Post by Spooky on Aug 28, 2007 17:24:00 GMT -5
I have no idea how many of these are actually true but their interesting anyway.
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 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
entranceway. Hence the saying a thresh hold.
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 leak 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.
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 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
entranceway. Hence the saying a thresh hold.
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 leak 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.
