Facts and Explanations from the 1500's

Ever wonder where some of the fabulous sayings such as "Piss Poor", "Crossing the Threshold" or "Chewing the Fat" came from? Some of these sayings have been around for literal ages! I was blessed* with the information that I am about to bestow upon you by my wonderful** mother.
Here are some facts from the 1500's.
Enjoy!

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 "didnt have a pot to piss in" and were the lowest of the low.

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.

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....

____________________
*if information is knowledge and knowledge is power then I am helping pave your way to greatness. Or at least giving you something somewhat interesting to talk about when there is absolutely nothing else to say.
**in other words, she was bored and decided to forward me a somewhat interesting email. Thanks Mom :)

Some interesting facts from 1908

Things were very different close to 100 years ago; thinking ahead another hundred years, who knows where we will be. Here are some interesting examples of where we have came....

Starting with a 1907 Ford Model R:


The average life expectancy was 47 years.
Only 14% of homes had a bathtub.
Only 8% of homes had a telephone.

There were 8,000 cars and 144 miles of paved roads.
The maximum speed limit in most cities was 10mph.

The tallest structure in the world was the Eiffel Tower
The average wage in 1908 was 22 cents per hour
The average worker made between $200 and $400 per year
A competetant accountant could expect to earn $2000 per year, a dentist $2,500 per year, a veterinarian between $1,500 and $4,000 per year and a mechanical engineer about $5,000 per year.

More than 95% of all births took place at home.
90% of all doctors had NO COLLEGE EDUCATION – instead, they attended so-called medical schools, many of which were condemned in the press AND the government as 'substandard. '

Sugar cost 4 cents a pound
Eggs were 14 cents a dozen
Coffee was 15 cents a pound

Most women only washed their hair once a month and used Borax or egg yolks for shampoo
Canada passed a law that prohibited poor people from entering into their country for any reason

Five leading causes of death were:
1. Pneumonia and influenza
2. Tuberculosis
3. Diarrhea
4. Heart disease
5. Stroke

The American flag had 45 stars
The population of Las Vegas, Nevada was 30

Crossword puzzles, canned beer and ice tea had not been invented yet
There was no Mothers or Fathers Day
Two out of every ten adults could not read or write
6% of all Americans had graduated from high school

Marijuana, heroin and morphine were all available over the counter at the local corner drugstores. Back then pharmacists said “heroin clears the complexion, gives buoyancy to the mind, regulates the stomach and bowels and is, in fact, a perfect guardian of health”

18% of households had at least one full time servant or domestic help
There were about 230 reported murders in the entire USA


Gives you a little bit to think about, eh?