Facts and Knowledge (nothing to do with bikes).

[MacValk]

Saturday night. Wife is out. I'm stuck in the house. Bored, bored, bored.
What shall I do?
I know !
I'll stick some interesting trivia on the Varadero Owners Forum Site.
There might be another saddo out there who finds it as interesting as I do.
(Man.... I need to get out more!)


This is quite interesting, and educational

The 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 odour. 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 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, 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 things from falling 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/ dirt rich."
* * * * * *
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 kept adding more thresh until when you opened the door it would all start slipping outside. A  piece of wood was placed in the entranceway. Hence the saying a "thresh hold."
* * * * * *
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."
* * * * * *
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 and death. This happened most often with tomatoes, so for the next 400 years or so, tomatoes were considered 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 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 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 realised 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."
********


Now was that little lot not interesting (or am I really that sad?).

MacValk

[Redeye]

Somebody wake me up! 

[the boy tim]

BOO!

[happychappy]

Stunning! Absolutely stunning. 

I am stunned

I am now speechless 

I am also very impressed

Have you got a copy of Scott's Miscellany?

ps; I read this thread AFTER I posted my reply to your"horse's ar*e / space shuttle" thread. Are you able to concentrate whilst riding your bike, what with all that knowledge zooming about inside you crash hat?

[MacValk]

Mmmmm

Me thinks me detects a slight hint of sarcasm Mr HappyChappy.

Just for that, heres another piece of interesting trivia for you.
Perhaps it will make you think twice before mocking me again..........

The term "the whole 9 yards" came from W.W.II fighter pilots in the Pacific. When arming their airplanes on the ground, the .50 caliber machine gun ammo belts measured exactly 27 feet, before being loaded into the fuselage.  If the pilots fired all their ammo at a target, it got "the whole 9 yards."

[happychappy]

On the contrary, dear MacValk; I am truly & mightily impressed. 

I am renowned within my family, social peer group, and workplace for having a head full of useless information. Useless until the right situation comes along, that is 

What we really need to do is find a quiz night in some pub somewhere with a big money prize. Then we can jack-in work.

For over a year (-until they changed the rules to stop us winning {"infamy, infamy; they've all got it infamy"}), my mate and I used to win the quiz on a Tuesday night in the Claremont Hotel in Kilwinning almost week-in, week-out. The prize was usually a ?25 restaurant voucher, which we took turns at using for Sunday lunch with our respective wives.

And Redeye has been good enough to create a new space for all this new information.

[MacValk]

 {"infamy, infamy; they've all got it infamy"}),


I'll name that quote in one.

Kenneth Williams as Sir Bernard Cutting in Carry On Matron,  1972, when he was talking to Matron (Hattie Jacques).

Quiz night, no problem. With our combined wealth of useless knowledge I am sure we will be invincible.

[happychappy]

My dear wife has read all your posts, and says I've only to meet you in a public place, where there's lots of other people, and CCTV cameras.

p.s.: If you yelled for 8 years, 7 months and 6 days, you would have produced enough sound energy to heat one cup of coffee. If you fart consistently for 6 years and 9 months, enough gas is produced to create the energy of an atomic bomb.

Americans on the average eat 18 acres of pizza every day.... each.

14% of all facts and statisticts are made up, and 27% of people know that fact.

[MacValk]

Mr HappyChappy, please tell Mrs HappyChappy that I am touched by her concern for my safety.
Not many wives would recommend that people should meet their husbands only in areas with many other people about and CCTV cameras.

You must be a nasty piece of work!!!

[Redeye]

Never heard George Clooney called a "nasty piece of work" before!

[MacValk]

Are you sure it was GEORGE Clooney and not ROSEMARY Clooney ? ? ?

[Redeye]

Not sure.......but he/she was too big to ask....

[happychappy]