"Piss Poor"

The following was received from a friend tonight. I can't vouch for its accuracy:

Where did "piss poor" come from?

We older people need to learn something
new every day -- just to keep the
grey matter tuned up.

Where did "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 piss in," and were
the lowest of the low. 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 they
still smelled pretty good by June. However,
since they were starting to smell,
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 entrance-way.
Hence: 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!!!?

So get out there and educate someone!
Share these facts with a friend.