History Lesson ?

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Lons

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Don't know if this is fact or fiction but I found it interesting anyway

HISTORY LESSON

There is an old Hotel/Pub in Marble Arch, London, which used to have a gallows adjacent to it. Prisoners were taken to the gallows, (after a fair trial of course) to be hung.
The horse drawn dray, carting the prisoner, was accompanied by an armed guard, who would stop the dray outside the pub and ask the prisoner if he would like ''ONE LAST DRINK''.
If he said YES, it was referred to as “ONE FOR THE ROAD”
If he declined, that prisoner was “ON THE WAGON”
So there you go. More bleeding history.
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, "water 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 water 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 1500’s:
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 odour.
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. (Getting quite an education, aren't you?)
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, 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 talking 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, thread 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 ! ! !
 
I love this stuff very interesting to me thanks :)

Do your sources have any better explanations for "Send them to Coventry"?

It's thought to have come from the civil war but no one is sure why (that I know of). It was then updated during the blitz as Coventry was devastated by bombing and to go to Coventry to help was a death sentence.
 
chingerspy":3dffk8h2 said:
I love this stuff very interesting to me thanks :)

Do your sources have any better explanations for "Send them to Coventry"?

It's thought to have come from the civil war but no one is sure why (that I know of). It was then updated during the blitz as Coventry was devastated by bombing and to go to Coventry to help was a death sentence.

Dunno

I get hundreds of emails from all over the world, majority of which are rubbish but some really good ones as well.

After my last (Irish) mistake I dare not post the good ones as it's bound to get me kicked off the forum :cry:

Tom K - I agree = probably is but wtf :lol:
 
Lons":29xubmc7 said:
chingerspy":29xubmc7 said:
I love this stuff very interesting to me thanks :)

Do your sources have any better explanations for "Send them to Coventry"?

It's thought to have come from the civil war but no one is sure why (that I know of). It was then updated during the blitz as Coventry was devastated by bombing and to go to Coventry to help was a death sentence.

Dunno

I get hundreds of emails from all over the world, majority of which are rubbish but some really good ones as well.

After my last (Irish) mistake I dare not post the good ones as it's bound to get me kicked off the forum :cry:

Tom K - I agree = probably is but wtf :lol:

Lon, why should you be nervous about posting some jokes or history etc. I said it last time and I will say it again, there was nothing wrong with your thread. Post away mate and lets have somemore history, even if some of them sound like a load of bull$hit :lol:

Cheers

Mike
 
"Lon, why should you be nervous about posting some jokes or history etc. I said it last time and I will say it again, there was nothing wrong with your thread. Post away mate and lets have somemore history, even if some of them sound like a load of bull$hit :lol:

Cheers

Mike"




Not nervous Mike, justtrying to abide by the rules. Much of the stuff I get is a) very risque 2) political 3) racist or like the one above - a bit of bullshit although there are some gems as well.

Don't want to be confrontational really but accept that it's almost impossible not to offend somebody.

S....here's a (mild one)


A slow day in Yorkshire

It's a slow day in a little Yorkshire village .

The rain is tipping down., and the streets are deserted.

Times are tough, everybody is in debt, and everybody lives on credit..

On this particular day a rich tourist is driving through.

He stops at the local inn and lays a £100 on the desk, saying he wants to inspect the rooms upstairs in order
to pick one to spend the night

As soon as the man walks upstairs, the owner grabs the cash and runs next door to pay his debt to the butcher

The butcher takes the £100 and runs down the street to retire his debt to the sheep farmer.

The sheep farmer takes the £100 and heads off to pay his bill at the supplier of feed and fuel.

The guy at the Farmer's Co-op takes the £100 and runs to pay his debt to the local prostitute, who has also been
facing hard times and has had to offer her "services" on credit

The hooker rushes to the hotel and pays her room bill with the hotel owner.

The hotel proprietor then places the £100 back on the counter so the rich traveller will not suspect anything.

