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Post Info TOPIC: History Can be Informative
Wombat 280


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History Can be Informative
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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 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 clean water, then all the other sons and men, then the women and finally the children Last of allthe 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."

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 muchmeat.  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."

Englandis 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 throughthe 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 thebell" or was considered a "dead ringer."

And that's the truth ... Now, whoever said that History was boring?


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Mike47


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Very interesting Wombat, but don't you get the feeling you need to get out more???????

Mike

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drongo & wendy


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               Strewth i must be older than i think  but there again.
  I recall bath time on a sunday evening in the old tin bath, hot water brought in from copper boiler in laundry.
At our house it was mother then sisters first  then a top up of hot water  then us 2 boys  then Dad got to wollow in our mud.
 those were the days when kids got dirty.



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Basil Faulty


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Ahhhhhhhhhhhh Yes, bathtime, we had a chip heater, used chips of wood, not potatoe chips. Roaring blaze in the bathroom made the whole thing very civilized and warm.....
I watch a lot of Pommie home improvement shows on Fox and to this day poms seem to prefer a bath to a shower and an Ensuite is considered a luxury suited only for the titled people. Different cultural attitudes, different countries.

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Basil Faulty


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drongo & wendy wrote:

               Strewth i must be older than i think  but there again.
  I recall bath time on a sunday evening in the old tin bath, hot water brought in from copper boiler in laundry.
At our house it was mother then sisters first  then a top up of hot water  then us 2 boys  then Dad got to wollow in our mud.
 those were the days when kids got dirty.


Yeah I often wonder why Kids no longer are allowed to get dirty?



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Don't take life too seriously.... No one gets out alive

KIA Sorento CRDi EX  ( Ebony black) with 5 hex chrome plated tire air valve covers, Coramal Sunsheild, Elcheapo GPS, First Aid Kit, full KIA toolkit & Yellow lenses on the Foglights......
dave06


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yep we progressed to the chip heater from the copper, and it was one after the other at bath times

wombat I really think you should grab a hobby!!! needle work looks good

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Roostertales


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Amazing stuff trivia. Got any more - love to read about it.

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