Life In The 1500's

[evelyn]

My friend sent me this so thought I would share

 

 

LIFE IN THE 1500s was very interesting! The next time you are washing your hands and complain because the watertemperature isn't just how you like it, think about how things used to be.Here are some facts about the 1500's: These are interesting... Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath inMay, and still smelled pretty good by June. However, they were starting tosmell, so brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the body odour.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 househad the privilege of the nice clean water, then all the other sons andmen, then the women and finally the children Last of all the babies. Bythen the water was so dirty you could actually lose someone in it. Hencethe 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 othersmall animals (mice, bugs) lived in the roof. When it rained it becameslippery and some times the animals would slip and off the roof. Hence thesaying "It's raining cats and dogs."

There was nothing to stop things from falling into the house. This posed areal problem in the bedroom where bugs and other droppings could mess upyour nice clean bed. Hence, a bed with big posts and a sheet hung over thetop afforded some protection. That's how canopy beds came into existence.

The floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something other than dirt. Hencethe saying "dirt poor." The wealthy had slate floors that would getslippery in the winter when wet, so they spread thresh (straw) on floor tohelp keep their footing. As the winter wore on, they added more thresh until when you opened the door it would all start slipping outside. Apiece 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 coldovernight and then start over the next day. Sometimes stew had food in itthat had been there for quite a while. Hence the rhyme, "Peas porridgehot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge in the pot nine days old."

Sometimes they could obtain pork, which made them feel quite special. Whenvisitors came over, they would hang up their bacon to show off It was asign of wealth that a man could "bring home the bacon." They would cut offa 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 yearsor so, tomatoes were considered poisonous.

Bread was divided according to status. Workers got the burnt bottom of theloaf, the family got the middle, and guests got the top, or "upper crust."

Lead cups were used to drink ale or whisky. The combination wouldsometimes knock the imbibers out for a couple of days. Someone walkingalong the road would take them for dead and prepare them for burial. Theywere 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 wakeup. 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 of25 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." And that's the truth... Now, whoever said that History was boring ! ! !

[Tarroo Ushtey]

Nice one! Don't know if it's true like but it certainly sounds interesting.

[Albert Tatlock]

I like life in the 1500's. Working from home (mostly) that's when I usually take my break, and enjoy a cup of coffee, a fag and Countdown.

[Skeddan]

Entertaining, but I think it was probably sent on 01.04.08.

 

The string in coffins thing happened in Victorian times (an inspiration for Bram Stoker). The sharing the loaf with 'upper crust' - well they didn't share their bread and bakers didn't burn the bottom. Canopy beds were for the rich - whose houses did have good ceilings. Cats and dogs snuggling up together in the thatched roof - I guess they built a special way for them to get up there - which is where catwalk comes from. Raining cats and dogs was such a problem that they'd try and get the dogs down from the thatched roof, which is where 'pulling your leg' comes from.

[Mission]

This was doing the rounds before 1st April this year to be fair.

[Skeddan]

Just shows that foolishness is year round on the Internet.

 

It could possibly be quite entertaining to debunk this item by item, but I can be bothered, but here's a start:

 

The wealthy had slate floors that would getslippery in the winter when wet, so they spread thresh (straw) on floor tohelp keep their footing. As the winter wore on, they added more thresh until when you opened the door it would all start slipping outside. Apiece of wood was placed in the entranceway.Hence the saying a "thresh hold."

Compare to etymology

 

http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search...searchmode=none

 

O.E. þrescold, þærscwold, þerxold "doorsill, point of entering," first element related to O.E. þrescan (see thresh), with its original sense of "tread, trample." Second element of unknown origin and much transformed in all the Gmc. languages; in Eng. it probably has been altered to conform to hold, but the oft-repeated story that the threshold was a barrier placed at the doorway to hold the chaff flooring in the room is mere folk etymology. Cognates include O.N. þreskjoldr, Swed. tröskel, O.H.G. driscufli, Ger. dial. drischaufel.

[Tris]

Some of my favorites:

 

2111 - People become robots.

 

2125 - In Hungry the signals from Space are received. (People will be reminded of Vanga again)

 

No sh1t sherlock, that Vanga told you that all this would happen!

 

2154 - Animals become half-humans.

 

I guess anyone knew this would happen but personally, I would have suggested the 2140's in fairness but then I'm not Vanga

[Bananaman]

but then I'm not Vanga

 

That's easy to say Mish mate - Vanga was a bird. You're not. Unless you're Mother Shipton. Well known for being able to wee standing up!

 

 

 

I'll petrify that sucker!