SOme etymology lessons for u...

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 1500's: 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 odour.

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 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."

(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 "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 !