(Yates Lake Specific)
29 messages
Updated 9/27/2022 5:12:56 PM
Lakes Online Forum
83,644 messages
Updated 5/28/2024 9:14:08 AM
Lakes Online Forum
5,193 messages
Updated 4/3/2024 3:47:36 AM
(Yates Lake Specific)
0 messages
Updated
Lakes Online Forum
4,169 messages
Updated 4/15/2024 11:05:05 PM
Lakes Online Forum
4,261 messages
Updated 5/28/2024 6:31:10 AM
Lakes Online Forum
2,976 messages
Updated 3/20/2024 11:53:43 PM
Lakes Online Forum
98 messages
Updated 4/15/2024 1:00:58 AM
|
|
|
|
Name:
|
MythBuster
- 
|
|
Subject:
|
Pure hokum
|
|
Date:
|
6/21/2006 1:42:00 AM
|
|
Entertaining, but not the least bit factual. This is an email hoax that has been around for a while; for some reason, it continues to catch the gullible; some simple research could put an end to the silliness, but instead those gullible victims forward the email, and help perpetuate a bunch of half-truths and out-and-out lies.
From www.snopes.com (http://www.snopes.com/language/phrases/1500.htm):
In a nutshell, this whole thing is a hoax, someone's idea of an amusing leg-pull. It began its Internet life in April 1999.
As for a specific debunking:
"Most people got married in June. Why? They took their yearly bath in May, so they were till smelling pretty good by June, although they were starting to smell, so the brides would carry a bouquet of flowers to hide their b.o. "
***Although the modern practice of full-immersion bathing was a long way off in the 1500s (among other reasons because filling a vessel large enough to hold a person with heated water was rather impractical given the effort required to collect fresh water and fuel for heating it), people did still "bathe" in the sense of attempting to clean themselves as best they could with the resources at hand.
Although today's brides carry flowers simply because it is now the custom to do so, at one time bridal bouquets were symbols of sexuality and fertility. Covering up anyone's bad smell played no part in why this custom came into being. ***
"Like I said, they took their yearly bath in May, but it was just a big tub that they would fill with hot water. The man of the house would get 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 pretty thick. Thus, the saying, "don't throw the baby out with the bath water," it was so dirty you could actually lose someone in it. "
***Although the admonition against throwing the baby out with the bathwater dates back to the 16th century, its roots are Germanic, not English. Its first written occurrence was in Thomas Murner's 1512 versified satirical book Narrenbeschwörung, and its meaning is purely metaphorical. (In simpler terms, no babies, no bathwater, just a memorable mental image meant to drive home a bit of advice against overreaction.)***
"I'll describe their houses a little. You've heard of thatch roofs, well that's all they were. Thick straw, piled high, with no wood underneath. They were the only place for the little animals to get warm. So all the pets; dogs, cats and other small animals, mice, rats, bugs, all lived in the roof. When it rained it became slippery so sometimes the animals would slip and fall off the roof. Thus the saying, "it's raining cats and dogs," "
***Mice, rats, and bugs definitely take up residence in thatch roofs — to them it's a highrise hay mow. Cats and dogs, however, don't go up there.
The saying it's raining cats and dogs was first noted in the 17th century, not the 16th. A number of theories as to its origin exist:
By evoking the image of cats and dogs fighting in a riotous, all-out manner, it expresses the fury of a sudden downpour.
Primitive drainage systems in use in the 17th century could be overwhelmed by heavy rainstorms, leading to gutters overflowing with debris that included dead animals.
In Northen European mythology, it is believed cats influence the weather and dogs represent wind.
The saying might have derived from the obsolete French word catadoupe, meaning waterfall or cataract.
It might have come from a similar-sounding Greek phrase meaning "an unlikely occurrence." ***
"Since there was nothing to stop things from falling into the house they would just try to clean up a lot. But this posed a real problem in the bedroom where bugs and other droppings from animals could really mess up your nice clean bed, so they found if they would make beds with big posts and hang a sheet over the top it would prevent that problem. That's where those beautiful big 4 poster beds with canopies came from."
****Canopied four-poster beds were the province of the well-to-do, not the ordinary folk. Possibly their origin had to do with a desire to display wealth conspicuously by showing off rich tapestries and fabrics. Beautifully thick wall hangings were likewise a way of dressing up a room while at the same time putting on the dog a bit. (The hangings also served to keep the warmth of a room in.)
Such fripperies were not the norm in lesser households where available funds would more likely be directed to keeping people fed and clothed than to decorative flourishes. ****
"When you came into the house you would notice most times that the floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something other than dirt, that's where the saying "dirt poor" came from."
****Dirt poor is an American expression, not a British one. Claims that the saying grew out of British class distinctions as measured by style of flooring are just plain silly.
Floors were never bare dirt anyway. Fresh reeds were laid on them every day and thrown out every night, with another fresh set brought in for sleeping on. In the summer months, aromatic herbs might be added to this vegetative underfooting. ***
"The wealthy would have slate floors. That was fine but in the winter they would get slippery when they got wet. So they started to spread thresh on the floor to help keep their footing. As the winter wore on they would just keep adding it and adding it until when you opened the door it would all start slipping outside. So they put a piece of wood at the entry way, a "thresh hold". "
***As stated above, the reeds were changed daily. Besides, who ever heard of calling reeds, rushes, or sheaves of grass "threshes"? One threshes plants to separate stalk from seed, but no part of the plant is called the "thresh."
The "thresh" part of threshold apparently comes from a prehistoric source that denoted "making noise" and is related to the Old Church Slavonik tresku, meaning "crash." By the time it reached Germanic (thresk-), it was probably being used for "stamp the feet noisily" (something that's a good idea to do in a doorway if you're wearing muddy boots). ***
"In the kitchen they would cook over the fire, they had a fireplace in the kitchen/parlor, that was seldom used and sometimes in the master bedroom. They had a big kettle that always hung over the fire and every day they would light the fire and start adding things to the pot.
Mostly they ate vegetables, they didn't get much meat. They would eat the stew for dinner then leave the leftovers in the pot to get cold overnight and then start over the next day. Sometimes the stew would have food in it that had been in there for a month! Thus the rhyme: peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge in the pot nine days old." "
***Even some cooking practices of today call for tossing whatever's on hand into the stewpot, with new ingredients added each day to whatever is left over. French bouillabaisse, for instance, is sometimes made this way, as are any number of "peasants' stews." ***
"Sometimes they could get a hold on some pork. They really felt special when that happened and when company came over they even had a rack in the parlor where they would bring out some bacon and hang it to show it off. That was a sign of wealth and that a man "could really bring home the bacon." "
****Surprisingly, one authority states the saying predates the 16th century, asserting it comes from the 12th and refers to a time when a slab of bacon was awarded to the happiest married couple. A man who theref
|
|
Reply
Back
Search
Yates Lake Topics Forum
»
Alabama Lakes
»
Yates Lake
Login
|
Home
