Fun History Lesson!

>
>
> A Fun History Lesson
>
>
> 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"
> 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 1500s:
>
>
> 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 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 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 ! ! !
>
> So . . . get out there and educate someone! ~~~ Share these facts
> with a friend like I just did! ! !