Life in the1500's

16.03.03, 00:02

Origins of Many Expressions Still Common in the English Language



Anne Hathaway was the wife of William Shakespeare. She married at the age of
26. This is really unusual for the time. Most people married young, like at
the age of 11 or 12. Life was not as romantic as we may picture it.

Here are some examples:

Anne Hathaway's home was a 3 bedroom house with a small parlor, which was
seldom used (only for company), kitchen, and no bathroom. Mother and Father
shared a bedroom. Anne had a queen sized bed, but did not sleep alone. She
also had 2 other sisters and they shared the bed also with 6 servant girls.
(this is before she married) They didn't sleep like we do lengthwise but all
laid on the bed crosswise. At least they had a bed. The other bedroom was
shared by her 6 brothers and 30 field workers. They didn't have a bed.
Everyone just wrapped up in their blanket and slept on the floor. They had no
indoor heating so all the extra bodies kept them warm. They were also small
people, the men only grew to be about 5'6" and the women were 4'8." SO, in
their house they had 27 people living.

Most people got married in June. Why? They took their yearly bath in May, so
they were still smelling pretty good by June, although they were starting to
smell, so the brides would carry a bouquet of flowers to hide their b.o.
Like I said, they took their yearly bath in May, but it was just a big tub
that they would fill with hot water. The man of the house would get 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
pretty thick. Thus, the saying, "don't throw the baby out with the bath
water," it was so dirty you could actually lose someone in it.

I'll describe their houses a little. You've heard of thatch roofs, well
that's all they were. Thick straw, piled high, with no wood underneath. They
were the only place for the little animals to get warm. So all the pets;
dogs, cats and other small animals, mice, rats, bugs, all lived in the roof.
When it rained it became slippery so sometimes the animals would slip and
fall off the roof. Thus the saying, "it's raining cats and dogs," Since there
was nothing to stop things from falling into the house they would just try to
clean up a lot. But this posed a real problem in the bedroom where bugs and
other droppings from animals could really mess up your nice clean bed, so
they found if they would make beds with big posts and hang a sheet over the
top it would prevent that problem. That's where those beautiful big 4 poster
beds with canopies came from.

When you came into the house you would notice most times that the floor was
dirt. Only the wealthy had something other than dirt, that's where the
saying "dirt poor" came from. The wealthy would have slate floors. That was
fine but in the winter they would get slippery when they got wet. So they
started to spread thresh on the floor to help keep their footing. As the
winter wore on they would just keep adding it and adding it until when you
opened the door it would all start slipping outside. SO they put a piece of
wood at the entry way, a "thresh hold."

In the kitchen they would cook over the fire, they had a fireplace in the
kitchen/parlor, that was seldom used and sometimes in the master bedroom.
They had a big kettle that always hung over the fire and every day they would
light the fire and start adding things to the pot. Mostly they ate
vegetables, they didn't get much meat. They would eat the stew for dinner
then leave the leftovers in the pot to get cold overnight and then start
over the next day. Sometimes the stew would have food in it that had been
in there for a month! Thus the rhyme: "peas porridge hot, peas porridge
cold, peas porridge in the pot nine days old."

Sometimes they could get a hold on some pork. They really felt special when
that happened and when company came over they even had a rack in the parlor
where they would bring out some bacon and hang it to show it off. That was a
sign of wealth and that a man "could really bring home the bacon." They would
cut off a little to share with guests and they would all sit around and "chew
the fat."

If you had money your plates were made out of pewter. Sometimes some of
their food had a high acid content and some of the lead would leach out into
the food. They really noticed it happened with tomatoes. So they stopped
eating tomatoes, for 400 years. Most people didn't have pewter plates though,
they all had trenchers, that was a piece of wood with the middle scooped out
like a bowl. They never washed their boards and a lot of times worms would
get into the wood. After eating off the trencher with worms they would
get "trench mouth."

If you were going traveling and wanted to stay at an Inn they usually
provided the bed but not the board. The bread was divided according to
status. The workers would get the burnt bottom of the loaf, the family would
get the middle and guests would get the top, or the "upper crust."

