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I think, therefore I post
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: Little Rock, AR
Posts: 15,100
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Some fun history
I apologize in advance for the formatting, but I'm too busy (lazy) to edit it. Still a fun read though:
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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
>thei r 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 wa s 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 r oof. 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 (a.k.a. straw)
>on floor t o help keep their footing. As the wint er
>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 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 o f 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 day s and the family would gather around
>and eat and drink and wait and see if they wou ld
>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 was 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 ! ! !
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