# "Life in the 1500s" e-mail --- any of this true? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 9, 2001, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-in-the-1500s-e-mail-any-of-this-true/53849 "2001-02-09T23:31:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![pezwookiee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9d8465/32.png) [@pezwookiee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pezwookiee)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2001, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-in-the-1500s-e-mail-any-of-this-true/53849/1 "2001-02-09T23:31:24Z")
Here’s one of those things where it seems like one would have to be pretty gullible to believe all this stuff, but I can’t say I can disprove any of it either. Can anybody out there prove to me that the following message from an e-mail is fake? Can anyone prove its validity? \> 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 still smelled pretty good by June. However, they were starting to \> smell \> so brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the body odor. \> \> 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 rats, 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 “It’s raining cats and dogs.” \> \> There was nothing to stop droppings from coming into the house. This 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 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 \> entry way–hence, a “thresh hold.” \> \> 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 “would 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 a 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. \> \> Most people did not have pewter plates, but had trenchers, a piece of wood \> \> with the middle scooped out like a bowl. Often trenchers were made from \> stale \> pays and bread which was so old and hard that they could use them for \> quite \> some time. Trenchers were never washed and a lot of times worms and mold \> got \> into the wood and old bread. After eating off wormy moldy trenchers, one \> would get “trench mouth.” \> \> 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 whiskey. 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 they started out 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, one 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.” ---
**Author:** ![Crunchy\_Frog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ebca7d/32.png) [@Crunchy\_Frog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crunchy_Frog)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2001, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-in-the-1500s-e-mail-any-of-this-true/53849/2 "2001-02-09T23:39:39Z")
Here you go, a link from [Snopes](http://www.snopes2.com/spoons/fracture/1500.htm) that talks all about this. Someone just made this stuff up. ---
**Author:** ![panamajack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/47e85d/32.png) [@panamajack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panamajack)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2001, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-in-the-1500s-e-mail-any-of-this-true/53849/3 "2001-02-09T23:46:23Z")
Crunchy Frog’s already got the link to the best answer. And in case you didn’t know before, ‘Snopes’ ([www.snopes.com](http://www.snopes.com))is one of the best web sites to go to for information about the veracity of urban legends & popular e-mail forwards (esp. the latter). It’s highly regarded as being very correct, and it’s rather extensive. ---
**Author:** ![pezwookiee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9d8465/32.png) [@pezwookiee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pezwookiee)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2001, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-in-the-1500s-e-mail-any-of-this-true/53849/4 "2001-02-09T23:53:04Z")
Once again, you’ve come through for me, **Crunchy Frog**. I’ve already been a nerdy spoil-sport and sent a link to snopes to the fella that sent me the e-mail. BWAHAHAHAHA!! ---
**Author:** ![manhattan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manhattan/32/7_2.png) [@manhattan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manhattan)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2001, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-in-the-1500s-e-mail-any-of-this-true/53849/5 "2001-02-10T00:14:33Z")
That’s not being a “nerdy spoil-sport,” **Pez** , it’s signing up as a full-fledged warrior against the forces of ignorance. Thank you, and welcome to the force! ---
**Author:** ![Crunchy\_Frog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ebca7d/32.png) [@Crunchy\_Frog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crunchy_Frog)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2001, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-in-the-1500s-e-mail-any-of-this-true/53849/6 "2001-02-10T00:33:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by pezwookiee \* > \*\*Once again, you’ve come through for me, **Crunchy Frog**. \*\* Speaking of which, how often do you listen to that tape of the Muppet Movie Soundtrack? (That was you right?) ---
**Author:** ![pezwookiee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9d8465/32.png) [@pezwookiee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pezwookiee)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2001, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-in-the-1500s-e-mail-any-of-this-true/53849/7 "2001-02-10T21:35:44Z")
You sent the tape? Drat, I haven’t recieved it. Well, thanks for trying anyhow, **Crunchy Frog**. Man, the Muppet Movie was good. Can’t bring that up enough. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Crunchy\_Frog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ebca7d/32.png) [@Crunchy\_Frog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crunchy_Frog)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2001, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-in-the-1500s-e-mail-any-of-this-true/53849/8 "2001-02-10T23:23:53Z")
Email me your address and I’ll send another one, it’s no trouble really.