Some light hearted info before I desert you for the week lol.
1)They used to use urine to tan animal skins so families used to all “pee in a pot then take it to sell to the tannery once a day.If you had to do this to survive,you were “ piss poorâ€.
Some poor people who couldn't afford to buy the pot were considered the lowest of the low because they “didn't have a pot to piss inâ€.
2) Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath in May and they still smelled pretty good in June however since they were starting to smell the brides carried a bouquet of sweet flowers to hide the body odour hence the custom today of carrying a bouquet when getting married.
3)houses had thatched roofs with thick straw piled high and no wood underneath it was the only place for animals to keep warm so all the cats mice bugs etc lived in the roof when it was wet it became slippery and they would fall off hence the saying raining cats and dogs.
This posed a real problem in the bedroom where bugs and other droppings would mess up a clean bed so they made a bed with big posts on the corners and hung a sheet over the top for protection while they slept and that's how “canopy beds†came into existence.
4)the floor was dirt only the wealthy had something other than dirt hence the term “ dirt poor†the wealthy had slate floors which became slippy when wet so they laid straw on the floors to help stop slipping,when you opened the door the piles of straw would all start slipping over the door so they placed a piece of wood in the entrance way hence it became a “ thresh holdâ€.
5)in the old days they cooked in the kitchen with a big kettle that hung over the fire and sometimes they could get a bit of pork that made them seem quite affluent and they would hang up their bacon to show off to visitors,it was a sign of wealth that a man could “ bring home the baconâ€they would all sit round the fire with their guests and cut off a little of it to share round and hence “ chew the fatâ€.
6)bread was divided according to status.workers got the burnt bottom of the loaf,the family got the middle of the loaf and the guests got the top or the “ upper crustâ€
7)in old small villages local folks started running out of places to bury people so they would dig up coffins to reuse the grave.
When opening the coffins they found some had scratch marks on the inside and realised they'd been burying people alive.so they would tie a string in the hand of a corpse, lead it through the ground and tie it to a bell,someone would sit out in the graveyard all night to listen for the Bell,hence “ graveyard shift†thus someone could be “ saved by the bell†or was considered a “ dead ringerâ€.
Who said history was boring
😘Jeanie
