This was emailed to me, not sure about the facts but interesting none the less.

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"Where did Piss Poor come from? [Not being rude!]

Interesting History
They used to use urine to tan animal skins, so families used to all pee in a pot & then once a day it was taken & sold to the tannery, if you had to do this to survive you were "Piss Poor"



But worse than that were there all the poor folk who couldn't even afford to buy a pot ...... They "didn't have a pot to piss in" & were the lowest of the low.



The next time you are washing your hands and complain be cause 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 then came the babies. By then the water was so dirty you could actually lose some one 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 some times 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 some hing 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 threshhold.
In those old days, they cooked in the kitchen with a big kettle that always hung over the fire .... Everyday 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 awhile. Hence the rhyme: Peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge in the pot nine days old.

Some times 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 poison.

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.

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 bonehouse, 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 grave yard 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, who ever said History was boring!!! "

lol too funny

Thats all really cool!!

I can say the last part about dead ringers is 100% correct. My girlfriend is working on starting a funeral home and is going to school for that stuff right now and she told me about that.

So, there was this Pittsburgh Steeler fan who became despondent from watching the Super Bowl. He decided he couldn't go on. He went to church to pray for a reason to continue. He prayed for several hours and felt no divine intervention. He decided that perhaps he needed to be closer to the Lord in order to be heard. So, he climbed up into the bell tower and prayed for several more hours without so much as a parting of the clouds. Then a thought occurred to him. With that, he backed up and proceeded to run head on into the bell; he successively backed up and ran head on into the bell. The more he proceeded, the more the bell swung and the more the flowing blood blurred his vision. Until, finally, he ran and missed the bell. He plunged out of the tower and landed on the sidewalk. A crowd gathered around and a man asked, "Father, do you know this man?" The priest replied, No, but his face sure rings a bell."

Another man, realizing that the dead man was his brother, became despondent and went into the church to pray for a Lazarusian intervention. Unfortunately, the prayers were ineffective. Like his brother, he decided to climb to the top of the bell tower for his prayers to be better heard. Looking down from the bell tower, he too decided to run headlong into the bell. With each successive run, the bell swung a bit more and his vision became more clouded. Until, finally, he too missed and landed on the sidewalk next to his brother. A man asked, "Father, do you know this man?" The priest replied, "No, but he sure is a dead ringer for his brother."

...and, that's how I heard the saying came about. :0

[This message has been edited by carnut122 (edited 03-03-2011).]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by carnut122:

So, there was this Pittsburgh Steeler fan who became despondent from watching the Super Bowl. He decided he couldn't go on. He went to church to pray for a reason to continue. He prayed for several hours and felt no divine intervention. He decided that perhaps he needed to be closer to the Lord in order to be heard. So, he climbed up into the bell tower and prayed for several more hours without so much as a parting of the clouds. Then a thought occurred to him. With that, he backed up and proceeded to run head on into the bell; he successively backed up and ran head on into the bell. The more he proceeded, the more the bell swung and the more the flowing blood blurred his vision. Until, finally, he ran and missed the bell. He plunged out of the tower and landed on the sidewalk. A crowd gathered around and a man asked, "Father, do you know this man?" The priest replied, No, but his face sure rings a bell."

Another man, realizing that the dead man was his brother, became despondent and went into the church to pray for a Lazarusian intervention. Unfortunately, the prayers were ineffective. Like his brother, he decided to climb to the top of the bell tower for his prayers to be better heard. Looking down from the bell tower, he too decided to run headlong into the bell. With each successive run, the bell swung a bit more and his vision became more clouded. Until, finally, he too missed and landed on the sidewalk next to his brother. A man asked, "Father, do you know this man?" The priest replied, "No, but he sure is a dead ringer for his brother."

...and, that's how I heard the saying came about. :0

[/QUOTE

OMG funny!!!

Heard last week the the saying, "Does your mother wear combat boots"?, stems from the prostitutes that followed the GIs in WW ll. They wore them because they were hicking right along with our guys.
Many guys brought wives back with them, but was she pluck from a town, or her combat boots?

quote Originally posted by 2.5: This was emailed to me, not sure about the facts but interesting none the less. "Where did Piss Poor come from? [Not being rude!] Interesting History They used to use urine to tan animal skins, so families used to all pee in a pot & then once a day it was taken & sold to the tannery, if you had to do this to survive you were "Piss Poor"...

These are the things I like to tell people when they go on about the "good old times".

[This message has been edited by yellowstone (edited 03-04-2011).]

Ladies of the night were a priviledge for Generals during the Civil War. These ladies usually hung around the Generals' tent "for his pleasure."

These ladies in one case were referred to as "Hooker's girls" as the then Gen Hooker had many "ladies who were assigned to his tent."

These ladies over time, came to be known as "Hookers."

now you know the rest of the story.

Cold enough to Freeze the Balls off a Brass Monkey...

In the days of sailing ships with canons, it was handy to keep a supply of canon -balls- next to the canon. A pyramid stack was the most stable. But to keep the base layer in place there was needed some type of keeper. At first a iron plate with indentations was tried. This did not work as the iron on iron would rust in the salt environment and fuse together. A better solution was to use a -brass- plate which was called a -monkey-. This worked well except for the differential in contraction of the metals. That is, when it got very cold the brass would contract and, " Freeze the Balls off a Brass Monkey".

[This message has been edited by DeV8er (edited 03-04-2011).]

quote Originally posted by htexans1: Ladies of the night were a priviledge for Generals during the Civil War. These ladies usually hung around the Generals' tent "for his pleasure." These ladies in one case were referred to as "Hooker's girls" as the then Gen Hooker had many "ladies who were assigned to his tent." These ladies over time, came to be known as "Hookers." now you know the rest of the story.

The European version would probably be more relevant
In Holland, the prostitutes would, and often still do, gather on the corner of certain streets in Town to ply their trade. Dutch for 'corner' (as in street corner ) is 'Hoek'...( Om de Hoek'..round the corner, or bend)..and so they became 'Hoekers'
Nick

[This message has been edited by fierofetish (edited 03-04-2011).]

Here you go:

http://users.tinyonline.co....henbank/sayingsr.htm

quote Originally posted by yellowstone: These are the things I like to tell people when they go on about the "good old times".

Wasn't that long ago people were running to the well with a bucket to get drinking water, and running to the outhouse to dispose of it.

Doubt they bathed very often. Good times indeed. It is funny how some things people say everyday they really have no idea the origin of.

[This message has been edited by 2.5 (edited 03-04-2011).]