Nekochanpurr
10-21-2008, 06:34 PM
My friend just sent this to me through my email.. Thought it was pretty interesting!
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 the1500s:
>
>
> 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
> 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 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 the 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 History was
> boring ! ! !
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 the1500s:
>
>
> 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
> 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 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 the 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 History was
> boring ! ! !