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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.
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 clean water, then the sons, then all the other
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 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 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 t heir 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 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 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
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 the upper
crust.
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.
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. This is not to be confused
with "Dead ringer", an idiom in English denoting a person or thing that
closely resembles another which dates back to the 19th century. This was
exemplified in the film by that name which starred Bette Davis.
Aren't you grateful you live now?
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