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 "didn't have a pot to piss in" & were the lowest of the low
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:
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 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 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 ! ! !
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 "didn't have a pot to piss in" & were the lowest of the low
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:
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 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 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 ! ! !
1 comment:
Cool post.. took it home to show my daughter.
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