Interesting History
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>
> 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 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
> that 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 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!!!
