[ROOFCUTTER]

History lesson:

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.
However, they were startin 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. This 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 entranceway. 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. 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 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."
* * * * * *
And that's the truth...
Now , whoever said that History was boring ! ! ! ! !

Amy

I have no idea who Amy is...
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Only in America......do they have drive-up ATM machines with Braille lettering.

[Stevo]

This was already posted before, but it's still interestinf I guess.
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[sharkbyte]

[Violent Pacifist]

I seriously doubt some of that stuff is true. Was water so precious to come by, or time so precious, that they couldn't just douse themselves in some water? Or just go bathe in a small creek or river for a few minutes? Could they not just take a bath before something so important as their wedding?

Also, wouldn't it be easier and less expensive to just have some kind of support under the roof? Or a canopy throughout the wole house? It must be awfully expensive and time consuming (which by this person's explanation of things was extremely precious) to replace parts of the roof every time it rained.

Some things seem likely, some things I know are true (the saved by the bell thing mainly), but a lot of that just seems stupid.
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