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 »  Home  »  Humor And Wisdom  »  (E) A little of History - It's raining cats and dogs
(E) A little of History - It's raining cats and dogs
By Nenad N. Bach | Published  05/16/2006 | Humor And Wisdom | Unrated
(E) A little of History - It's raining cats and dogs

 

Life in the 1500's

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:

These are interesting...

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 and 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 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 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 "upper crust."

Lead cups were used to drink ale or whisky. The combination would sometimes knock
the imbibers out for a couple of days. I'mbibers 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 ! ! !
 

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Comments
  • Comment #1 (Posted by shelly)

    good article!
     
  • Comment #2 (Posted by Rachel)

    An incredible amount of wrong information here.
     
  • Comment #3 (Posted by Annie Justannie)

    Cool! Never heard of the May Bath/June Wedding connection, but otherwise, nice seeing so many of these historical refeerences in one source. Thanks
     
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