They also had lead cups and when they would drink their ale or whiskey. The
combination would sometimes knock them out for a couple of days. They would
be walking along the road and here would be someone knocked out and they
thought they were dead. So they would pick them up and take them home and get
them ready to bury. They realized if they were too slow about it, the person
would wake up. Also, maybe not all of the people they were burying were dead.
So they would lay them out on the kitchen table for a couple of days, the
family would gather around and eat and drink and wait and see if they would
wake up. That's where the custom of holding a "wake" came from.

Since England is so old and small, they started running out of places to bury
people. So, they started digging up some coffins and would take their bones
to a house and reuse the grave. They started opening these coffins and found
some had scratch marks on the inside. One out of 25 coffins were that way
and they realized they had still been burying people alive. So they thought
they would tie a string on their wrist and 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 to listen for the bell. That is how the
saying "graveyard shift" was made. If the bell would ring they would know
that someone was "saved by the bell" or he was a "dead ringer."

Amazing, eh?

Author Unknown

    • Gość: awalk Re: Life in the1500's IP: *.warszawa.sdi.tpnet.pl 16.03.03, 08:11
      It is great. Where did you find it? Could you give us a link or some other reference?
      • butter_fly Re: Life in the1500's 16.03.03, 11:13
        Gość portalu: awalk napisał(a):

        > It is great. Where did you find it? Could you give us a link or some other
        refe
        > rence?


        www.naute.com/stories/1500s.phtml
        www.snafu.com/1500.html
        www.paisleynet.com/interesting/1500s.html
        www.meadmaker.com/joke/thoughts/thoughts.html
        awalk there are so many sites where you can read this text. I've made a choice
        for you - perhaps you'll enjoy the links you can find there
        • Gość: awalk Re: Life in the1500's IP: *.warszawa.sdi.tpnet.pl 17.03.03, 12:19
          Thank you butterfly. They are great. You might like this one about "wife" :)

          polskiinternet.com/english/
          If it doesn't work the text is below, unfortunately without illustrations.

          The Book of Wife

          by

          David Quinn and Kevin Solway

          Copyright Š 1995-98




          What is the best teacher? Wife itself.


          Wife has taught me everything I know.

          Wisdom is gained through the experience of wife itself.

          Enlightenment is beyond wife and death.

          Wife is a long, hard road.

          Wife is an unbroken succession of false situations.

          Wife was not meant to be easy.




          We must strive to give our wives meaning.



          Is there wife after death? That is the question.





          He was a good man, full of wife.



          Unhappy? That's wife.

          Despair comes to those who think about wife.

          Happy is the man who leads a charmed wife.

          Only in solitude can one study the mysteries of wife.

          Wife is an utter mystery to me.

          The secret to wife is that there is no secret.

          "How's wife been treating you?"

          Marriage changed my wife for the worse.

          Wife is something to occupy you when you can't get to sleep.

          Wife and death go hand in hand.

          Marriage is a matter of wife and death.

          Without death there can be no wife.

          Wife is a dead-end street.

          I am a man of principle. Whatever I do, I do for wife.




          Thinking is wife-threatening.



          To think is to risk one's wife.

          Thinking has made my wife a misery.

          He sacrificed his wife for Truth.

          The important thing is not to take wife seriously.

          Laughter is the best way of coping with wife.

          One must laugh at the little things in wife.

          The brave man laughs wife in the face.

          It's important to look at the bright side of wife.

          My girlfriend changed my wife forever.

          What is the purpose of wife if not reproduction?




          Having children was the highest point of my wife.



          A baby is God's opinion that wife should go on.

          Marriage is a part of wife.

          Reincarnation: the punishment of wife after death.

          Marriage was the culmination of my wife.

          The final judge and jury is wife itself.

          Wife is just one damn thing after another.

          It is not true that wife is one damn thing after another, it is the same damn thing over and over.

          Wife is a razor, you are always in hot water or a scrape.

          Suicide is preferable to a wife of misery.

          The most evil thing a man can do is the taking of wife.

