So you thought history was boring.

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 the1500s:

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.

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 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
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 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 of the lead to leak 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 "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. 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 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 that History was boring !

[grannyclaret]

wow Nessie your a mine of information,i will read allthat again and dijest it properly,makes sense of all those sayings G.C.

[Kiki]

Love History too, that,s very interesting like reading about local history particulary time of the industrial revolution! Shame aboutFred Dibnah,s death!

[grannyclaret]

yes Kiki i liked Fred too ,he was very excentric but lovable,

It always amazes me how sayings are passed down from one generation to another. We understand what we mean when we use them, but never think where they came from and how they started. When you think about it 100 years ago there was no schooling for the working class other than at Sunday Schools, so they couldn't read for the most part and information had to be by word of mouth. The greatest wonder is that it didn't become corrupted like in Chinese Whispers.

[grannyclaret]

we could go on for ever with some strange sayings ,and superstitions as well .likewhy is it unlucky to put new shoes on thetable,.Do you know why we say (quote)she scens like a basket of whelks,refering to someone who is bad with their eyes,what is the connection with whelks?G.C'

[wayneyboy1942]

I enjoyed reading that Nessie. I used to buy the childrens books the Horrible histories
and let the kids find the nasty side of history. Did anyone see Tony Robinson's worst jobs in history? The tanner's job was the worst ever, keeper of the kings stool was a good job.

[grannyclaret]

if you dont know what the keeper of the kings stool was ,just use your imagination and thank goodness for toilet rolls.G.C.

[Col.Kurtz]

Interesting stuff! I heard that the poor were not allowed to put down a stone floor, as the nitrates in urine were used in the making of gunpowder. So their floor would get dug up once a year and used for this. I thought they'd at least have an out-house!

[janet]

Very interesting Nessie, i too watched tony robinson it was very good.

[wayneyboy1942]

I never said anything about the Gong farmer, Gong was an old Saxon slang word for tish and he had to take it away in a cart. The Tanner was still the worst of a bad bunch.

[grannyclaret]

i feel like a bath now ,arnt we lucky to have bathfoam and shampoo etc ,i cant stand it when my hair wants washing, Elizabeth 1st put flour or something on hers.G.C.

It's only a generation or so ago that the weekly bath night was a regular with the same order of those using the water in the bath. Most back yards had a tin bath hung on pegs in the wall which was brought in on Saturday nights in front of the fire. The water was heated in the wash boiler and ladled into the bath, then the dirty water was used to swill the back yard after the bathing was finished.

[Doug]

Originally Posted by Nessie

It's only a generation or so ago that the weekly bath night was a regular with the same order of those using the water in the bath. Most back yards had a tin bath hung on pegs in the wall which was brought in on Saturday nights in front of the fire. The water was heated in the wash boiler and ladled into the bath, then the dirty water was used to swill the back yard after the bathing was finished.

Something like this nessie? This is my good self on the way out of the tin bath back in the early 60s, possibly 1963/4. The bath was hung on a peg by the backdoor. We also only had an outside loo, "a plank across a drop" until moving in 66/67.

[Kiki]

Does anyone remember the rag and bone man?when iwas fifteen i bought a fur coat off one! It was a 20s one and only made of pony skin! It was horrendous now when i look back to think i wore it. I couldnt sit down in it properley as it was so stiff! It cost me 2 bob. :o