> Always wondered about some of the old sayings and their
> origins. This was fun to read and made me chuckle.
>
>
>
>
> This is very interesting!
> In The 1500's :
>
> The next time you are washing your hands and complain
> because the water temperature isn't just how you like
> it, think about how things used to be. Here are some facts
> about the 1500s:
>
> These are interesting...
>
> Most people go t married in June because they took
> their yearly bath in May, and still smelled pretty go od by
> June... However, they were starting to smell, so brides
> carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the body odor. Hence
> the custom today of carrying a bouquet when getting married.
>
>
> Baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot water.
> The man of the house had the privilege of the nice clean
> water, then all theother sons and men, then the women and
> finally the children. Last of all the babies. By then the
> water was so dirty you could actually lose someone in it.
> Hence the saying, Don't throw the baby out with the Bath
> water..
>
> Houses had thatched roofs-thick straw-piled high,
> with no wood underneath. It was the only place for animals
> to get warm, so all the cats and other small animals (mice,
> bugs) lived in the roof When it rained it became slippery
> and sometimes the animals would slip and fall off the roof..
> Hence the saying It's raining cats and dogs.
>
> There was nothing to stop things from falling into
> the house.. This posed a real problem in the bedroom where
> bugs and other droppings could mess up your nice clean bed.
> Hence, a bed with big posts and a sheet hung over the top
> afforded some protection. That's how canopy beds came
> into existence.
>
> The floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something
> other than dirt. Hence the saying, Dirt poor. The wealthy
> had slate floors that would get slippery in the winter when
> wet, so they spread thresh (straw) on floor to help keep
> their footing. As the winter wore on, they added more thresh
> until, when you opened the door, it would all start slipping
> outside. A piece of wood was placed in the entrance way.
> Hence the saying a thresh hold.
>
> (Getting quite an education, aren't you?)
>
> In those old days, they cooked in the kitchen with a
> big kettle that always hung over the fire. Every day they
> lit the fire and added things to the pot. They ate mostly
> vegetables and did not get much meat. They would eat the
> stew for dinner, leaving leftovers in the pot to get cold ov
> ernight and then start over the next day. Sometimes stew had
> food in it that had been there for quite a while. Hence the
> rhyme, Peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge
> in the pot nine days old...
>
>
> Sometimes they could obtain pork, which made them
> feel quite special. When visitors came over, they would hang
> up their bacon to show off. It was a sign of wealth that a
> man could, bring home the bacon. They would cut off a
> little to share with guests and would all sit around and
> chew the fat..
>
> Those with money had plates made of pewter. Food with
> high acid content caused some of the lead to leach onto the
> food, causinglead poisoning death.. This happened most often
> with tomatoes, so for the next 400 years or so, tomatoes
> were considered poisonous.
>
> Bread was divided according to status. Workers go t
> the burnt bottom of the loaf, the family go t the middle,
> and guests go t the top, or the upper crust.
>
> Lead cups were used to drink ale or whiskey. The
> combination would sometimes knock the imbibers out for a
> couple of days . Someone walking along the road would take
> them for dead and prepare them for burial. They were laid
> out on the kitchen table for a couple of days and the family
> would gather around and eat and drink and wait and see if
> they would wake up. Hence the cus tom of holding a wake.
>
> England is old and small and the local folks started
> running out of places to bury people. So they would dig up
> coffins and would take the bones to a bone-house, and reuse
> the grave. When reopening these coffins, 1 out of 25 coffins
> were found to have scratch marks on the inside and they
> realized they had been burying people alive. So they would
> tie a string on the wrist of the corpse, lead it through the
> coffin and up through the ground and tie it to a bell.
> Someone would have to sit out in the graveyard all night
> (the graveyard shift.) to listen for the bell; thus, someone
> could be, saved by the bell or was considered a dead ringer.
>
>
> And that's the truth....Now, whoever said History
> was boring ! ! !
>
> Educate someone. Share these facts with a friend
>
>
> Jody Jones
>
>
> Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass, it
> is about learning to dance in the rain.
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