[PLUG-TALK] Origin of expressions

[Denis Heidtmann]

This is esp. for John.
We received a mailing which had the following.  I wonder if it is at all
accurate.

DID YOU KNOW ! ! !
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.. 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 thresh hold.
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.
The country 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.