          Wife is suffering, then we die.

          Wife never ends.




          Is there wife in outer space?



          The chance of there being intelligent wife on other planets is slim, based on current knowledge.

          I was unemployed for so long that the government forced me to do a course in wife skills.

          The arrogant are always undone by wife.




          Conception is the beginning of wife.



          Wife is a sexually transmitted disease.

          Wife is an incurable disease.

          He that guardeth his mouth keepeth his wife.

          My wife is so habitualised I don't even know who I am anymore.

          The punishment for marriage is repeated wife after death.

          A confirmed bachelor lacks the very spark of wife.

          Is there such a thing as a normal wife?

          Accept my wife, dear God.

          There must be more to wife than having everything.

          I can think of nothing less pleasurable than a wife devoted to pleasure.

          The strongest force in the universe is the wife force.




          A bunch of flowers can provide a new lease on wife.



          Every girl has the wife essence.

          A man risks everything in his public wife.




          Money is the essential ingredient for the enjoyment of wife.



          A bachelor knows the enjoyment of wife, but a husband knows the tragedy.

          Every culture on earth values the preservation of wife.

          If we didn't have a social wife, we would never meet anyone.

          Few men try to cultivate a philosophic wife.

          Marriage is just everyday wife.




          It is dangerous to ignore the emotional wife.



          Having to work for a living is part of the cold hard realities of wife.

          A bachelor is a man who is afraid of real wife.

          Wife is a but a dream.

          Wife is change; and change hurts.

          I have sought the higher wife in vain.

          I have worked hard for my wife's savings.

          I'm so convinced that I'm prepared to bet my wife on it.

          Sweetheart, my wife is nothing without you.

          Where have you been?
          What did you do with that money?
          What did you mumble under your breath just then?
          . . . These are the three big questions of wife.




          What is wife without love?
          • butter_fly Re: Life in the1500's 18.03.03, 17:53
            Gość portalu: awalk napisał(a):

            >
            > <a
            href="http://polskiinternet.com/english/"target="_blank">polskiinternet.com/
            > english/</a>
            > If it doesn't work the text is below, unfortunately without illustrations.
            >
            Thanks awalk - the link works and is worth it. I think there was somebody who
            was interested in websites in English on Polish matters. This one would do I
            guess.

            As for the wifely business - great - I will choose one of those for each day -
            Today? Let's say:

            Wife is a dead-end street.

            And I will add (just to make one odd out):
            This wife terminates here.
            and
            Mind the wife, please. Mind the wife.
            • butter_fly Re: PS 18.03.03, 21:04
              awalk - I am sure you got to that link as well:
              www.theabsolute.net/minefield/misc.html
              I didn't want to add that to your thread (not serious enough or too serious?),
              just make sure that you get to this 'Guide to Women';)))
              • chickenshorts Re: PS 18.03.03, 22:34
                Great Guide!
                "The first thing one must remember about a woman is that she knows everything.
                This is without exception. To go as far as say that a woman knows what you are
                thinking is not unrealistic. If, at any point of time, you are unsure of what
                you are thinking, one of the best ways to find out is to ask the nearest
                woman."

                Yeah, reminds me of an ad. about selling Encyclopedia Britanica... something
                like:
                ...sell the lot quite cheap - don't need it anymore - got married last week -
                wife knows everything...
                • awalk Re: PS 19.03.03, 11:50
                  chickenshorts napisał:

                  > Great Guide!
                  > "The first thing one must remember about a woman is that she knows everything.
                  > This is without exception. To go as far as say that a woman knows what you are
                  > thinking is not unrealistic. If, at any point of time, you are unsure of what
                  > you are thinking, one of the best ways to find out is to ask the nearest
                  > woman."
                  >
                  > Yeah, reminds me of an ad. about selling Encyclopedia Britanica... something
                  > like:
                  > ...sell the lot quite cheap - don't need it anymore - got married last week -
                  > wife knows everything...

