The next time you are washing your hands and complain because the water temperature isn't how you like it, think about how things used to be. Here are some facts about the 1500's

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 (i'm not saying anything cudds) 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 keep warm so all the small animals mice and 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 'its 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 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 the floor to help keep their footing. As the winter wore on they added more thresh until when you opened the door it would fall out. A piece of wood was placed in the entranceway. Hence the saying  a 'thresh hold'

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 they were considered to be 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 'upper crust'

Lead cups were used to drink ale or whisky, the combination would sometimes knock the drinkers 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 folk started to run 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 realised they had been burying people alive, so they would tie a piece of 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 thats the truth ... Now, whoever said that history was boring !