo for the frames.
We must have at least ten or twelve umbrellas around the house and in our cars. Claire uses an umbrella a lot more than I do — if the rain is light or just a “shower,” i almost never use an umbrella, and I never use one to protect me from the sun.
Well, that got me to thinking…. I wonder if our “use” of umbrellas is in line with most people? After some extensive research on my part, I discovered some interesting things about the umbrella.
Worldwide, the average number of umbrellas people own is 2.4. Japan leads the world, averaging 3.3 umbrellas per person. If the data is analyzed carefully, you’ll find that people own more umbrellas in areas that average more rain.
Most of our umbrellas are black, or dark blue in color, although Claire has a couple with “patterns,” and we have at least one one golf-size umbrella that has a picture of Chief Wahoo of the Cleveland Indians. But the people of the world usually choose dark blue for the color of their umbrellas, although black is a close second in popularity. Men preferred black umbrellas, and women favored colors like red and green.
As i said, I rarely use an umbrella unless it’s raining pretty heavy — most people take out their umbrellas when a light rain starts. Interestingly enough, it appears that a higher percentage of men start using an umbrella with a drizzle than women.
Almost all of our umbrellas, except for the larger ones are folding umbrellas. That seems to be by far the most popular style, worldwide. However, in both Russia and Japan, a high percentage of people use plastic “disposable” umbrellas, something that people in most other countries shy away from.
I have no idea how much any of our umbrellas cost — many were gifts, or ‘promotions’ advertising something and some we’ve had for so long I don’t know where they came from. But you might find it interesting to know that the average cost of an umbrella on the planet Earth is $11.50, and the average number of umbrellas a person buys each year is 1.14 umbrellas.
Over the years, we’ve probably “lost” untold number of umbrellas —it’s easy to do, often they’re left outside and if it stops raining while you’re inside, it’s easy to forget about your umbrella. Just check the lost and found section of your church, if you don’t believe me. People of the world lose an average of 4.6 umbrellas in their life. Men lose 2.3 more umbrellas than women.
The people who mind most getting wet in the rain are the English — people that mind the least are Americans. Also, people who most dislike getting wet are in their 40s. People mind less, the younger they are.
I usually check the weather on my phone every few days — the people of the world average checking the weather forecast 2.3 time a day. People in Korea check the weather, on average, 3.5 time a day. The Japanese are close behind — they check the weather 3.4 times a day.
So I guess that’s my tribute to the umbrella… something most of us have around, but doesn’t get the credit it deserves. I know a bunch of good jokes about umbrellas — but they usually go over people’s heads. I do remember a song from when I was younger, about letting a smile be your umbrella — I think it went something like, let a smile be your umbrella, and you’ll get a face full of rain….
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