i believe what he meant was, and correct me if i'm wrong Mud...
once apon a time, long ago, in this very galaxy...
they used to stack up logs in order to make walls. i believe abraham lincoln ivented this, along with how to make a non centralized free citizenry based government into a totalitarian federal regime. but i digress.
they filled in the round log gaps in with mud/concrete/plaster...
later they decided if they cut those logs reeeeeaall straight and flat on one side, the walls wouldn't need nearly as much filling, and it was quick too! except for the guy underneath the logs in the ripping outfit pulling down the saw and sawdust all into his clothes...
then woohoo! a better idea! we'll make a framework skeleton like thing out of these sqaure cut boards, and take very small square cut strips (called lathe strips, you may've heard of them) and tack them across the skeleton to make an almost solid surface, still not quite as smooth as glass, and with a bunch of little cracks, but those guys with the plaster were getting real good by now, so, you know the rest of that story... plus the automation of saws and sawmills made for a lot of square ripped boards cheap.
can you imagine!? these people were COVERING THE ENTIRE WALL with plaster. that's just CRAZY, right???
but wait, there's more!
someone thought up a brilliant idear, we'll make wide flat strips, maybe 16" wide, and make them long, these will replace all those pesky lathe strips, and just think of all the time you'll save, about 1/10th the previous amount of fasteners required! yay!
and then of course, came the genius...
"wait JUST ONE SECOND!" this guy says...
we're spending all this time taking a FLAT SURFACE (rock lath) allbeit full of cracks, and we're SPENDING ALL THIS TIME MAKING IT FLAT AGAIN!
he had it, folks, he had an idear. we'll make rock lath, but REALLY WIDE. and then, figure out a way to do the least amount of highly skilled disguising techniques, on the very FEW cracks, that are left. cause what kind of crazy person wants to cover a whole wall with plaster? right?
and that folks, is why they invented drywall, so they would NOT have to EVER skim an entire wall again.
i've done it, it's done.
if that don't get me kicked off here, i don't know what will...