So thats how it got started..

colegrovet

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 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 an d 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.


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" & were the lowest of the low


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 whiskey. 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 ! ! !

kdangel518

Oh my... I am getting a kick out of these!

Hey, Terry, any idea where "getting a kick out of..." originated from?

colegrovet

LOL... I have no clue....

kdangel518

Something to look into for next time

Judybabe

very interesting. Keep them coming!

janetupnorth

Actually, I wouldn't they aren't factual...

I'd retype all the stuff but this has been going around the internet for YEARS!!!! (At least a decade but I remember it before then).

Go here:
snopes.com: Life in the 1500s

I prefer to teach my kids real history. I always say the problem with the internet is that there is no fiction/non-fiction section. People aren't always good at deciphering what is true/false and rumors spread fast on the internet.

colegrovet

Janet,

I know it's not factual.... but it does create a good laugh..

janetupnorth

Well, many readers will think it is when it says:

Here are a few facts from the 1500s...

Maybe it should be labeled humor, or prefaced with "the circulated on the internet but isn't true but read for your pleasure"

I just think it kind of diminishes the value of those things that are presented and intended as truth to learn.

Maragib

Whoa - Debbie Downer - Wah wah...

ChefBeckyD

That was rude, and uncalled for.

Do you think people are getting more rude?

janetupnorth

No, just being factual. If you've been on here for years and not new, you would know me very well and know that is not me.

What is more of an insult is the fact that we have someone who daily for years puts his heart and soul into giving us educational facts and then there tries to be "competition".

I'm all for jokes and humor...I love humor, those here even know I'm quite the sarcastic one. But I believe you should represent it properly as fact or fiction not lead someone to believe it is fact when it is not.

raebates

I'm all for jokes and humor, too. However, I think it's important to remember that people tend to believe what they read here. "Humor" labels and "Adult Content" labels are definitely appreciated.

susanr613

well ok so much for my afternoon chuckle....

perhaps all such posts should be prefaced with "caveat lector" (reader beware)!

pc_jessica

even it if it isn't factual it still is pretty funny to read! and you know i have heard some of these in my history class, my teacher would throw in a 'fun fact' (which we knew to be fake but just fun to hear) just to get a laugh out of his students! and it worked.

esavvymom

You know what....who's to say something ISN'T true?
Snopes.com is just a site run by a couple of human beings...not a company of researchers or something. I don't have the details in front of me, but apparently, it was started by a husband/wife team who wanted to find out the truth behind these emails that go around/myths/rumors, etc.

Who knows how long some of those phrases have been around- and without accurate records, it very well could have come from some of the things mentioned. You just never know.

pampered1224

Actually - Snopes.com has had several of their own facts dispelled as being not so factual or partial truths.
It is like EVERYTHING else in this world written by any human, you gotta take it with a grain of salt. "Believe it, or not".