Origins Of Old Sayings
Next to an old pub, in the Marble Arch, London, stood the gallows. The prisoners were taken to be hanged, in a horse drawn cart, accompanied by an armed guard, who would stop the cart, outside the pub and ask the prisoner if he would like one last drink. If he said yes, it was referred to as, “ONE FOR THE ROAD“. If he declined, that prisoner was, “ON THE WAGON“.
The next time you are washing your hands and complain the temperature isn’t just how you like it, think about how things used to be. Some facts about the 1500’s. Most people married in June, because they took their yearly bath in May and still smelled pretty good by June. However, since they were starting to smell, Brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide body odour. Hence, the custom of 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 sons, next, the women and children, and 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 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 e.g. mice / bugs lived in the roof. When it rained, the roof became slippery, and sometimes the animals would slip and fall off it. Hence the saying “ITS 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 is how the canopy bed came into existence.
The floor was just 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 the floor to help keep their footing. As the winter wore on, they added more thresh until, when you opened the door, it would start slipping outside. A piece of wood was placed in the entrance. Hence “THRESHOLD “
In those olden 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. Their diet was mostly vegetables, and they did not get much meat. They would eat the stew for dinner, leaving leftovers in the pot to get cold overnight. 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.”
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 and 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, the guests got the top, or “THE UPPER CRUST “
Lead cups were used to drink ale or whiskey, 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, the family would gather around, eat and drink, waiting to see if they would wake up. Hence the custom of “HOLDING A WAKE”
When running out of space to bury people, local folks would dig up coffins, take the bones to the 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 realised they had been burying people alive. So they would tie a string on the wrist of the corpse, thread it through the coffin, 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 a bell thus so, someone could be “SAVED BY THE BELL” or was considered a “DEAD RINGER“.
Once, when a child was christened, it was traditional for the God parents to give a silver spoon as a gift (if they could afford it) However, a child born in a rich family, did not have to wait. He or she, had it all from the start. “THEY WERE BORN WITH A SILVER SPOON IN THEIR MOUTH“.
In the 18th Century when many men wore wigs, the most important men wore the biggest wigs. Hence today, important people are called “BIG WIGS“…
A 17th century puppet show for children, called Punch & Judy, featured a puppet named Punch, who always killed people. The act of killing, brought him pleasure, so he felt “PLEASED AS PUNCH“.
“BEE LINE” in the past people believed that bees flew in a straight line to their hive. So if you made a beeline of something you went straight for it.