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 “didn’t have a pot to piss 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 1500s:

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 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.

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.

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, 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.

And that’s the truth….Now, whoever said History was boring

Now then, tell me some more Old English sayings and where they came from.

I got as far as:

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”

… which is an urban myth, and not true. I’ll read the rest in a minute, but I’d suggest a pinch of salt if that first one is anything to go by.

And that’s the truth.

pretty much all hoaxes

Interesting, I like this sort of thing, but those folks in the picture sure ain’t Limeys.

The phrase Limeys comes from naval days when sailors were rationed lime juice to ward off scurvy whilst at sea.

How about,

There’s one born every minute

and

You can fool all of the people some of time, some of the people all of the time, but never all of the people all of the time.

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btDkHi2uo_s[/video]

Gah.

Buzz Killingtons.

Read it all now.

Hence the saying, “Don’t throw the baby out with the Bath water!”

This comes from a German phrase, and so is almost certainly incorrect.

Cats and dogs, also false. I think that comes from Norse mythology, or something.

Threshold, also nonsense; “thresh” means “to tread” in Old English.

Sorry, but I think what you’ve got there is a large collection of popular urban myths. I don’t think any of it is true.

That four letter word for lady-bits is old English.

Edit: not that I’m calling you one 😉

Yer havering

I am not as green as I am cabbage looking.

No idea what its origins are, other than my dad saying it a lot to us as kids.

… which is an urban myth, and not true. I’ll read the rest in a minute, but I’d suggest a pinch of salt if that first one is anything to go by.

Utter bollocks. Traditional tanning relies on ureaic acid, the best sources of which are urine and dog faeces.

Ever visited a traditional tannery? Or one in a third world country? Or had a go at tanning yourself? Because it stinks to high heaven of P!$$ and $h!t which is why most of them were outdoors. You’ll find places all over Britain called “Tanpits” (such as Tanpits Lanes in Doncaster, Kirkcudbright and Carnforth) which were outdoor areas, perhaps with an open-sided building over them, where tanning was carried out.

The phrase Limeys comes from naval days when sailors were rationed lime juice to ward off scurvy whilst at sea.

The same reason that Germans are called ‘Krauts’ from Sauerkraut

Utter bollocks. Traditional tanning relies on ureaic acid, the best sources of which are urine and dog faeces.

I think he’s refering to the idea that the phrase ‘Piss poor’ comes from tannery workers. If I remember correctly there’s no record of piss poor being used until WW2, so the idea that the phrase comes from tannery workers is an urban myth.

Indeed.

You can fool all of the people some of time, some of the people all of the time, but never all of the people all of the time.

Abe Lincoln, so not ‘English’, or did you mean in the English language?

There’s nowt so queer as folk.

Yep, sorry OP, but most of those sound like b*ll*cks.

This:

England is old and small and the local folks started running out of places to bury people.

Suggests it’s American b*ll*cks

Anyway, the phrase I offer is “I’m stood here like Piffy on a rock bun”, which is something my woodwork teacher used to lament when we were ignoring him.

Hey OP..aren’t you glad you decided to share.

I like:
So posh they’d get out the bath to take a **** (“poop”).

Medieval types had an excellent attitude to wishing you a good day: ‘Y-“Blessed be thy breche, and every stoon!”

No urban myth, unless Chaucer made it up.

My old chemistry teacher used to always say;
“You pays your money and you takes your choice”
I can’t remember what he was referring to as I used to always to get sidetracked wondering why it was ‘pays’ and ‘takes’ not ‘pay’ and ‘take’.

Q: My dad has sent me an email about life in the 1500s. It includes the origins of many sayings. Are they true? Just curious, as there are a lot of urban legends out there.

A: This list of so-called “Facts About the 1500s,” sometimes called “Life in the 1500s,” is a hoax that’s been floating around in cyberspace since 1999.

It claims to explain the origins of many common words and phrases, and occasionally a reader forwards it to us and asks whether there’s any truth in it.

The answer is no.

From grammarphobia blog.

I have no idea what’s actually going on but I assume it’s activities like this that started the saying…

So posh they’d get out the bath to take a **** (“poop”).

I’m not posh, yet I’d still get out of the bath to have a poo. I thought everyone did.

‘Spare the rod; spoil the child’.

You might as well wish in one hand and sh1t in the other, you’ll soon see which is fuller(<a word?) said by a work mate, who is old and english.

I thought everyone did.

My son didn’t use to.

Generally it was ok and we’d spot it but if he had too much bubble bath you’d occasionally only find out as you scooped up a container of water and poured a turd onto his head.

He did grow out of it though by the time he was nappy trained.

Up yer kilt! 🙂

Generally it was ok and we’d spot it but if he had too much bubble bath you’d occasionally only find out as you scooped up a container of water and poured a turd onto his head.

🙂

He’ll grow-up with all manner of issues as a result, no doubt. A weird reaction to being called shit-head, for example…

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,

Hence the phrase “slippery when wet”

“salty as Lotts’ wife’s arse”
popular saying in our house.

I heard once that the term ‘Daylight Robbery’ comes from the old window tax that was in place, people dodged taxes with secret windows, hence stealing daylight.

dunno how true this is though.

I would imagine it would more likely come from people being robbed in broad daylight…

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.

Nah. Its a ‘threshold’ because in t’ old days they use to thresh corn in the doorway (created a breeze).

Sayings:

Feed a cold, starve a fever.
When in doubt, do nowt.
If you want to know the easiest way to do something, ask a lazy man.

Nah. Its a ‘threshold’ because in t’ old days they use to thresh corn in the doorway (created a breeze).

Nope. I already answered this further up.

“Dirtier than a docker’s pocket”: a Razzle strapline from the early 90’s.

I would imagine it would more likely come from people being robbed in broad daylight…

certainly seems more logical, I’d like to imagine it was the other though just for the novelty of it.

Hey OP..aren’t you glad you decided to share.

Oh yes, this is entertaining 😆

In South London in about 1983, we had a massive thunderstorm that lasted for a whole 24 hrs- i remember my nan (god bless her) saying the sky was “Black as NewGates knocker”.
It’s always stayed with me for some reason.

Turns out there was a prison called Newgate that had a big black iron door knocker…..

one of my favourites is

see that internet, you don’t want believe all of it, cos mostly it’s shyte

not english, cornish, west cornish to be precise…

‘better a belly busted than a good tea wasted.’