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How old sayings started
How Old Sayings Got
Started
1500's TRIVIA
This is pretty interesting trivia....
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:
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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.
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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."
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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 dogs, 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."
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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 really 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.
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The floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something other than dirt. Hence the
saying "dirt poor."
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The wealthy had slate floors that would get sl! ippery i n the winter when wet,
so they spread thresh (straw) on the floor to help keep their footing. As the
winter wore on, they kept adding 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."
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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 the 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."
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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."
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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 and death. This
happened most often with tomatoes, so for the next 400 years or so, tomatoes
were considered poisonous.
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Bread was divided ac! cording to status. Workers got the burnt bottom of the
loaf, the family got the middle, and guests got the top, or "upper
crust."
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Lead cups were used to drink ale or whisky. The combination would sometimes
knock them 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."
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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 thought 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."
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And that's the truth...
Now , whoever said that History was boring ! ! !
! ! Educate someone...Share these facts with a friend.
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