Did you ever Wonder....

Where certain sayings come from?The other day I was sent an email that I thought you might enjoy (just for a change of pace and well its vintage in origin isnt it?So here we go....

                                                        Where did the saying Piss Poor come from?

 They used to use urine to tan animal skins,so families used to pee in a pot and then once a day it was taken and 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 couldnt even afford to buy a pot ....they didnt 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 temprature isnt 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 smelled pretty good by June.However,since they ae starting to smell.....Brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the body Odour (and how I hate whiffing other peoples  B.O)

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,then the women and finally the  baby.Hence the saying "Dont throw the baby out with the Bath water!"

                          

I coulda used a baby here but thought  Clint  was much better

     Houses had thatched roofs-thick straw -piled high,with no wood underneath it was the only place for animals Houses had thatched roofs-thick straw-piled high, with nowood 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 of the roof....Hence the saying "its 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 droppingscould mess up your nice clean bed.Hence a bed with bog posts and a sheet hung over the top afforded protection.Thats 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 added more thresg until,when you opened the door,it would all start slipping outside.A piece of wood was placed in the entrance-way.Hence: a threshold.

 

Hard to find a decent looking threshold You try lol

                                                         
                              Are you still with me?Enjoying this education I hope.I know I did.

                               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 didnt not get much meat.They would eat the stew for dinner,leaving leftovers in the pot to get cold overnighta and then start over the next day.Sometmes stew had food in it that had been there for quite awhile.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.Fod with high acid content some of the lead to leach onto the food,causing lead poisening 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 the guests got the top,or upper crust.


                                              
                          Lead cups were used to drink ale or whisky.The combination would sometimes knock the imibibers out for a couple of days.   Someone walking along the road would take them for dad and prepae 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 term of holding the wake.
                                               
                                           
                           England is old and small and the local folks started rinning out of places to bury people.So they would dig up coffins and would taje 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 th egraveyard 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?

 Hope you enjoyed that.

Nelly xxx

                           ps sorry about the dodgy look of this post I have been having net problems and have spent ages trying to fix the writing and have now given up.