Some of this sounds the way Gravis and Reston Peace live today!

Did you know...





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:



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 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 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 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..



And that's the truth...Now, whoever said History was boring ! ! !



Educate someone. Share these facts with a friend

wow thank u 4 that????

Wow, yeah thanks for posting a bunch of interesting things! Too bad they are bullshit.

http://www.classbrain.com/artteensb/publish/article_328.shtml

and

http://www.history-magazine.com/facts.html



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/23/2006 12:05PM by pgens.

Wow I feel a whole lot dumber for having just read that post by I Wish I Was. Who the fuck cares about shit like that?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/27/2006 01:26PM by Schmuck.

.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/18/2011 10:49PM by LanEvo.

I still don't know.