# Were the middle ages in Europe really miserable for the average person? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 4, 2014, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-the-middle-ages-in-europe-really-miserable-for-the-average-person/689986 "2014-06-04T02:23:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2014, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-the-middle-ages-in-europe-really-miserable-for-the-average-person/689986/61 "2014-06-05T18:52:19Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > A peasant sees the Lord of the High Castle ride by and thinks “I hope that guy doesn’t fuck my wife and then cut off my head if I complain”. That wasn’t really happening. > [@msmith537](#): > > And these days, there are a lot more paths to gaining wealth than inheriting it. Well, that’s what they want you to believe. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2014, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-the-middle-ages-in-europe-really-miserable-for-the-average-person/689986/62 "2014-06-05T19:58:40Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > LSLGuy - Sorry I’m not up on your “drug lingo”. “Heroin” is a drug derived from opium plants. “Heroine” is the female lead character of a story. “Overdosing”, i.e. having too much of, female lead characters is usually what happens to male lead characters. Most of whom lead pretty charmed or at least exciting lives. At least viewed superficially. It was a weak joke, but I only had a single “e” to work with. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2014, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-the-middle-ages-in-europe-really-miserable-for-the-average-person/689986/63 "2014-06-05T20:43:12Z")
You work with what you have. An overdose of heroines, I should have such troubles. Although… > [@LSLGuy](#): > > \*\*\*\*ed to death by an Angelina Jolie character sure beats dying of piles. Hell, few things don’t. ---
**Author:** ![Hector\_St\_Clare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5ac83/32.png) [@Hector\_St\_Clare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hector_St_Clare)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2014, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-the-middle-ages-in-europe-really-miserable-for-the-average-person/689986/64 "2014-06-05T22:32:25Z")
> [@even\_sven](#): > > This. The number of harvests a given crop can have is fixed, depending on the environment. > > The theory I’ve heard is that rice is a plentiful crop, but requires a lot of work over a long period, which encourages communal farming. Wheat isn’t a as bountiful, but it requires less work overall, so it encourages independence. Corn is awesome, but has a nasty habit of failing periodically, which some blame for the violence found in the Americas. > > This all sounds too neat and clean for my tastes, however. Wheat has another advantage over corn and rice in that it has a lot more protein. ---
**Author:** ![MichaelEmouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/michaelemouse/32/101_2.png) [@MichaelEmouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MichaelEmouse)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2014, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-the-middle-ages-in-europe-really-miserable-for-the-average-person/689986/65 "2014-06-05T23:00:57Z")
How well do corn and rice keep? Doesn’t wheat keep for about as long as you can keep it dry and vermin-free? ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2014, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-the-middle-ages-in-europe-really-miserable-for-the-average-person/689986/66 "2014-06-05T23:28:52Z")
It depends on how important you think it is to have anesthetics for thoracic surgery, tooth extractions and amputations. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2014, 8:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-the-middle-ages-in-europe-really-miserable-for-the-average-person/689986/67 "2014-06-06T08:45:56Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > If you’d tried to tell early Christians that there can’t be a God because there’s suffering in the world, they wouldn’t have understood what you were getting at. But was 90% of their continual religious belief still based upon whether God helps their high school football team or gives them Grammys like we do today or not? Severed head ball? It’s like that old joke where golf was invented by a Scotsman with a warhammer and some heads. > [@Nava](#): > > Not quite: the name comes in opposition to _Languedoui_. The terms Languedoc and Languedoui are, respectively, “the language in which yes is _oc_” and “the language in which yes is _oui_” (aka French). Nitpick: langues d’oïl is the more common term, representing the old word. It’s “oui” now, but also Standard French isn’t the only oïl language, e.g. Walloon, Picard. There are also the Q-Celtic languages, but only 1 of 3 of them has the letter Q normally (the sound is still the same as K/C). The diaresis splits the vowels, so it’s oh-eel or oh-ee, and the latter mutated to wee. > [@msmith537](#): > > LSLGuy - Sorry I’m not up on your “drug lingo”. How much heroin could our heroine’s mount carry? Alternatively, how much horse can her horse carry? Does she have the shakes or is she just horsin’ around? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-the-middle-ages-in-europe-really-miserable-for-the-average-person/689986.md?page=3)