Here are some facts about the 1500s:

Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath in May and still smelled pretty good by June.  However, they were starting to smell so brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the body odor. Hence the custom today of carrying a bouquet when getting married.

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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."

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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 dogs, 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."

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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 really 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.

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The floor was dirt.  Only the wealthy had something other than dirt. Hence the saying "dirt poor."

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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."

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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 "upper crust."

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Lead cups were used to drink ale or whisky.  The combination would sometimes  knock them 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."

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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 thought 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."

I don't believe a single one is true.

But thanks anyway.

Interesting!

I'm a bettin man, $1Millon says they are all true.

interesting read either way

True or not, sounds good to me.

MM419

Of some interest would be the fact that people in early America had a great fear of being buried alive. They had some pretty crazy devices rigged up to the coffins then to prevent such things; unfortunately they often gave a "false alarm." That is a fact.

Talk about a boring class...

This thread was good for a smile.

Fiction
[url]http://www.snopes.com/language/phrases/1500.htm[/url]

Well, Chaingun, looks like you owe me one million bucks.
[:D]