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| When I was a kid, I mean a really young kid, after the dinosaur hunt but before the dinosaur meat feast, long before there was a Google or a Wikipedia, I had to rely on my parents for answers to life's important questions. Like, "Why's it called a vanilla envelope? Is it because you lick it?" Well, my parents set me straight on the spelling, and even told me what Manila was (Dad, as a sailor, had been there). But it took until I found this article from Mental Floss to help me finally get closure on this subject. (Closure? Because it's an envelope? No? Yes? Tough crowd.) The days of getting important documents in the mail instead of a PDF may be waning, but there’s still plenty of mileage left in the Manila envelope. The oversized, heavy-duty enclosures can send and store everything from contracts to insurance policies to incriminating blackmail. Ah, yes, the Official Packaging of Compromising Photos. But why are they called “Manila” envelopes? Does the name refer to the Philippines? And if so, how did that come about? Betting colonialism was involved. American stationery companies were experiencing supply shortages in the 1830s. Cotton and linen rags, which were used to produce paper pulp, were growing scarce. To keep production up, papermakers turned to the Manila rope typically found on ships. Oh, thanks. That's helpful. Manila envelopes from Manila rope. In contrast to cotton and linen, Manila rope was derived from Manila hemp—an extremely strong and durable material sourced from Manila, or abacá, plants native to the Philippines (hence it being named after the country’s capital, Manila). Now, see? That's helpful, and I'm not being sarcastic this time. Manila rope that was too frayed to remain in use could be recycled rather than discarded, making it a thrifty resource. This rope walks into a bar and sits down. Bartender goes, "Sorry, we don't serve ropes here." So the rope sighs and walks out. He ties himself into an overhand knot and musses up one of his ends, then heads back into the bar. "Say," says the bartender, "Aren't you that rope who I kicked out a few minutes ago?" "No, I'm a frayed knot." Despite Manila fibers being their main component, it took a while for the term Manila envelope to catch on. The Oxford English Dictionary cites the first use of the phrase in print in 1889, when printer Barnum and Co. professed to “make a specialty of large Manilla [sic] … envelopes.” One wonders what they were called before then. Exporting Manila hemp should have been lucrative for the Philippines. Instead, colonialism got in the way. Hey, look, I was right. Okay, I cheated. But I was still right. Manila was phased out of most paper manufacturing over time, with wood pulp growing both more readily available and far less expensive. No. Let's not gloss over the demonization of the hemp plant in general, regardless of THC content. If we'd kept on making paper from weeds instead of trees, maybe we'd be in less of a mess right now. But no, timber companies had a better lobby, and hemp became an early casualty of the War on Drugs. Or at least the run-up to it. So that's the origin story, signed, sealed, and delivered in a golden-brown package. |
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