found this elsewhere..if it has been posted here before I apologize...it is interesting...

The next time you’re washing your hands and complain because the water temperature isn'tjust 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 annual 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.
Baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot water. The man of the house had the privilege of the niceclean 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 entranceway. Hence, the saying 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 thenstart 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 into 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”.
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”.

VERY EDUCATIONAL DAVINCI1952
THANK YOU

Very interesting stuff Bill.......(darn, you know I love that pic of you in uniform!!)

That is sooo coool...thank u..

Nice to see you,very interesting

Very intersting indeed,.... I learned a few new things today...Thanks Davinci

"Ring a ring a rosey, a pocket full of posy,
a tissue, a tissue, we all fall down"



Thanks for the refresher, Bill..

WOW...and my kids can't imagine the old days when we did'nt even have computers! lol

or inside plumbing

...awhile back my 10 yr old came home from school and started telling me he saw an old fashioned phone..he said... you had to put your finger in the circle and dial!