Ever wonder where a phrase or word came from? Here are a few answers. These phrases all originate from conditions of life in the 1500s:"Don't throw the baby out with the bath water."
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.
"It's raining cats and dogs."
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 dogs, cats and other small animals (mice, rats, and bugs) lived in the roof. When it rained it became slippery, and sometimes the animals would slip and fall off the roof.
"Dirt poor."
The floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something other than dirt.
"Thresh hold."
The wealthy had slate floors that would get slippery in the winter when wet, so they spread thresh (the straw left over after threshing grain) on the floor to help keep their footing. As the winter wore on, they kept adding more and more thresh until when you opened the door it would all start slipping outside. To prevent this, a piece of wood was placed in the entrance way.
"Peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge in the pot nine days old."
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 the stew had food in it that had been there for quite awhile.
"Bring home the bacon."
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 bring home the bacon.
"Chew the fat."
They would cut off a little to share with guests and would all sit around and "chew the fat."
"Upper crust.
Bread was divided according to status. Workers got the burnt bottom of the loaf, the family got the middle, and guests got the top.
"Saved by the bell."
England is old and small and they started running out of places to bury people. So they would dig up coffins, take the bones to a "bone-house" and reuse the grave. When reopening these coffins, one out of 25 coffins were found to have scratch marks on the inside and they realized they had been burying people alive. So they thought 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 be considered "a dead ringer."
