Piss poor and more......

[MoparMom]

Where did Piss Poor come from? Interesting 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 "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". ***** (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 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 death by lead poisoning. 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. Hence: The rich people or special people are called the "upper crust". ***** Lead cups were used to drink ale or whiskey. The combination of lead and alchol would sometimes knock the imbibers out for a couple of days. The inbibers would collapse on the road. 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, who said History was boring!!! So...get out there and educate someone! ~~~ Share these facts with a friend.

[volkswagon]

Wow those are some amazing facts! Thanks for posting them. Makes a person pretty thankful for what we have today.

[guesswho512]

lmao. i was surprised that a knew a few of these. many of them caught me by surprise, like the "yearly bath" . no wonder some of the conquered civilizations thought the western man was a barbarian.

[LiveOak]

Amazing how much we have forgotten about our OWN history and culture. Reminds me of those who don't learn from history are condemned to repeat it. Great post!

[dorkweed]

lmao. i was surprised that a knew a few of these. many of them caught me by surprise, like the "yearly bath" . no wonder some of the conquered civilizations thought the western man was a barbarian.

Yeah, they thought it was unfair tactics during war, because they couldn't smell the enemy from more than a mile away!!!!!!

[Rogan]

That's awesome

[dually]

My grandma is still alive.When she was a small girl she would go to the swamp to gather moss to stuff in the cracks of there log house to keep the cold air out, with a dirt floor.She cooked on a wood burning stove well into the 1950's.My mother was 15 years old before she used a bathroom indoors at her house.My ma had to get water out of a well then bring it into the house so grandma could build a fire in the stove to make coffee.Both my ma and grandma were kinda poor in the early years.But sure good people.One day in the 1940's a man came to our farm and said "i will work for food" They let him live in an out building for many years they called him shorty. My grandma use to say "we diddnt have 2 nickels to rub together" I am thankful for what little i have.I came from a family with little.We do have a big love so really i come from a vary well to do family. Good post thanks

[dorkweed]

My grandma is still alive.When she was a small girl she would go to the swamp to gather moss to stuff in the cracks of there log house to keep the cold air out, with a dirt floor.She cooked on a wood burning stove well into the 1950's.My mother was 15 years old before she used a bathroom indoors at her house.My ma had to get water out of a well then bring it into the house so grandma could build a fire in the stove to make coffee.Both my ma and grandma were kinda poor in the early years.But sure good people.One day in the 1940's a man came to our farm and said "i will work for food" They let him live in an out building for many years they called him shorty. My grandma use to say "we diddnt have 2 nickels to rub together" I am thankful for what little i have.I came from a family with little.We do have a big love so really i come from a vary well to do family. Good post thanks

The house my Mom grew up in......Gramma and Grampas house didin't have an indoor crapper until the early 1950's also. That's Cook county Illinois also. The same county Chicago is in!!!!