nnuut
Moderator | TSP Legend
Where did **** poor come from ? :laugh:
Us older people need to learn somethingnew every day...
Just to keep the grey matter tuned up.
Where did "**** Poor" come from?
Interesting History.
They used to use urine to tan animalskins, so families used to all pee in a pot.
And then once it was full it was taken andsold to the tannery...
if you had to do this to survive you were"**** Poor".
But worse than that were the really poorfolk who couldn't even afford to buy a pot...
They "didn't have a pot to pissin" and were the lowest of the low.
The next time you are washing your handsand complain because the water temperature
Isn't just how you like it, think abouthow things used to be.
Here are some facts about the 1500's
Most people got married in June becausethey took their yearly bath in May,
And they still smelled pretty good byJune. However, since they were starting to smell,
Brides carried a bouquet of flowers tohide the body odor.
Hence the custom today of carrying abouquet when getting married.
Baths consisted of a big tub filled withhot water.
The man of the house had the privilege ofthe nice clean water,
Then all the other sons and men, then thewomen and finally the children.
Last of all the babies.
By then the water was so dirty you couldactually lose someone in it.
Hence the saying, "Don't throw thebaby out with the Bath water!"
(Getting quite an education, aren't you?)
In those old days, they cooked in thekitchen with a big kettle that always hung over the fire.
Every day they lit the fire and addedthings to the pot. They ate mostly vegetables
And did not get much meat. Theywould eat the stew for dinner, leaving leftovers
In the pot to get cold overnight and thenstart over the next day.
Sometimes stew had food in it that hadbeen 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, whichmade them feel quite special.
When visitors came over, they would hangup 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 withguests
And would all sit around and chew the fat.
Those with money had plates made ofpewter.
Food with high acid content caused some ofthe lead to leach onto the food, causing lead poisoning death.
This happened most often with tomatoes,
so for the next 400 years or so, tomatoeswere 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 uppercrust.
Lead cups were used to drink ale orwhisky.
The combination would sometimes knock theimbibers out for a couple of days.
Someone walking along the road would takethem for dead and prepare them for burial.
They were laid out on the kitchen tablefor a couple of days and the family would gather around
and eat and drink and wait and see if theywould wake up.
Hence the custom; of holding a wake.
England is old and small and the local folksstarted running out of places to bury people.
So they would dig up coffins and wouldtake the bones to a bone-house, and reuse the grave..
When reopening these coffins, 1 out of 25coffins were found to have scratch marks on the inside and they realized they hadbeen burying people alive.
So they would tie a string on the wrist ofthe corpse, lead it through the coffin and up through the ground and tie it toa bell.
Someone would have to sit out in thegraveyard all night (the graveyard shift) to listen for the bell; thus,someone could be,
saved by the bell or was "considereda dead ringer.
And that's the truth.
Now,whoever said History was boring!!!
