DID YOU KNOW YOU NEEDED A TUNEUP?

      

 

Us  older  people need to learn  something new every day

 

Just  to keep the grey matter tuned up.

 

Below are a few facts to help you tune up.

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Where  did "Piss Poor" come from? Interesting Story.

 

They  used to use urine to tan animal skins, so families used to all pee in a pot.

 

And  then once it was full it was taken and 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" and were

the lowest of the low.

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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 1500's

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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.

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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!"

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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."

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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.

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The floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something other than dirt.

 

Hence  the saying, "Dirt poor."

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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 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 threshold.

 

 

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."

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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."

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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.

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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."

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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; "holding a wake."

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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."

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And that's the truth.

 

Now,  whoever said history was boring!!!

 

 

Smile,  it gives your face something to do!