Life in the 1500s09:13 Nov 02 2009
Times Read: 709
As pointed out by Imagesinwords, what follows is a HOAX that fooled me.
http://www.snopes.com/language/phrases/1500.asp
* 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 1500s:
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 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 entranceway. Hence the saying a thresh hold.
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 ! ! !
COMMENTS
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QueenDethklok
01:53 Nov 03 2009
I heard that one years ago.. and true story.
Lovise
04:35 Nov 17 2009
What kind of man devotes himself to history? To specters of faded kings. To dry bones resting in graves of yellowed paper. To past paradise that can never be regained? What sort of dust flows through those veins, pumping to a heart that only comes alive for dead things? How can mirages he’s never beheld stir his cells to such a fever pitch? What living flesh could move him as much?
Even if, somehow, someone did touch him deeply, would he make that person into history? Would he shower them with only things that the past could love? Would he ever stay in the present long enough to enjoy that person? Would that person enjoy him? To be his Venus in furs someone that could never be possessed? To be his toy-someone that is only possessed and never left unbroken?
As for every historical question there are endless sources, much of which are hipocraphal and few of which are truly contemporary of the time. This provides endless scope for creative little theses and versions of truth written by suppressed academic bigwigs who spend their time deciphering the riddles of the past in the hope that the human race will draw from this some sense of wisdom for the future. This, to the average observer might seem like a jolly good idea if it weren’t for the fact that the human race is perpetually incapable of learning from their numerous and varied mistakes.
And so this self perpetuating cycle continues. Events happen, details and evidence released slowly and steadily over the course of fifty years providing material for Tragedy, Romance and eventually Comedy. By the time all material is available for scrutiny Historians are obliged to sift through various models of events created by the ignorance and emotionless void of hindsight.
Thus the human condition is aptly designed to disguise its own ineffectiveness. We bury truth under layers of fact and fiction until the erosion of time make them one and the same. And so the truth of history becomes something only discernable to the stupendously learned with far too much time on their hands; paid to hoard information laid by others and then think of an entirely new version of their own, thus burying the fact a little deeper. Historiographical debates, though generally well thought of, are only a means of disguising the problem.
It is little wonder, therefore, that modern man ignores its past so completely. For what is our past?
As with many things the reality of the answer would frighten and disgust far beyond the limits of the human condition. We are a violent race, which continually develops new and efficient methods of killing en masse, so deluding itself that this time it will be different.
This is correct, it will be worse.
It does have a scientific approach to it, or at least, it should. It depends on the author. Some are philosophical in their road of truth. Some are just plain boring. History is the abundance of great knowledge told in a way that will capture the imagination. Sometimes a historian will have to explain the metaphysical pursuits of a person or a civilization.
I care more about the books than the classes. The classes are always decided by the teacher for it is the teacher who makes it fun. The same is for any other subject. History is fun....Depending on those who teach it.
Sorry for such a long rambling and stuff. It was to hard to resist to say something....
Lovise
04:37 Nov 17 2009
Grr.....I wish I could spell checked first, I think I missed a word...
LibidinousLuke
06:31 Nov 17 2009
Lovise, you are amazing.
PandorasBx
09:52 Nov 24 2009
A Hoax?
floridagirl8669
22:22 Nov 27 2009
Wow! Very interesting! I have always loved the aspects of History!
Bloodmother
02:44 Dec 02 2009
Which part is the hoax?
marilyn
06:31 Jan 29 2010
I FEEL SO CLOSE TO YOU AND STILL HAVE NO I DEAR WHY THIS IS SO DEEPLY THAT I AM SO BREATHE AS I WAS READING YOURS I FELT THAT WE WHERE CLOSE IN SOME WAY AND THE MORE I WAS TAKEN BY YOU LOVE FOREVERMARILYN.