"Plasters"

[Ken S]

The first time I heard the term "plasters" was when Tormek started including them with new machines. Yesterday I had occasion to hear plasters from a different perspective, literally from the ground up. I have a tradition ith two of my neighbors. Whoever happens to be home when the trash or recycleing s collected brings the empty cans from the street to the garages.

Forgetting my age, I started to bring up the recycling cans. The next thing I knew, I was face down at the edge of the street and could not get up. Other than a few minor scrapes, I was not injured; I just could not get up. Several good neighbors came to help me. One of them mentioned that he was an army medic. Explainng what he was doing, he told me that he was placing several plasters on my hand and face. Noticing his use of the word plasters, I asked him if he was exposed to British English He said that he had studied British English, presumably while growing up in Africa.

I am grateful for good neighbors especially for one skilled in plasters.

Ken

[John_B]

I found this which was interesting. I remember hearing this term long ago for treating congestion and cough.

Plasters had a fabric backing and were covered with crinoline (a type of thin fabric), which was peeled off to reveal an adhesive surface that would stick the plaster directly onto the skin.  During the plaster manufacturing process, the India rubber was dissolved and mixed with the medication, and then spread onto the fabric backing to dry.  Popular plasters contained ingredients like belladonna, mustard seed (which provided heat to injured areas), capsicum (the active ingredient in hot peppers, which was used to relieve muscle pain), zinc oxide, quinine, opium and more.  Most plasters were designed to relieve minor aches and pains, or to provide heat to an injured area, much in the way heating pads are used today.

[tgbto]

2 (french) cents in the discussion : there's a french word called "pansement".

It is usually used as a synonym for what I used to call "band-aid" in the US, or "dressing" such as after surgery. But it is also a synonym for "plaster", for which there is another french word sharing the same latin origin : "emplâtre".

Cheers,

Nick.

[Perra]

I usually deliver a "Plåster" to all my new customers along with freshly sharpened knives etc. as a fun thing.

[John Hancock Sr]

The name Band-Aid is a bit like the word Fridge. A brand name that came to apply to a generic thing. We have always called them Band-Aids

[Dutchman]

In Dutch we call it 'pleister' 

[HaioPaio]

In German, it is Pflaster.
However, the word has a double meaning. In addition to band-aids, it means cobbles or pavement.