Clean Facts

16th Century Facts
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 starting to smell, so brides carried a
bouquet of flowers to hide the body odor. 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, rats, and 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 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 entry way__hence, a "thresh hold,"
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 a
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.
Most people did not have pewter plates, but had trenchers,
a piece of wood with the middle scooped out like a bowl.
Often, trenchers were made from stale bread which
was so old and hard that they could use them for
quite some time. Trenchers were never washed and a lot of
times worms and mold got into the wood and old bread.
After eating off wormy moldy trenchers, one would get "trench
mouth," 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 whiskey. 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 they started running out
of places to bury people. So they would dig up coffins and take the
bones to a "bone-house" and reuse the grave. When reopening these
coffins, one out of 25 coffins were found to have scratch marks on
the inside, so they realized that 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."


<font color=red>Remember...</font color=red><font color=blue>You get what you pay for. All advice here is free.</font color=blue>

That's really cool. Link to more?

<font color=red>God</font color=red> <font color=blue>Bless</font color=blue> <font color=red>America!</font color=red>

I'd be even more impressed if you didn't just rip this entirely from chain spam...<A HREF="http://www.snopes2.com/language/phrases/1500.htm" target="_new">or if it had some truth to it</A>.



<b>1.4 Ghz AMD T-Bird underclocked to 1 Ghz...just to be safe!</b>

WTF is going on with these conflicting versions.
Both cool reading, however.

Are we really ready for "contact" ?

At least the explanation takes away some of the stupidity.

Are we really ready for "contact" ?

I don't know what the conflict is but nobody has ever successfully documented facts/sources concerning
some of the time honored sayings/phrases. My friend is working toward a doctorate degree in psychology
and this is a small part of his thesis. He has said a lot of sayings have naturally changed through the
years and is very difficult to find beginnings for sources. I think he ought to drop it for his paper
and spend his time doing it as a hobby later. I don't know how you can source a saying when most of them
are used mainly in oral speech.


<font color=red>Remember...</font color=red><font color=blue>You get what you pay for. All advice here is free.</font color=blue>

He has certainly got one. At least he is young, so he has plenty of time.

<font color=red>Remember...</font color=red><font color=blue>You get what you pay for. All advice here is free.</font color=blue>

Very interesting. I love this stuff.

<font color=red>Remember...</font color=red><font color=blue>You get what you pay for. All advice here is free.</font color=blue>

I didn't much like it when I had to study it. Now I crave it.

<font color=red>Remember...</font color=red><font color=blue>You get what you pay for. All advice here is free.</font color=blue>

Is it nasty? I still haven't looked

<font color=red>God</font color=red> <font color=blue>Bless</font color=blue> <font color=red>America!</font color=red>

LoL...you can't see a whole lot other than the blood and well...the arm. Poor sap.

If i'm going to talk to myself may as well tell myself i'm a twit. Twit!

Are we really ready for "contact" ?

That would suck just a bit.

<b><font color=green>Lizards</b></font color=green> for <b>THGC</b> Mascot!!!

How about this one?

"The whole nine yards"

It come from WWII, when the ammo belts for aircraft machine guns were nine yards long. Hence giving it "the whole nine yards".

Home at last!

Martin, MI

yep. sure you did.

<font color=purple><b>Techie2001</font color=purple></b>
<i>(Crazy Alien)</i>
If it ain't broke, Don't fix it.

I neva said I did.

interesting though.

<font color=purple><b>Techie2001</font color=purple></b>
<i>(Crazy Alien)</i>
If it ain't broke, Don't fix it.

sit.

<font color=purple><b>Techie2001</font color=purple></b>
<i>(Crazy Alien)</i>
If it ain't broke, Don't fix it.

bits

<font color=purple><b>Techie2001</font color=purple></b>
<i>(Crazy Alien)</i>
If it ain't broke, Don't fix it.

buts

<font color=purple><b>Techie2001</font color=purple></b>
<i>(Crazy Alien)</i>
If it ain't broke, Don't fix it.

straps.

<font color=purple><b>Techie2001</font color=purple></b>
<i>(Crazy Alien)</i>
If it ain't broke, Don't fix it.

holes

<font color=purple><b>Techie2001</font color=purple></b>
<i>(Crazy Alien)</i>
If it ain't broke, Don't fix it.

Ah, the key is though that you had to use all of your ammo on a single target, thus giving it "the whole nine yards".

<font color=orange>Quarter</font color=orange> <font color=blue>Pounder</font color=blue> <font color=orange>Inside</font color=orange>