Interesting History!
Here are some facts
about the 1500s. Or . . maybe they aren't facts, but just some imagination.
100’s of years ago, they
used urine to tan animal skins, so families used to all pee in a pot. And then once a day it was taken and sold to
the tannery... if you had to do this to
survive you were "Piss Poor".
But worse than that were
the really poor folk who couldn't even afford to buy a pot... They "didn't have a
pot to piss in" and were the lowest of the low. 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.
Most people got married
in June because they took their yearly bath in May, and they still smelled
pretty good by June. However, since they were starting to smell, brides carried
a bouquet of flowers to hide the body odor, and 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
the other 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: a thresh hold.
Those with money had
plates made of pewter. Food with high acid
content caused some of the lead to leach onto the food, causing lead 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 got the burnt
bottom of the loaf, the family got the middle, and guests got the top, or the
upper crust.
Lead cups were used to
drink ale or whisky. 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 custom; “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”.
Now, whoever said
History was boring!!!
Inside every older
person is a younger person wondering,
'What the heck happened?
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