where sayings come from

[Judy Harder]

     
   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:
         
       
 
   
       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" 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 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 ! ! !

So  . . . get out there and educate someone! ~~~ Share  these facts with a friend like I just did! !  !