Eli5. How did a red white and blue spiral pole become synonymous for barber shops?
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Once upon a time, barber-surgeons were a thing. Barber-surgeons specialized in cutting hair, nails, and other body hygiene functions. One of those functions was bloodletting, and they would have a patient grasp a pole tightly to force the veins to stand out.
Blood is a liquid, so it would run in a streak.
Since most barber-surgeons would operate in a community with limited literacy, they would display their professional services by displaying old and outdated items of their profession, like a cooper hanging a barrel over their door.
Over time the professional symbol came to be a rotating red and white pole, then a red, white and blue pole.
But yeah, that barber’s pole refers to the medieval practice of bloodletting.
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