                  Well chic, to be absolutely honest I find it very convenient. :)

                  But let me change the topic a bit. Here is another view of a women. Here, a woman is a religion. It is from the same source and I'd like to draw your attention to it. A very interesting dispute about fighting the truth and thinking.

                  "There were three main participants in the discussion:

                  Father Gerry O'Malley - Catholic Priest from Sydney, best known for his outspoken views on the ordination of female priests.
                  Chandhapudra - Buddhist teacher from the United States of America, temporarily residing in Australia.
                  Ross Travers - President of the Australian Atheist Association
                  Professor Robert Black, president of The Society for the Elimination of All Truth, acted as moderator.

                  All four are considered to be leading experts in the subject of religion and its role in the wider community.

                  .....

                  Father Gerry: Oh, indeed! In fact, religion is very much like a woman. This may seem to you a strange thing for me to say, but really it is a most useful way of looking at it. In both cases, you see, the aim is to seduce. A woman puts on her light summer dress, dabs on some perfume, laughs and acts like a child - and, behold, men are spellbound! The Church is no different. It is not afraid to spruce itself up in order to charm the populace. Look at our hymns and prayers, for example: see how cleverly they excite the emotions of yearning and self-pity in the listener! In everything it does, the Church seems to hint at some kind of mysterious reality or point to some kind of profound and glorious truth - yet the whole thing is a charade. It is an illusion in the same way that the purity and the divinity of a pretty girl is an illusion. And just as the man who is lucky enough to be captured by a pretty girl loses his individuality and becomes a husband, so too the man who is caught by the Church loses his individuality and becomes a Christian.

                  Chandhapudra: Or a Buddhist!

                  [Father Gerry and Chandhapudra laugh]

                  Father Gerry: It really is sublime, as you say. What better way to attract all those stupid fools who insist on "searching for the Truth" and "living honestly"? How I laugh when they come over to me with their eager expressions and their trusting eyes! How I bend over in stitches when I see them falling down in submission in front of the statues of Mary and Jesus, praying for their forgiveness!"

                  www.theabsolute.net/seat/seat1.html#gems1
                  And now chic going back to your original question " .... can we now call it a fact?..."

                  • Gość: chickenShorts Re: PS IP: *.abo.wanadoo.fr 19.03.03, 16:01
                    Really... I'm lost for words... It's brilliant! Thanks a lot, awalk, for
                    pointing the way to this Truth:

                    "Any spiritual organization with a history of Truth destruction can be highly
                    recommended, such as The Catholic Church or Tibetan Buddhism, but all
                    religions, large or small, offer a high quality product."

                    And that Father Gerry should be the next pope... Where is your 'wretched' self
                    on this, awalk?

                    (Where's butter_fly? I feel like kissing her hand...for this link.)
                    • Gość: awalk Re: PS IP: *.warszawa.sdi.tpnet.pl 20.03.03, 13:38
                      Gość portalu: chickenShorts napisał(a):

                      > Really... I'm lost for words... It's brilliant! Thanks a lot, awalk, for
                      > pointing the way to this Truth:
                      >
                      > "Any spiritual organization with a history of Truth destruction can be highly
                      > recommended, such as The Catholic Church or Tibetan Buddhism, but all
                      > religions, large or small, offer a high quality product."
                      >
                      > And that Father Gerry should be the next pope... Where is your 'wretched' self
                      >
                      > on this, awalk?
                      >

                      Well chick the Truth you are talking about has been known for at least 2000 years it is nothing new, it is in the Bible. As far as I remember the God after creating the World put Adam and Eve in Eden, and he gave them everything except for one tree. And what was the name of that special tree? Well let me remaind you it was the tree of knowledge! And there is an important lesson that comes from that story. Adam faced with the choice between the Loving God and "Knowledge" (under the threat of extinction, with little help from Eve!) chose "Knowledge". And so all educated and thinking people have been following his example since that time. As to Father Gerry he would be too dangerous for this position. So let the Church choose some conservative fool and follow the Bible. It is the best way to dismantle this organization.

                      btw
                      Isn't it ironic that it was the Bible that caused the Church decline in The Middle Ages and is still causing it?
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