RazMan
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| posted on 19/6/07 at 09:49 PM |
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Interesting Facts
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 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 the floor to help keep their footing. As the winter wore on! , they a dded 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 it 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 ! ! !
Cheers,
Raz
When thinking outside the box doesn't work any more, it's time to build a new box
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Peteff
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| posted on 19/6/07 at 10:54 PM |
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"Peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge in the pot nine days old."
That should be pease pudding, not peas porridge. I currently have a tin of it in the cupboard, still available at a co-op near you
Pease pudding rhyme . This sounds like a lot like someone trying to prove their Englishness.
No-one took baths in the fifteenth century they are a relatively new phenomenon. There are more examples
here but don't quote them.
yours, Pete
I went into the RSPCA office the other day. It was so small you could hardly swing a cat in there.
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