The next time you're 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 dogs, 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, which posed a real problem in the bedroom where bugs and other droppings could really 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 the floor to help keep their footing. As the winter wore on, they kept adding 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 "threshhold." 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 the 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 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, and guests got the top, or "uppercrust." Lead cups were used to drink ale or whisky. The combination would sometimes knock them 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 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 was considered a "dead ringer." And that's the truth...... Now , whoever said that History was boring ! ! ! !
LOL. This is how urban legends propagate. Though a few of these (e.g. saved by the bell) may be true.
From About.com's Medieval History section: The article goes on to debunk each of the assertions, from weddings to wakes. It's quite interesting. The Bad Old Days: Debunking modern myths about the Middle Ages More of this Feature
Subject: What the world was like in 1902. It is amazing how different a hundred years ago. Following are statistics from 1902: The average life expectancy in the United States was forty-seven. Only 14% of the homes in the USA had bathtubs. Only 8% had telephones. A three minute call from Denver to New York cost $11.00. There were only 8,000 cars in the USA and only 144 miles of paved roads. The maximum speed limit in most cities was 10 miles an hour. Alabama, Mississippi, Iowa, and Tennessee were each more heavily populated than California. (With a mere 1.4 million residents). California was only the 21st most populated state in the union. The tallest structure in the world was the Eiffel Tower in France. The average wage in the USA was 22 cents an hour. The average USA worker made between $200 and $400 dollars per year. More than 95% of all births in the USA took place at home. All USA physicians had no college education. In fact, many attended medical schools, which were condemned in the press and by the government as "substandard." Sugar cost four cents a pound. Eggs were fourteen cents a dozen. Most women only washed their hair once a month and used Borax or egg yolks for shampoo. Canada passed a law prohibiting poor people from entering their country for any reason. The five leading causes of death in the United States were: Pneumonia and Influenza Tuberculosis Diarrhea Heart Disease Stroke The American flag had 45 stars, Alaska, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Hawaii and Arizona hadn't been admitted to the Union yet. There were no Mother's Day, or Father's Day. One in ten USA adults could not read or write. Only 6% of Americans had graduated from High School. 18% of households in the USA had at least one full time servant or domestic. Just think what it will be like in another 100 years. It boggles the mind. Have a great 2003, and enjoy all the progressions we have made in the United States in the last 100 years.
I also noticed three other interesting things in this list from the Univeristy of Chicago Law School's Centenial website: -There were 230 reported murders in the entire US -The population of Las Vegas, Nevada was 30 -Marijuana, heroin, and morphine were all available over the counter at corner drugstores. I wonder if these three are related...
Thanks for the link. I wondered where the info on that one came from. It was sent to me as a forward, of a forward, of a forward, etc..... you get the picture.
Please allow me to add a few items to this list: In 1946: Gasoline sold for 19 cents a gallon (Source: Exxon) A pound of ground hamburger for 15 cents (Source: A&P) A ride on public transit was 5 cents (Chicago Transit stats) A weeks groceries for a family of four averaged around $16.00 Two tickets to see a baseball game (major league) went for $6.00 (Source: my dad) Yes.......things have definitely changed!
I believe that the ratio for comparing prices in this time frame to prices today in terms of constant dollars is approximately 1:10. It's interesting that, in those terms, gasoline has gotten cheaper, but public transit has gotten more expensive. No wonder most urban areas are endless traffic jams.
Sounds like the tactics used by degree mills: 1. Advertise the degree as "clean" and "smelling pretty good." 2. Stress the importance of enrolling "now," because next month may be too late. 3. Carry plenty of flowers, i.e., accolades and fake accreditations so as to distract from the unbearable stench which is soon to follow. 4. In just a few months the degree will really begin to decompose and exude a very putrid odor. So is lower academic life in the 2000's!
Re: Re: The Good Old Days Yes, but back in the good old days there weren't as many diploma mills......today the competition between diploma mills has created a stench that is unbearable and yet seems to be unnoticed in some corporate circles (Columbia State University degrees still being accepted by employers).
