Fact or Fiction?

posted on January 8, 2012 by Ian MacPhee

We older people need to learn something new every day ... just to keep the grey matter tuned up! So here are some stories about the origins of everyday phrases. Are they Fact or Fiction - well you be the judge!
Where did the phrase "Piss Poor" come  from? 
Interesting History. 
They used to use urine to tan  animal skins, so families used to all pee in a pot and then once a day it was taken  and 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 pee in"  and were the lowest of the low.

Here are some  facts about the 1500s
Brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the body odor.
Hence the custom today of carrying a bouquet when getting married.

  (mice, bugs) lived in the  roof. 



 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?)
"Peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge in the pot nine days old".

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. 

Englandis 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. 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.

"saved by the bell" or was considered "a dead ringer".
And that's the  truth.  Now, whoever said History was  boring?!
So get out there and educate someone!  ~~~  Share these facts with a  friend.  

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