History in modern language...

[Urchurdan]

Did you ever wonder how some of the words/sayings we use in normal everyday language came about? Here is the answer to a few of them..

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:

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 "didnt have a pot to piss in" and were the lowest of the low.

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 n ice 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.

Britain 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...

[Bugbear]

I'm not too sure about some of those... From where did that list come?

[sydnie7]

Well, you can find that same list at Snopes.com. . . where they debunk the whole thing. . . all it's missing is the infamous "go sip" assertation!

Always check Snopes first!

[Phil]

Hence the saying "It's raining cats and dogs."

Did you step in a "poodle"?

[macwilkin]

Well, you can find that same list at Snopes.com. . . where they debunk the whole thing. . . all it's missing is the infamous "go sip" assertation!

Always check Snopes first!

The reference librarian and history instructor thanks you, sydine!



T.

[haukehaien]

Did you ever wonder how some of the words/sayings we use in normal everyday language came about? Here is the answer to a few of them..

Not really. This is called "Netymology" and is generally, if not always, false. And the "Life in the 1500s" is one of the worst examples.

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:

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 "didnt have a pot to piss in" and were the lowest of the low.

Certainly those who had no chamber pot were poor, and that's the origin of that phrase. "Piss Poor", however, merely marks the use of "Piss" as an intensifier, and dates from around the time of WWII. http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=piss

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.

People in the 1500s may not have taken baths in the sense of sitting in a tub - few people had a tub that big, and it would be quite difficult to fill with heated water - but they did wash regularly. A Latin quote from medieval France sums it up "Venari, ludere, lavari, bibere; Hoc est vivere!" (To hunt, to play, to wash, to drink - this is living!" Charlemagne bathed every morning (in a pool of water, winter or summer) and invited his ministers to bathe with him. His biographer Einhard said "He took delight in steam-baths at the thermal springs, and loved to exercise himself in the water whenever he could. He was an extremely strong swimmer and in this sport no-one could surpass him. It was for this reason he built his palace at Aachen and remained continuously in residence there during the last years of his life and indeed until the moment of his death. He would invite not only his sons to bathe with him, but his nobles and friends as well, occassionally [sic] even a crowd of his attendants and bodyguards, so that sometimes a hundred men or more would be in the water together." http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/einhard.html

The bridal bouquet wasn't to cover smells; throughout recorded history flowers have symbolized fertility and beauty. (http://special.lib.gla.ac.uk/exhibns/month/feb2000.html) By medieval times, specific flowers had specific meanings and could be used to represent them in the bouquet.

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!"

Mostly dealt with above; basins for washing babies were small just like today. The expression in question is German and was first used in English in the 1800s by Thomas Carlyle in an essay. In any case, it was a satirical expression, not representing a real problem. http://www.deproverbio.com/DPjournal/DP,1,1,95/BABY.html

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."

No. For one thing, thatch is not "straw piled high, with no wood underneath" as any thatcher will tell you. It is, in fact, a tightly woven and sewn mat of reeds or wheat straw (reeds were often preferred for having better water-shedding capabilities). You might be able to hide a spear or something very small in the thatch, there's simply no place for a cat or dog to live. (Look at some pictures online, you'll see what I mean.) The expression itself dates from the 1600s (although see this: http://blog.oup.com/2007/03/raining_cats_an/ ) and has nothing to do with animals slipping off the roof.

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 n ice 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.

Again, no. Canopy beds began to be used in the 13th century by the nobility. In those days, the nobility (along with many of their servants) slept in the great hall of the castle; the canopy, like the canopy over the lord's and lady's chairs, marked them as nobles, superior to the common oiks. Canopies also provided warmth and privacy. As time went on, the wealthier commoners and lower nobility began to also use canopy beds. Thus, by the 1500s, they were quite common among almost everyone except the poor, who actually did have things dropping from the ceilings onto them. (I've slept in thatched huts in Africa; the mosquito net is very nice for keeping lizards and insects from landing on you during the night. While it's possible that some peasants did rig some sort of canopy to prevent this from happening, the canopy bed did not originate there. http://historymedren.about.com/od/da...a/bod_beds.htm

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.

"Dirt poor" dates from the 1800s and is an American expression, not a British one. "Thresh" is (and, with one exception always has been) a verb in English; (the exception refers to a threshing tool). "Threshhold" has been in use since long before the 1500s and comes from a German root meaning "to tread on" or "to walk on" - not as picturesque, but much more realistic. http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=threshold

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.

No, people in the middle ages didn't cook this way. (http://www.medievalcookery.com/)

As has been pointed out Snopes and others (http://www.traditioninaction.org/His...ths1500s.shtml) have debunked this pretty well; I would add that when you see an etymology with no source, then don't believe it. Check up on things and see for yourself.

[Urchurdan]

Och guys, it was only a bit of fun I got emailed over from an American pal, I know it isn't true, you know it isn't true, but what a pity it isn't - it makes great reading.......Thanks for the real origins Haukehaien...

[Heming]

If memory serves me right, this exact same list was posted not six months ago, resulting in the exact same discussion...

[Bugbear]

Hmmm, these seem to be the books I have on Medieval life:
The Medieval Vision: Essays In History And Perception by Carolly Erickson, 1976
The Medieval Experience by Francis Oakley, 1974
I Haven't read those yet, so I might look them over. I think I did read this one, and if I remember correctly, it does discuss the bathing practices and so on of Medieval people.
Life In A Medieval Castle by Joseph Gies and Frances Gies, 1974.

I'll have to look at it again.

[piperdbh]

My mother's family has a language all our own, and it's funny to hear others try to figure out the etymology of some of our words. Most of them were made up by my grandfather, with no reason other than he liked the sound of the syllables.