#12

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...

I was actually thinking about this today during outside duty...nothing else to do and i keep my mind busy to not think about the cold /laugh.png' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':mellow:' />

this seems a bit far fetched to me. english coffins are not like american ones, they are

quite small, no extra room needed. i would assume they were the same back then. once

you stick the lid on the coffin and bury it under dirt how much oxygen would be available

to keep someone alive? now i'm sure the coffin's were not air tight, so if there really were

claw marks on the inside of the lid it seems to me that the clawing must have happened

sometime between putting the lid on, dropping the coffin into the hole and completely

covering the coffin in dirt, or shortly there after it was completely covered. by the time

the hole was completely filled it would seem to me the breathable air would be gone.

also, im not sure how in a coffin so compact that there would be room to claw at the

lid. i believe that the people back then may have believed people were in their coffins

clawing to get out. what i'd like to know is if there is any documented proof of someone

working the "graveyard shift" having to dig up a grave because the bell was rung.

I know there's one NOT here that probably should be. The "Mad Hatter" from Alice in Wonderland is a variation on the expression "mad as a hatter". It's a reference to the occupational hazard that effected people who made hats. The chemicals they used to make the hats (the dyes for color and treatments to give the hats their form) often used w/out the benefit of proper breathing apparatus and/or ventilation/fresh air would, over time make them a little unbalanced and odd.

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...

Lead cups were used to drink ale or whiskey. 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.

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.

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.

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.

I got this as an email a couple of weeks ago. It was pretty interesting.

Yeah, me too, that's why I'm posting it!! /biggrin.png' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':angry:' />

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.

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.

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 n ice 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.

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.”

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!"

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.