A little knowledge!!!

K

Kirrie2001

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HISTORY LESSONS


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 1500's.

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 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 with a sheet hanging over the top to afford 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 thatwould 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, 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 eat much meat. They would eat the stew for dinner, leaving leftovers in the pot to get coldovernight 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 allsit 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 ofthe 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 to 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 outof 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... (and whoever said History was boring?)
 
shoulda added the invention of soup by the french...

to cover up the rancid taste of seafood that was days old by the time it was brought inland to the cities there :)
 
Very interesting. Some of it seems a bit far fetched though.

I feel obligated to ask for a source, so that I may follow up on some of the info.

Good read though
 
Originally posted by RazerBack
Damn! Where did you learn this stuff?
\

Dang doesn't anyone besides me relieze how old Kirrie is????:p

Sorry Kirrie - I just couldn't resist - lots of interesting information there!
 
I am not sure what a highlander is - I was thinknig more along the lines of caveman!:cool:
 
Originally posted by damnyank
I am not sure what a highlander is - I was thinknig more along the lines of caveman!:cool:

I always wondered where Captain Caveman went and now I know :D
 
Originally posted by damnyank
I am not sure what a highlander is
You haven't seem Highlander? Shame on you. :p Go see it right now! :D
 
Yes. Watch highlander. But just the original movie with Christopher Lambert. The sequels and t.v. shows that followed it ruined a perfectly good cult movie IMO.

Interesting info up top though.
 
Which brings me to curry. Everone associates it with being an Asian thing, but NO - it was the poor old brittish squaddie who had to carry all he needed when on extended patrols, including his food. As you can imagine, his meat (after a couple of weeks in the Indian climate) became rancid - so he always carried herbs & peppers to add when cooking, to ease the taste & smell.

So, next time you are tucking in to a good "hot 'un" remember we not only went to hot far away places, met strange people and killed them, we invented curry - I THANK YOU
 
As a Dutchmen, I think you all should know....

NO, we do not still walk on wooden shoes, NO, we don't wear the funny clothing, NO, not everyone here is a drug addict, NO, not everyone like tulips....:confused:

I've got the strange feeling my post is completely irrelevant.:p :p
 
Okay now, everyone all together........

When its spring again,
I'll sing again,
Tulips from Amsterdam................
 

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Also Hi EP and people. I found this place again while looking through a oooollllllldddd backup. I have filled over 10TB and was looking at my collection of antiques. Any bids on the 500Mhz Win 95 fix?
Any of the SP crew still out there?
Xie wrote on Electronic Punk's profile.
Impressed you have kept this alive this long EP! So many sites have come and gone. :(

Just did some crude math and I apparently joined almost 18yrs ago, how is that possible???
hello peeps... is been some time since i last came here.
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Rest in peace my friend, been trying to find you and finally did in the worst way imaginable.

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