Text 2010, 112 rader
Skriven 2005-05-13 00:23:58 av Greg Sears (1:153/307)
Ärende: BOOK
============
G-day ALL,


Maybe not all of these are accurate, but it stands to reason that some are.


LIFE IN THE 1500'S

The next time you are washing your hands and complain because the
watertemperature isn't just how you like it, think about how things used to
be.Here are some facts about the 1500's:


These are interesting...


Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath in May,
andstill smelled pretty good by June.  However, they were starting to smell,
sobrides 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
hadthe privilege of the nice clean water, then all the other sons and men,
thenthe women and finally the children Last of all the babies.  By then the
waterwas so dirty you could actually lose someone in it.  Hence the saying,
"Don'tthrow the baby out with the bath water."


Houses had thatched roofs-thick straw-piled high, with no wood underneath. 
Itwas the only place for animals to get warm, so all the cats and other
smallanimals (mice, bugs) lived in the roof.  When it rained it became slippery
andsometimes the animals would slip and off the roof.  Hence the saying
"It'sraining cats and dogs."



There was nothing to stop things from falling into the house.  This posed areal
problem in the bedroom where bugs and other droppings could mess up yournice
clean bed.  Hence, a bed with big posts and a sheet hung over the topafforded
some protection.  That's how canopy beds came into existence.



The floor was dirt.  Only the wealthy had something other than dirt.  Hence
thesaying "dirt poor." The wealthy had slate floors that would get slippery in
thewinter when wet, so they spread thresh (straw) on floor to help keep
theirfooting.  As the winter wore on, they were adding more thresh until when
youopened the door it would all start slipping outside.  A piece of wood
wasplaced 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 alwayshung
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 stewfor
dinner, leaving leftovers in the pot to get cold overnight and then startover
the next day.  Sometimes stew had food in it that had been there for quitea
while.  Hence the rhyme, "Peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peasporridge
in the pot nine days old."



Sometimes they could obtain pork, which made them feel quite special. 
Whenvisitors came over, they would hang up their bacon to show off.  It was a
signof wealth that a man could "bring home the bacon." They would cut off a
littleto 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
causedsome of the lead to leach onto the food, causing lead poisoning death. 
Thishappened most often with tomatoes, so for the next 400 years or so,
tomatoeswere considered poisonous.



Bread was divided according to status.  Workers got the burnt bottom of
theloaf, 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
sometimesknock the imbibers out for a couple of days.  Someone walking along
the roadwould take them for dead and prepare them for burial.  They were laid
out onthe kitchen table for a couple of days and the family would gather around
andeat and drink and wait and see if they would wake up.  Hence the custom
ofholding a "wake."



England is old and small and the local folks started running out of places
tobury 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 realizedthey
had been burying people alive.  So they would tie a string on the wrist ofthe
corpse, lead it through the coffin and up through the ground and tie it toa
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!


Salutations from --Christchurch-+
  ICE-man in      /\            |          \ | /   Mountains, Sunshine
 New Zealand     /  \/\         |  /\      - O -   Forestry, Farming
-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^/      \!!ii,,..@-/==\---^-^-^-^-^ Beaches and Surfing


... My hard disk is full! Maybe I'll try this message section thing.

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