Anybody wonder where the name "Tup's Indispensable" came from and why it's faintly red? The root origin is Skues' sense of humor. 'Tup' is a Middle English term for ram, as in male sheep. 'Indispensable' derives from that which distinguishes a ram from a ewe. The wiry ram's wool used for Tup's Indispensables is harvested from a ram's scrotum. It's often described as a "dusty yellow", and I'm told that rendering it "thoroughly washed and cleansed of the natural oil" is not a pleasant task.
The tinge of red derives from an old English method of knowing when each ewe in a flock had been mated by a ram. Farmers would first tie a rag soaked in red dye to the belly of the rams. Then, the flock would be inspected each morning to identify ewes who had red stains on their backs. Such ewes had been 'tupped', and the shephard would then know when the lamb would arrive. Procreation is a messy business, and the red dye of tupping inevitably spread to the ram's private parts. This ram, for example, has been attending to the procreation of orange Tup's dubbing...
