Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Olde English word origins

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

    Olde English word origins

    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 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 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 entranceway. Hence the saying 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 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 ! ! !
    Oh if a man tried to take his time on Earth and prove before he died what one man's life could be worth, well I wonder what would happen to this world ? - Harry Chapin

    #2
    A nation with a rich and somewhat "medevil" history!
    [img]http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y56/vitopagano/CoD2/limeyfunny.jpg[/img]
    [img]http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y232/english911/admin.jpg[/img]
    [size=4][color=blue][url]http://www.cainslair.org/billspaypal.php?[/url][/color][/size]

    Comment


      #3
      In those old days, they cooked in the kitchen with a big kettle that always hung over the fire.
      My understanding is that they did not have kitchens. only the wealthy had what could be considered a kitchen and it was actually another building out back.
      Apache

      Where do you put the Bayonet?
      Chesty Puller (upon seeing a flamethrower for the first time)
      I am all in favor of keeping dangerous weapons out of the hands of fools. Lets start with typewriters.
      Frank Lloyd Wright

      Comment


        #4
        thus, someone could be saved by the bell
        I'll never look at that phrase the same way again. It doesn't apply to the school bell at all.

        Thinks for the history lesson, it was actually very interesting. Make another post if you dig up some more info, that was awesome lol.

        Comment


          #5
          neat, i think i actually learned something

          Comment


            #6
            i loved those! and yes, learned something as well!

            Comment


              #7
              Way Cool ~ I loved that !

              Comment


                #8
                Hey, I don't come to forums to learn stuff!

                *grins* Good read, had heard of a few of those but not most.
                [img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v337/Igorod/troopdod.jpg[/img]
                [url=http://profile.xfire.com/trooper110][img]http://miniprofile.xfire.com/bg/co/type/1/trooper110.png[/img][/url]

                Comment


                  #9
                  Here are a few naval ditties to add to sayings:

                  Between the devil and the deep blue sea:
                  A dilemma; a choice between two equally difficult circumstances
                  The ?devil? was the name for the longest seam of the ship, which ran from stem to stern along the length of the beam that supported the gun deck. To seal this seam whilst at sea, a sailor was suspended over the side of the ship in a precarious position literally between the ?devil? and the sea.

                  Bitter end:
                  To the last, no matter the struggle
                  The posts on the decks to which anchor cables were attached were known as ?bitts?. The end of an anchor cable secured to the bitts was the bitter end (as opposed to the anchor end). In bad weather when the anchor dragged, cable was fed out, until the bitter end.

                  Clean slate:
                  Fresh start; start over without prejudice
                  The watch keeper would record details such as courses, distances, speeds and tacks on slate tablets using chalk. If there were no problems during the watch, the slate was wiped clean ready for the next watch.

                  Dead reckoning:
                  Estimating position or course; an opinion of how a course of events will develop
                  Dating from at the sixteenth century, mariners would plot a course and expected position according to last known position, time, compass course and present speed, without allowing for unknown variables such as wind speed and direction, currents and drift. Originally ?deduced? reckoning, this navigational method became ?de?d?, ?ded? and then ?dead? reckoning.

                  Down the hatch:
                  Drink a measure of alcohol, usually said as a toast
                  Cargoes were lowered into a ship?s hold through hatches in the deck, giving the impression of being consumed by the ship.

                  F a g end: Sry, would not let literal spelling be used
                  Last; worst
                  'To f a g? meant to tease out or separate the single strands of a rope. The tips of the strands were known as ?f a g ends?.

                  Flogging a dead horse:
                  Doing something for no apparent gain; act to no effect
                  It was customary to pay sailors taken on at the start of a voyage one months' wages in advance, usually in order that they could pay off debts run up whilst waiting for their next ship. Sailors called the first month at sea, a period when they were effectively working hard (flogging) for nothing, ?dead horse? time. The end of the first month, the end of ?dead horse? time, was celebrated by making an effigy of a horse, parading it around the ship, hauling it up a mast, setting fire to it and throwing it into the sea.

                  Freeze the balls off a brass monkey:
                  Very cold, as in "cold enough to ...."
                  Brass trays, known as ?monkeys?, were used to store pyramids of iron cannon balls. In cold weather the trays would contract faster than the iron cannon balls, causing the pyramids to unbalance and the cannon balls to topple over.

