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Language History
ATHOMSON
Member Posts: 3,399 ✭✭
Thought you might find this knowledge enlightening!!!
A home usually did not have a lot of chairs and beds, so a wooden board
was used for sleeping at night, and, on trestles, as a dining table
during the day.
So one could offer "Room and Board", to guests called "Boarders", to
earn a few extra farthings. Thus, you had a "Boarding House".
>
The owner would sit at the head of the table in the only chair --
boarders were on rude benches, hence the owner was the "Chairman of the
Board".
>
The owner would watch that diners kept their hands in sight during
meals, so they could not use weapons concealed beneath the table.
Thus the meal was "Open and Above Board"
>
Few people owned dishes or utensils, so each diner would be given a
piece of flat bread called a trencher, which served as a plate. Those
hungry men who also ate the trencher were called "Trenchermen".
>
Single women kept their hair tightly pinned up in public, until they
were married. Some single women "let their hair down", these were
called "loose women".
The few beds had no springs. Instead, they had ropes stretched
tightly across a frame, on which was placed a straw mattress. These
ropes tended to stretch with use, making for an uncomfortable sagging
bed. So one would re-tighten the ropes to "Sleep Tight".
>
I'll bet you didn't know these tidbits
>
They used to use urine to tan animal skins, so families used to all
pee in a pot & then once a day it was taken & 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" & were
the lowest of the low 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
1500s:
>
Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath in
May, and they still smelled pretty good by June..
( I knew a man who said, " You should take a bath once a year, whether
you needed it or not " John )
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.
>
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 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 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".
>
(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 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"...
>
And that's the truth...Now, whoever said History was boring ! ! !
>
So . . . get out there and educate someone! ~~~ Share these
facts with a friend like I just did! ! !
A home usually did not have a lot of chairs and beds, so a wooden board
was used for sleeping at night, and, on trestles, as a dining table
during the day.
So one could offer "Room and Board", to guests called "Boarders", to
earn a few extra farthings. Thus, you had a "Boarding House".
>
The owner would sit at the head of the table in the only chair --
boarders were on rude benches, hence the owner was the "Chairman of the
Board".
>
The owner would watch that diners kept their hands in sight during
meals, so they could not use weapons concealed beneath the table.
Thus the meal was "Open and Above Board"
>
Few people owned dishes or utensils, so each diner would be given a
piece of flat bread called a trencher, which served as a plate. Those
hungry men who also ate the trencher were called "Trenchermen".
>
Single women kept their hair tightly pinned up in public, until they
were married. Some single women "let their hair down", these were
called "loose women".
The few beds had no springs. Instead, they had ropes stretched
tightly across a frame, on which was placed a straw mattress. These
ropes tended to stretch with use, making for an uncomfortable sagging
bed. So one would re-tighten the ropes to "Sleep Tight".
>
I'll bet you didn't know these tidbits
>
They used to use urine to tan animal skins, so families used to all
pee in a pot & then once a day it was taken & 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" & were
the lowest of the low 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
1500s:
>
Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath in
May, and they still smelled pretty good by June..
( I knew a man who said, " You should take a bath once a year, whether
you needed it or not " John )
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.
>
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 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 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".
>
(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 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"...
>
And that's the truth...Now, whoever said History was boring ! ! !
>
So . . . get out there and educate someone! ~~~ Share these
facts with a friend like I just did! ! !