General Chat

see below

LIFE IN THE 1500'S > >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: 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 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 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 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...!

Fascinating, Louise! CB >|<