                  Hasn?t got a clue:
                  Without any idea
                  In this instance ?clue? derives from clew, the corner of a sail into which a brass ring was sewn and to which the clew line that held the sail in place, was attached. Should that corner of the sail have become damaged, then the ship could not progress until it was repaired. From this the expression 'get clued up' is derived.

                  Loose cannon:
                  Someone who is unpredictable
                  Heavy cannons were dangerous objects on board ships if not properly secured. In rough weather they could be thrown about the decks; when fired they recoiled violently.

                  No room to swing a cat:
                  in a confined space
                  Floggings using a cat (cat o? nine tails) were carried out on deck because of the restricted space and headroom below decks, where there wasn?t the room to ?swing the cat?.

                  On the fiddle:
                  Gaining illegally
                  Fiddle was the name given to the raised rim on a sailor?s square wooden plate. Not only did the fiddle keep food on the plate, it marked the limit as to how much of a helping a sailor was entitled to. If his helping touched or overlapped the fiddle, therefore ?on the fiddle?, a sailor was said to be ?fiddling?, depriving another sailor of his share of food, which was an offence punishable by flogging.

                  Pull your finger out:
                  Hurry; get a move on
                  Cannons were primed with a small amount of gunpowder poured into an ignition hole. A sailor kept this powder in place with a finger, and was ordered to pull his finger out just before ignition.

                  Son of a gun:
                  Person who may have done something to surprise, annoy, disappoint, or be admired
                  The son of a liaison between a civilian woman, allowed on board whilst ships were in port prior to the 1840s, and an unnamed sailor was recorded in the ship?s log as a ?son of a gun?, implying that the child was conceived on the gun deck.

                  Swing the lead:
                  Shirk whilst giving the impression of working hard
                  Sailors would plumb the depths, measure the depth of water using a lead weight attached to a marked rope. A sailor bored with this task or lazy would sound off false readings, or if he wanted to waste a bit of time he may have pretended to take depth readings when it was not necessary.

                  Turn a blind eye:
                  Ignore
                  At the Battle of Copenhagen in 1801, Nelson was signalled an order from the Admiral of the Fleet. Nelson put his telescope to his blind eye so as not to see the order; thinking that to carry out the order would have endangered his ships on nearby shallows.

                  Whole nine yards:
                  Everything; full measure
                  Square sails were supported at their tops and bottoms by wooden yards, which were attached at right angles to the masts. The ?whole nine yards? describes a three-masted ship sailing with all three major sails unfurled on each mast.

                  For more of these visit: http://www.plymouth.gov.uk/navalsayings
                  Jaspurr

                  [img]http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y56/vitopagano/jaspurr.jpg[/img]

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Originally posted by jaspurr
                    Whole nine yards:
                    Everything; full measure
                    Square sails were supported at their tops and bottoms by wooden yards, which were attached at right angles to the masts. The ?whole nine yards? describes a three-masted ship sailing with all three major sails unfurled on each mast.
                    Thanks, I have been wondering about that one before

                    Comment

                    Cain's Lair Forums Statistics

                    Collapse

                    Topics: 26,182   Posts: 269,814   Members: 6,176   Active Members: 2
                    Welcome to our newest member, 28Farrell8.

                    Today's Birthdays

                    Collapse

                    There are no members with birthdays today.

                    Top Active Users

                    Collapse

                    There are no top active users.

                    More Posts

                    Collapse

                    • Reply to 6 years
                      by Apache Warrior
                      6 Mar 2024, 08:29 AM
                    • Reply to 6 years
                      by Sirex
                      I think there is like a magical time span when bikes become worth a fortune.

                      Yeah thought its now or never haha
                      Just hit 2.5K miles...
                      5 Mar 2024, 04:37 PM
                    • Reply to Hey Guys...It's BrundleFly
                      by Sirex
                      Hey Brundle nice to see your post I remember you very well hows thing with you.

                      Not a busy place here these days but its still up and occasionally...
                      5 Mar 2024, 04:34 PM
                    • Reply to Hell Let Loose
                      by Sirex
                      Hey nice to see you

                      Its not a busy place, least not as busy as it once was but you still get the odd message posted every few weeks...
                      5 Mar 2024, 04:31 PM
                    • Reply to I had Open Heart Surgery!!
                      by Sirex
                      Wow its amazing how well the body can cope with things it deams normal.

                      Hope your recovering well and back to full steam.

                      OH...
                      5 Mar 2024, 04:28 PM
                    Working...
                    X