Don't Know Much About History or Where Did That Saying Come From?

 And Etsy




They used to use urine to tan animal skins, so families
used to all pee in a pot & then once a day it was taken &
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 couldn't
even afford to buy a pot......they "didn't have a pot to
piss in."  They were the lowest of the low.

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.

  Wedding bouquet of clay flowers

                                       by simplybybex on Etsy
 
Most people got married in June because they took their
yearly bath in May, and they still smelled pretty good by
June.. However, since they were starting to smell,
brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the body odor,
hence the custom today of carrying a bouquet when getting
married.

 Wash tub available from

                                      honeyandbee on Etsy

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!"

 Print by 3crows on Etsy

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 really mess with your 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.

 Dollhouse miniature bed
                                      by huesdesign on Etsy

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
entrance way, hence, a thresh hold.

(Getting quite an education, aren't you?)

 Peas Porridge Hot painting by
                                       hyfunda on Etsy

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

 Bacon soap strips by
                                    Michellesthisandthat on Etsy

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.

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.

 Three tomato plants available
                                      on Etsy from JBFFarms
                                    
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.

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.

 St. Mary's Church, Goudhurst
                                      print by boodlyhead on Etsy
                                      
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.

How's that for some fun history? School's out. Have a fun
weekend wherever you are!

 The I Want to Have Fun Bowtie
                                      is available on Etsy from
                                      AnnaLisaTitolo