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 1500's:
They used to use urine to tan animal skins, so families used to all pee in a
pot & then once a day it was taken & 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 "didnt have a pot to piss in" and were the lowest of
the low.
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. 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 n ice 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.
(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 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...
And that's the truth...Now, whoever said History was boring ! ! !
So . . . get out there and educate someone! ~~~ Share these facts with a
friend like I just did! ! !
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Really interesting - I love words and a lot of these I hadn't known
their origin.
Thanks for sharing
-----Original Message-----
From: cartwright-bounces(a)rootsweb.com
[mailto:cartwright-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of
ozcavill1(a)bigpond.com
Sent: Sunday, February 21, 2010 12:02 AM
To: Cartwright List
Subject: [CARTWRIGHT] In Dear Old England Long Ago.........
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 1500's:
They used to use urine to tan animal skins, so families
used to all pee in a pot & then once a day it was taken & 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 "didnt have a pot to
piss in" and were the lowest of the low.
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. 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 n ice 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.
(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 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...
And that's the truth...Now, whoever said History was
boring ! ! !
So . . . get out there and educate someone! ~~~ Share
these facts with a friend like I just did! ! !
------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------
-------------------------------
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