The washing paddle (or washing beetle, battledore, laundry bat), known as ''thaapi'' in Haryanvi and

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

languages, is a hand tool used to do

laundry Laundry is the washing of clothing and other textiles, and, more broadly, their drying and ironing as well. Laundry has been part of history since humans began to wear clothes, so the methods by which different cultures have dealt with this u ...

. It is made of wood, shaped like a baker's peel, but with a much shorter handle used as a grip. It was used to beat the wet clothes and

linens Linens, also referred to uncountably as linen, are fabric household goods intended for daily use, such as bedding, tablecloths, and towels. "Linens" may also refer to church linens, meaning the altar cloths used in church. History The earlies ...

, pushing out the dirt by hammering the items against the washboard, or against the flat slabs built into the laundry area. This was usually done at home or in the public wash-house (

lavoir A lavoir (, wash-house) is a public place set aside for the washing of clothes. Communal washing places were common in Europe until industrial washing was introduced, and this process in turn was replaced by domestic washing machines and by s ...

). In the latter case, each woman had to carry with her the washboard and the washing paddle. The paddle was used together with a washboard, made from a rectangular wooden frame with a series of wooden or metal reliefs or ripples mounted inside.

Mama had gathered up all of the longhandles and clothes that we wash. She also got the bedsheets off the beds and even the aperns. She brought out some of the lye soap that we make and also her big wooden washing paddle.

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The Generation that saved America
{{Laundry navbox Laundry washing equipment

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