THIS IS A REAL EDUCATION
Us older people need to learn something new every day...Just to keep
the grey matter tuned up.
Where did "Piss Poor" come from? Interesting history.
They used to use urine to tan animal skins, so families used to all
pee in a pot.
And then once it was full it was taken and 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" and were the lowest of the low.
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 1500's
Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath in
May, and they still smelled pretty good by June.. However, since they
were starting to smell,
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.
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 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.
Hence: 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 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.
Hence the custom; “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."
Interesting history
-
- Posts: 48
- Joined: Thu March 24, 2011, 9:46 pm
- Location: Summerville, S C
- Contact:
Who is online
Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 0 guests