cool information (at least in my oppinion)

Disclaimer: Someone sent me this through e-mail. Actually i have no idea if there is an ounce of truth in it. However it sure makes a good read..

LIFE In the 1500's
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:

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 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 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 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 entranceway.
Hence the saying a "thresh hold."

(Getting quite an education, aren't you?)

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 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 "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."

And that's the truth ... Now, whoever said that
History was boring?