I've been told this was true.....tee hee hee
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. Hereare some facts about the1500s:
Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bathin
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 thecustom today of carrying a bouquet when getting married.
Baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot water. The man of the
househad 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
thenthewater 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 othersmall animals (mice, bugs) lived in the roof. When it rained it became
slipperyand 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
poseda real problem in the bedroom where bugs and other droppings could mess
upyour nice clean bed. So, a bed with big posts and a sheet hung over
the topafforded 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
getslippery in the winter when wet , so they spread thresh (straw) on thefloor
to helpkeep their footing, as the winter wore on they added more thresh,until,
whenyou opened the door, it would all start slipping outside. A piece ofwood
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 thatalways
Hung over the fire. Everyday they lit the fire and added things to thepot.. They ate mostly vegetables and did not get much meat. They would
eat thestew for dinner, leaving leftovers in the pot to get cold overnight and
thenstart over the next day. Sometimes stew had food in it that had been
there forquite a while.
Hence the rhyme, Peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas
porridge inthe pot nine days old..
Sometimes they could obtain pork, which made them feel quitespecial..
When visitors came over, they would hang up their bacon to show off. It
was asign 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
contentcaused some of the lead to leak onto the food, causing lead poisoning
death.
This happened most often with tomatoes, so for the nex t 400 years orso,
tomatoes were considered poisonous.
Bread was divided according to status. Workers got the burnt bottom
ofthe loaf, the family got the middle, and guests got the top, or the
uppercrust.
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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 theroad would take them for dead and prepare them for burial. They were
laid outon the kitchen table for a couple of days and the family would gather
aroundand eat and drink and wait and see if they would wake up. Hence the
custom ofholding a wake.
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England is old andsmall, 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
coffinswerefound to have scratch marks on the inside and they realized they had
beenburying 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
graveyardshift.) to listen for the bell; thus, someone could be, saved by the
bell. or was considered a .dead ringer..
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>> >>> And that's the truth...Now , whoever said History was boring ! ! !
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>> >>> Educate someone..Share these facts with a friend
Hope4others