Urine was used to tan animal skins and families would all urinate in a pot and once a day the urine was taken and sold to the tannery - if you had to do this to survive you were "Piss Poor!"
Even worse were the really poor who could not afford to buy a pot and therefore "didn't have a pot to piss in!" and were the lowest of the low.
The next time you wash your hands and complain about the water temperature not being how you prefer it, think on how things used to be.
Even worse were the really poor who could not afford to buy a pot and therefore "didn't have a pot to piss in!" and were the lowest of the low.
The next time you wash your hands and complain about the water temperature not being how you prefer it, think on how things used to be.
Here are 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. However, since they were starting to smell, brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide body odor, hence the custom today of carrying a bouquet when getting married!
Baths were in a big tub filled with hot water. The man of the house had the privilege of the clean water, then all the other sons and men, then the women and finally the children. Last of all were the babies, by then the water was so dirty you could actually lose someone in it, inspiring the saying, "Don't throw the baby out with the bath water!"
Houses had thatched roofs of thick straw piled high with no wood underneath. The roof was the only place for animals to get warm and cats and other small animals (mice, bugs and so on) lived in the roof. When it rained and became slippery, sometimes the animals would slip and fall off the roof creating the saying, "It's raining cats and dogs!"
There was no buffer to stop things falling into the house. This posed a problem in the bedroom where bugs and other droppings could fall on a nice clean bed. Creating the design idea for a bed with big posts and a sheet hung over the top that provided protection and is how canopy beds came to be!
Floors were of dirt, only the wealthy had other alternatives. The saying, "Dirt poor" follows that happenstance. The wealthy had slate floors that became slippery in winter when wet and so thresh (straw) was spread on the floor to help keep sure footing. As the winter wore on, they added more thresh until when one opened the door, thresh would start slipping outdoors, a piece of wood was placed in the entrance-way. Hence: a thresh hold!
In those days, folks cooked in the kitchen with a big kettle hung over the fire and every day they lit the fire and added food items to the pot. People ate mostly vegetables and rarely meat. Stew was eaten 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, creating the rhyme: peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge in the pot nine days old!
Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath in May and still smelled pretty good by June. However, since they were starting to smell, brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide body odor, hence the custom today of carrying a bouquet when getting married!
Baths were in a big tub filled with hot water. The man of the house had the privilege of the clean water, then all the other sons and men, then the women and finally the children. Last of all were the babies, by then the water was so dirty you could actually lose someone in it, inspiring the saying, "Don't throw the baby out with the bath water!"
Houses had thatched roofs of thick straw piled high with no wood underneath. The roof was the only place for animals to get warm and cats and other small animals (mice, bugs and so on) lived in the roof. When it rained and became slippery, sometimes the animals would slip and fall off the roof creating the saying, "It's raining cats and dogs!"
There was no buffer to stop things falling into the house. This posed a problem in the bedroom where bugs and other droppings could fall on a nice clean bed. Creating the design idea for a bed with big posts and a sheet hung over the top that provided protection and is how canopy beds came to be!
Floors were of dirt, only the wealthy had other alternatives. The saying, "Dirt poor" follows that happenstance. The wealthy had slate floors that became slippery in winter when wet and so thresh (straw) was spread on the floor to help keep sure footing. As the winter wore on, they added more thresh until when one opened the door, thresh would start slipping outdoors, a piece of wood was placed in the entrance-way. Hence: a thresh hold!
In those days, folks cooked in the kitchen with a big kettle hung over the fire and every day they lit the fire and added food items to the pot. People ate mostly vegetables and rarely meat. Stew was eaten 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, creating the rhyme: peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge in the pot nine days old!
Sometimes they could obtain pork which was quite special. When visitors came by, hosts would hang their bacon to show off. It was a sign of wealth that a man could, "bring home the bacon!" and they would cut off a piece to share with guests and all sat around to chew the fat!
Those with money had plates of pewter and food with high acid content caused the lead to leach into the food causing poisoning death. This happened most often with tomatoes and 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, the middle and guests, the top or upper crust!
Lead cups were used to drink ale or whisky and the combination sometimes knocked imbibers out for days. Someone walking along the road would mistake a person for dead and prepare them for burial. Laid out on the kitchen table for a couple of days, family members gathered around to eat, drink and wait to see if they would awaken, beginning the custom of holding a wake!
England is an old, relatively small country and locals began running out of places to bury people. They would dig up coffins and take the bones to a bone-house and re-use the grave. When reopening these coffins, 1 in 25 coffins were found to have scratch marks on the inside, realizing they had been burying people alive a practice began of tying a string on the wrist of the corpse, leading it from inside the coffin and up through the ground and finally tied to a bell. Someone would sit out in the graveyard all night - the graveyard shift - to listen for the bell and thus someone could be saved by the bell or was considered a dead ringer!
Those with money had plates of pewter and food with high acid content caused the lead to leach into the food causing poisoning death. This happened most often with tomatoes and 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, the middle and guests, the top or upper crust!
Lead cups were used to drink ale or whisky and the combination sometimes knocked imbibers out for days. Someone walking along the road would mistake a person for dead and prepare them for burial. Laid out on the kitchen table for a couple of days, family members gathered around to eat, drink and wait to see if they would awaken, beginning the custom of holding a wake!
England is an old, relatively small country and locals began running out of places to bury people. They would dig up coffins and take the bones to a bone-house and re-use the grave. When reopening these coffins, 1 in 25 coffins were found to have scratch marks on the inside, realizing they had been burying people alive a practice began of tying a string on the wrist of the corpse, leading it from inside the coffin and up through the ground and finally tied to a bell. Someone would sit out in the graveyard all night - the graveyard shift - to listen for the bell and thus someone could be saved by the bell or was considered a dead ringer!
And that's the truth....now, who said history was boring.
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