History is fun!

[Gob]

Here are some facts about the 1500s.

They used to use urine to tan animal skins, so families used to all pee in a pot & then once a day it was taken & sold to the tannery. If you had to do this to survive you were "piss poor."

But worse than that were the really poor folk who couldn't even afford to buy a pot; they "didn't have a pot to piss in" & were the lowest of the low.
The next time you are washing your hands & complain because the water temperature isn't just how you like it, think about how things used to be.
Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath in May, and they still smelled pretty good by June. Since they were starting to smell, however, 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, resulting in the idiom, "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, therefore, 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, leading folks to coin the phrase "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 entrance-way, subsequently creating 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 stew had food in it that had been there for quite a while, and thus 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, creating 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?

[MajGenl.Meade]

Especially fake history

An article about “Life in the 1500s” was nothing more than an extended joke, someone’s idea of an amusing leg-pull which began its Internet life in April 1999. All of the historical and linguistic facts it purported to offer were simply made up and contrary to documented facts:

“When you came into the house you would notice most times that the floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something other than dirt, that’s where the saying ‘dirt poor’ came from.”

“Dirt poor” is an American expression, not a British one. Claims that the saying grew out of British class distinctions as measured by style of flooring are therefore specious. As mentioned briefly above in the “everybody slept on the floor” discussion, floors of that era were rarely bare dirt anyway: fresh reeds were laid on them every day and thrown out every night, with another fresh set brought in for sleeping on. In the summer months, aromatic herbs might be added to this vegetative underfooting.

“The wealthy would have slate floors. That was fine but in the winter they would get slippery when they got wet. So they started to spread thresh on the floor to help keep their footing. As the winter wore on they would just keep adding it and adding it until when you opened the door it would all start slipping outside. So they put a piece of wood at the entry way, a ‘thresh hold.’”

As stated above, the reeds used on floors were typically changed daily. Besides, who ever heard of calling reeds, rushes, or sheaves of grass “threshes”? One threshes plants to separate stalk from seed, but no part of the plant is called the “thresh.”

The “thresh” part of threshold apparently comes from a prehistoric source that denoted “making noise” and is related to the Old Church Slavonik tresku, meaning “crash.” By the time it reached Germanic (thresk-), it was probably being used for “stamp the feet noisily” (something that’s a good idea to do in a doorway if you’re wearing muddy boots).

etc. etc. ad nauseam https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/life-in-the-1500s/

[Gob]

Well bugger me sideways! I'll put my hand up to falling for that one, hook, line and sinker!

[MajGenl.Meade]

I'll take a rain check for the next fifty years, thank you.

[Long Run]

Especially fake history

Etymology denier!

[MajGenl.Meade]

I have never in my life dissed satin, rayon or nylon, good sir, much less eaten them!

[RayThom]

Gob, this incredible piece about “the way things were” is a great reminder to respect our rich history.

Which of these sayings do you use? Had you heard these explanations before? Let us know in the comments.

https://www.littlethings.com/customs-fr ... -time-vas/

[Long Run]

I'll take a rain check for the next fifty years, thank you.

And thus the term "history is no laughing matter" was born. But then we already knew that from Bill and Ted's not so excellent adventure.

[Joe Guy]

Well bugger me sideways!....

Historical Linguistic Fact: In Ye Olde England, homosexuals were often abused by intolerant people who would punch them in the nose, kick them in the ribs and more, which made it difficult for the homosexual to lay face down. This caused many consenting homosexuals who had been abused to ask their sex partner to bugger me sideways.