Joined: 20 Jan 2003 Posts: 11734 Location: enjoying real life
Posted: Jul 17, 2003 12:12 am Post subject: Yet more useless facts
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 still smelled pretty good by June 20. 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 dogs, 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. That posed a
real problem in the bedroom where bugs and other droppings could really 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
entrance way. Hence the saying 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 the 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 and 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 them 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. 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 thought 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". _________________ Laughter is the brush that sweeps away the cobwebs of the heart.
Joined: 13 Jun 2003 Posts: 965 Location: Home...no matter where I am
Posted: Jul 17, 2003 7:14 pm Post subject:
I love useless info like this ...i just soak it all up Thanks peachy!!!
post more useless fact hehehehe _________________ Laughing at our mistakes can lengthen our own life. Laughing at someone else's can shorten it.
Cullen Hightower
Joined: 30 Nov 2002 Posts: 9329 Location: sharing paradise
Posted: Jul 17, 2003 9:53 pm Post subject:
More please! _________________ Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua.
Joined: 03 Nov 2002 Posts: 216 Location: Somewhere between the here and now Íĺ âűáđŕíŕ
Posted: Jul 20, 2003 1:14 pm Post subject:
Much more... *laughing like a mad scientist* Oh Sorry _________________ Everybody is ignorent, only on differnt subjects - Will Rogers
If spelling is my worst flaw... Then I have it pretty good
Joined: 20 Jan 2003 Posts: 11734 Location: enjoying real life
Posted: Jul 20, 2003 1:18 pm Post subject:
I posted a couple of links on the 'cool link' thread, if you are interested. _________________ Laughter is the brush that sweeps away the cobwebs of the heart.
Joined: 19 Oct 2002 Posts: 5946 Location: Elk Glrove, Calif
Posted: Jul 21, 2003 1:53 am Post subject:
I’ve subscribed to Harper’s for years. I always read the index first because I enjoy trivia. This is Harper’s index for June. If you want to read more go to their web site. At the bottom of the index web page you can click to see the previous month’s index, an almost inexhaustible supply of trivia. You can also click to see the sources for the trivia, which is itself another source of trivia. Enjoy!
Joined: 20 Jan 2003 Posts: 11734 Location: enjoying real life
Posted: Aug 24, 2003 10:30 pm Post subject:
A bride stands to the groom’s left at a wedding so that his sword hand would be free. Apparently Anglo-Saxon brides were often kidnapped before a wedding and brawls were common. That’s also why the best man stands with the groom; the tribe’s best warrior was there to help the groom defend the bride.
A charming wedding custom in early Yorkshire, England, involved a plate holding wedding cake. It was thrown out of the window as the bride returned to her parental home after the wedding. If the plate broke, she would enjoy a happy future with her husband. If the plate remained intact, her future was bleak
A law in Illinois prohibits barbers from using their fingers to apply shaving cream to a patron's face.
The U.S. interstate highway system requires that 1 mile in every 5 must be straight. These sections can be used as airstrips in a time of war or other emergencies.
The United States Supreme Court once ruled Federal income tax unconstitutional. Income tax was first imposed during the Civil War as a temporary revenue-raising measure. _________________ Laughter is the brush that sweeps away the cobwebs of the heart.
Joined: 11 Mar 2003 Posts: 1000 Location: On the launch pad.. with a rubber chicken and funny glasses.. looking like Pinback
Posted: Aug 24, 2003 10:34 pm Post subject:
Theres a lot of Bitches and unbreakable plates in blighty in fact there r way 2 many bitches.. and not enough plates _________________ Over-lord of Under-Wire. Planet bob.
There never have been trolls here! and if there was we would hit them with shoes!
Joined: 20 Jan 2003 Posts: 11734 Location: enjoying real life
Posted: Aug 24, 2003 10:37 pm Post subject:
There is meaning behind the wedding custom of “something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue.” The “old” thing was a personal gift from the bride’s mom to make a bond to the bride’s old life. The “new” item symbolized hope for the future and the newly formed family. The “borrowed” item was a gift from a happily married woman that would carry some of the woman’s happiness into the new marriage. The something “blue” came from two sources that had similar meanings. To ancient Romans, maidens wore blue to show fidelity and modesty, and to Christians, blue was linked to the purity of the Virgin Mary
A local ordinance in Atwoodville, Connecticut, prohibits people from playing Scrabble while waiting for a politician to speak _________________ Laughter is the brush that sweeps away the cobwebs of the heart.
Joined: 11 Mar 2003 Posts: 1000 Location: On the launch pad.. with a rubber chicken and funny glasses.. looking like Pinback
Posted: Aug 24, 2003 10:39 pm Post subject:
yeah thats fine if ya ain't married to a f**king stick of wood that don't do nuthin but moan... yadda yadda yadda... _________________ Over-lord of Under-Wire. Planet bob.
There never have been trolls here! and if there was we would hit them with shoes!
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in fact there r way 2 many bitches.. and not enough plates 