At that moment the traveller comes down the stairs, picks up the £100 bill, states that the rooms are not
satisfactory, pockets the money, and leaves.

No one produced anything.

No one earned anything.

However, the whole village is now out of debt and now looks to the future with a lot more optimism.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how the UK Government is conducting business today.



POSTSCRIPT:- No offence intended to the beautiful county of Yorkshire, to any of the trades mentioned and to the government as I wouldn't want to make a political point after all. It's just a laugh! :lol: :lol:

And.....................................

Guy walks into a pharmacy and asks "where's the tampax?"
Assistant replies "over there mate"
Guy returns to the counter with cotton wool balls and toilet paper
Assistant says "thought you wanted tampax"

Reply " well yes, but last week I asked the wife to buy me a packet of 20 fags and she came back with a pouch of tobacco.............

So let's see how she f****** likes rolling her own!
 
Don't want to be confrontational really but accept that it's almost impossible not to offend somebody.

Yes you are probably right there. You can just hope that like me, most people will see what you are doing is to put a smile on our faces.

Cheers

Mike
 
Loved my history lessons, (grandson now teaches history) so please keep posting.

So I can always ask him to referee any disputes for you here :)
 
Bull$hit or not, I really liked those titbits. Perfect for down the pub. :D

I remember reading up on the origins of some of the traditions surrounding marriage. They were really interesting too. Like, back in the day, you would go out and abduct a suitable maiden and make her your wife. To do this, you would take your best warrior mate (your best man) with you for support. On the wedding day, you would stand to your brides right so as to leave your fighting arm free incase the brides family should want to take her back.

The bride would have several bridesmaids with her on the day who were dressed the same as her. All would have veils to cover their faces in case evil spirts / witches rocked up to take her away. The hope was that one of the bridesmaids would get lifted instead of the bride. The bride would carry a bunch of flowers to ward off the evil spirits.

There are loads of these traditions - I can't seem to find a good link to the page with them all on tho.
 
And I would liked to have been lord of the manor with those bedding rights, (forget what the Latin name for it was). :wink:
 
Lons,
Don't know your source but I think its more fiction than not. One for the road, On the waggon and falling off the waggon all refer to the Temperence Society movement of the mid 19th Century when women wanted to stop men drinking and went out on payday to scoop the drunks up in a waggon after they'd got blotto.

4 poster beds date back to castles of the 12th and 13th Century and were designed to keep the draughts out.

In the 1500's they used cooking pots over fires not kettles.

A Wake was not held in the kitchen to see if someone would wake from a session on the booze, a wake was where relatives sat in the graveyard to see if the recently burried person was still alive and able to ring the bell. As the person in the coffin might only be able to give a slight tinkle it was important that the relative on duty stayed awake, hence 'wake'

And I think Dead Ringer was invented by Meatloaf 8) 8)
 
Tenko":1cazarzh said:
Lons,
Don't know your source but I think its more fiction than not. One for the road, On the waggon and falling off the waggon all refer to the Temperence Society movement of the mid 19th Century when women wanted to stop men drinking and went out on payday to scoop the drunks up in a waggon after they'd got blotto.

4 poster beds date back to castles of the 12th and 13th Century and were designed to keep the draughts out.

In the 1500's they used cooking pots over fires not kettles.

A Wake was not held in the kitchen to see if someone would wake from a session on the booze, a wake was where relatives sat in the graveyard to see if the recently burried person was still alive and able to ring the bell. As the person in the coffin might only be able to give a slight tinkle it was important that the relative on duty stayed awake, hence 'wake'

And I think Dead Ringer was invented by Meatloaf 8) 8)

Great stuff :)

Meatloaf has a lot to answer for!

Just an email doing the rounds, I get hundreds of them from all over the world, many rubbish but some very good and I posted this one tongue in cheek 'cause I thought it was interesting and probably not contentious.
 
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