Mistress
Lit's Original Mistress
- Joined
- Feb 17, 2001
- Posts
- 13,167
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 still smelled pretty
good in 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 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."
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.
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 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, a "thresh hold."
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."
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 and
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 "upper
crust."
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."
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."
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 still smelled pretty
good in 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 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."
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.
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 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, a "thresh hold."
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."
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 and
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 "upper
crust."
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."
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."
