Have you ever wondered where some of the old sayings came from? I found this interesting and it could be true......
The next time you are taking a bath and the water temperature isn't just right, think about how things use to be. Here are some facts or fiction from the 1500's, you can decide.
Baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot water. The men of the house had the privilege of going first. Then the women and finally the children and 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 out the baby with the bath water."
Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath in May and still smelled pretty good by June. But just in case the bride carried a bouquet of flowers to hide any body odor. Hence the custom today of June weddings and carrying a bouquet.
Houses back then had thatched roofs, thick straw piled high with no wood underneath. It was the only place for animals to get warm, so dogs, cats, and other small animals lived on the roof. When it rained it became slippery and sometimes the animals would slip and fall off. Hence the saying "It's raining cats and dogs."
With a thatch roof there was nothing to stop things from falling inside the house. Bugs and other droppings could really mess up a nice clean bed. Hanging a sheet over the top of tall bed posts afforded some protection. Hence came "the canopy bed."
Most of the floors back then were only dirt. Only the wealthy could afford something else. Hence came the saying "dirt poor."
The wealthy had floors made of slate that would get slippery in the winter when wet, so they spread thresh (straw) on the floor to keep their footing. As the winter wore on, they kept adding more thresh until when the door opened it would start slipping outside. A piece of wood was placed in the entranceway to hold it in. Hence the saying a "thresh hold."
In those days they cooked with a big kettle that hung over the fire. They ate mostly vegetables and not much meat. They would cook stew for dinner, leaving leftovers in the pot. The next day they just added more vegetables to the pot, sometimes the stew had food in it that had been there for quite a while. Hence came 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 it 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 sit around and "chew the fat."
Bread was divided according to status. Workers got the burnt bottom of the loaf, the family got the middle, and the guests got the top, or "upper crust."
Lead cups were used to drink ale or whisky. The combination would sometimes knock them 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 to 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 room 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, one out of twenty five were found to have scratch marks on the inside and they realized they had been burying people alive. So they thought they would tie a string on the wrist of a 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."
(Whoever said that HISTORY was boring?)
L.G.V.
No comments:
Post a Comment