posted on June 23, 2004 01:26:35 PM new
Hi Everybody! To keep this Ebay related, let me preface by saying this was taken from a book bought on Ebay..
I enjoyed this little history lesson, hope you do too! Maggie
Subject: History Lessons
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 got married in June because they took their yearly bath in May, and still smelled pretty good 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 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 slide 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 adding more thresh until when you opened the door it would all start slipping outside. A piece of wood was placed in the entranceway. 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 overnight 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, 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 "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."
And that's the truth... Now , whoever said that History was boring ! ! !
posted on June 23, 2004 02:16:50 PM new
For hundreds of years, the sacred rock of Scotland was held under the English throne so the English monarch could faht at liesure upon the Scottish heritage & pride -- they finally gave it back to Scotland a few years ago, but the metal enclosure on the old throne is still there ...
posted on June 23, 2004 02:27:45 PM new
what a fascinating bit of reading. history is my favorite subject to read about. thank you so much for sharing with us.
posted on June 23, 2004 04:29:37 PM new
I love stuff like like this. One of my favs is the story behind the old ryme Ring around the Rosies which came about during the time the plague was hitting europe...
Ring around the Rosies (the inflamed circular sores that were common to sufferers)
Pocket full of Posies (people that were infected would stuff flow petals in the pockets to mask the odors of decay in their flesh)
Ashes, Ashes, we all fall down. (the dead, of which there were many, would be burned in order to help slow the spread of the disease)
~~~ • ~~~ • ~~~ • ~~~ • ~~~
If it's really "common" sense, why do so few people actually have it?
posted on June 23, 2004 10:04:11 PM new
I got the last line a little different Fenix.
Ashes, Ashes, we all fall down. (the dead, of which there were many, would be burned in order to help slow the spread of the disease)
Ashes Ashes was a misspelling of the sneezing sound A'chew A'chew. The sufferers would sneeze one day and fall over dead the next, hence A'chew, A'chew, we all fall down.
posted on June 24, 2004 07:46:22 AM new
Hi Everybody!
Gousainc..
I apologize for any mis-information.
I posted these purely for everyone's entertainment.
I spoke with tongue in cheek, when I said they came from a book bought from Ebay, to keep the posting "Ebay Related".
There are several books with these and many other eccentricities of the English language.. here are just a few:
Dictionary of word origins by Jordan Almond
Bloomsbury Dictionary of phrases and Allusion by Nigel Rees
2107 curious word origins, sayings and expressions by Charles Earle Funk
Common Phrases and where they come from by
John B. Morodck and Myron Korach
I have no idea how much of the reading is fact or fiction.. I just wanted to share with you the enjoyment and fun I got from reading them. :0) Maggie
posted on June 24, 2004 11:17:55 AM new
gousainc, the monitors are gone so who sent in the history police?
this made for an enjoyable read and if someone wants to take it to "who wants to be a millionaire", well, you weren't getting a cut of the money anyway.
maggie, thank you again. most of us just enjoyed it.
to listen for the bell; thus, someone could be "saved by the bell" or was considered a "dead ringer."
NATURES spelled backwards = SERUTAN