[nukkad] interesting info

["Hiroo Pardasani" <>]

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It often happens that those of whom we speak least on earth are best 
known in heaven. -Nicolas Caussin, preacher and moralist (1583-1651)
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Next time you're washing your hands and 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 odour.

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 dogs,
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 -- and it would be "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 really mess
up your nice clean bed. 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 their footing.
As the winter wore on, they kept adding more thresh until when you opened
the door it would all start slipping outside. A piece of wood was placed in
the entranceway - a "thresh hold."

     In those 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 the stew had food in it that had been
there for quite awhile. 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 a high acid
con tent caused some of the lead to leach onto the food, causing lead
poisoning and death. This happened most often with tomatoes, so for the next
400 years or so, tomatoes were considered poisonous.

     Most people did not have pewter plates, but had trenchers, a piece of
wood with the middle scooped out like a bowl. Often trenchers were made from
stale bread which was so old and hard that they could be used for quite some
time. Trenchers were never washed and a lot of times worms and mold got into
the wood and old bread. After eating off wormy, moldy trenchers, one would
get "trench mouth."

     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 whiskey. The combination would
sometimes knock them 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 thought 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. . . (who ever said that History was boring)?



Best Wishes.
Have a Nice Day.
Hiroo Pardasani
Modern Publicity Service




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