Lets talk about the dunce cap.

Many people are familiar with the dunce cap. Although it has not actually been used in schools for quite some time, it lives on in cartoons and jokes. It is sometimes portrayed as having donkey ears attached, other times as a simple conical structure. But where does this strange, antiquated garment come from? the answer is actually quite fascinating.

The duns cap finds its origins in a man named John Duns Scotus. He was one of the leading scholar philosopher-theologians of the high middle ages. Although initially esteemed, his theories eventually fell out of favor, casing "duns" or "dunce" to become slang for anyone of low intelligence. However, he is also directly connected with the cap itself. He recommend the wearing of conical hats in order to stimulate the brain, inspired by the hats worn by wizards and alchemists. He theorized that the hats would "funnel" knowledge to the wearer. This teaching is still reflected today in a variety of subtle ways.

But his as his teachings eventually fell out of favor, so do did the duns caps. They became associated with idiocy, and were put on children to humiliate, rather than educate them. The duns cap was, i a sense, inverted, completely reversing it's meaning. And yet, as the images above prove, the association of wisdom with cones (or pyramids) is still strong. So the duns cap lives a kind of double life, in a sense. It is regarded as an antiquated symbol of foolishness, yet returns to its former glory in our collective subconscious. Anyway, I just thought that was kind of interesting. More marketing updates to come soon!

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