Is this true???

[barrk]

Life in the 1500's. This is really interesting (andTRUE!!)
Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath in May
and were still smelling pretty good by June. However, they were starting to
smell, so brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the b.o.

>>~**~>$<~**~**~>$<~**~**~>$<~**~**~>$<~**~**~>$<~**~**~>$<~**
> >
Baths equaled a big tub filled with hot water. The man of he 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."
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> >
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 pets...dogs, cats
and other small animals, mice, rats, 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 really mess
up your nice clean bed. So, they found if they made beds with big posts and
hung a sheet over the top, it addressed that problem. Hence those beautiful
big 4 poster beds with canopies. I wonder if this is where we get the
saying. Good night and don't let the bed bugs bite.
**~>$<~**~**~>$<~**~**~>$<~**~**~>$<~**~**~>$<~**~**~>$<~**~
> >
The floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something other than dirt, hence
the saying "dirt poor." The wealthy had slate floors which would get
slippery in the winter when wet. So they spread thresh 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 at the entry way, hence a "thresh hold."
~**~>$<~**~**~>$<~**~**~>$<~**~**~>$<~**~**~>$<~**~**~>$<~**~
> >
They cooked in the kitchen in a big kettle that always
hung over the fire. Every day they lit the fire and
added things to the pot. They mostly ate vegetables
and didn't 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 in there for a
month. Hence the rhyme: "Peas, porridge hot, peas,
porridge cold, peas porridge in the pot nine days
old." >
~**~>$<~**~**~>$<~**~**~>$<~**~**~>$<~**~**~>$<~**~**~>$<~**~
> >>
Sometimes they could obtain pork and would feel really
special when that happened. When company came over,
they would bring out some bacon and hang it to show it
off. It was a sign of wealth and that a man could
really "bring home the bacon." They would cut off a
little to share with guests and would all sit around
and > >> > "chew the fat." > >
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> >
Those with money had plates made of pewter. Food with a high acid content
caused some of the lead to leach onto the food. This happened most often
with tomatoes, so they stopped eating tomatoes for 400 years.
>*~>$<~**~**~>$<~**~**~>$<~**~**~>$<~**~**~>$<~**~**~>$<~**~
>
Most people didn't have pewter plates, but had trenchers - a piece of wood
with the middle scooped out like a bowl. Trenchers were never washed and a
lot of times worms got into the wood. After eating off wormy trenchers, they
would get "trench mouth."
*~>$<~**~**~>$<~**~**~>$<~**~**~>$<~**~**~>$<~**~ > >
Bread was divided according to status. Workers got the burnt bottom of the
loaf, the family got the middle, and guests got the top, or the "upper
crust."
*~**~>$<~**~**~>$<~**~**~>$<~**~**~>$<~**~**~>$<~**~ >

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 they started running out of places to bury
people. So, they would dig up coffins and would take their bones to a house
and re-use the grave. In reopening these coffins, one 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 their wrist
and 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 to listen for
the bell. Hence on the "graveyard shift" they would know that someone was
"saved by the bell" or he was a "dead ringer."

[paulw]

Hmmmm. Maybe.

P.

"Those with money had plates made of pewter. Food with a
high acid content caused some of the lead to leach onto the
food. This happened most often with tomatoes, so they
stopped eating tomatoes for 400 years"

Ummm...I don't think so. The act of lead poisoning takes
longer than can reasonably be attributed to the lead. The
tomato is related to the belladona family. REAL
poisonous. Tomatoes were not eaten in Italy until the 18th
century.

Theory is, that there was a change in the tomato itself,
making it not poisonous.

Just something I read somewhere. I'm not sure if it's true.

[tumblingdown]

coming in from a different thread...

Dead Ringer is a name for somebody involved with dead people, but it has nothing to do with ringing any bells!


td.

(please lord, help me get over this)

[barrk]

Definitely a sick, sick mind....

[HarryW]

I never liked tomatoes anyway.

[tumblingdown]

i'm not into sprouts myself. i think there Evil.


td.

[paulw]

Wicked broccoli, hmmmm.

Katie is right tho' - you are sick - can't wait for Friday....

P.

Bush has only just been elected and look at the effect already on the US.

[barrk]

Scary isn't it?

[Sophtware]

WHat i know of the term *Dead ringer* is when you would see someone you know that is dead..but you would see someone alive that looked just like the person nthat is dead. and you would say *Now that is a dead ringer*.

[Garkin]

Barrk,

Actually the saying;

I wonder if this is where we get the
saying, Good night and don't let the bed bugs bite.

came from the way matresses were stuffed. They put corn husks in them which was also a living area for 'bed bugs'.



On another note......(Jethro)

You are right about Bush. It is absolutely frightening that what the US has come to......the press hasn't had any good 'news' to report at all. I wonder what they could be doing with all that extra time now that they aren't reporting about selling nuclear secrets to communist nations, illicit campaign contributions being solicited by the president and vice president (on our nickel!), pizza delivery by BJ La'winky-ski, or his complete perjury........

[Juan Carlos Rey]

Tomato is natural from America, so it went into Europe in the XV century.

It is said that people cooking accid foods in aluminum pans (mainly tomatoes but also vineager, lemon) are more prune to Alzheimer due to aluminum beind dissolved and getting into the brain.