Liverpool FC Forum

[Reg]

There is an old Hotel/Pub in Marble Arch, London, which used to have a gallows adjacent to it.
Prisoners were taken to the gallows (after a fair trial of course) to be hanged.
The horse-drawn dray, carting the prisoner, was accompanied by an armed guard, who would stop the dray outside the pub and ask the prisoner if he would Like ''ONE LAST DRINK''.  If he said YES, it was referred to as ONE FOR THE ROAD.
If he declined, that Prisoner was ON THE WAGON.
So there you go ... More history.

They used to use urine to tan animal skins, so families used to all pee in a pot and t hen once a day it was taken and sold to the tannery.
If you had to do this to survive you were "***** poor", but worse than that were the really poor folk, who couldn't even afford to buy a pot,
they "Didn't have a pot to ***** in" and were the lowest of the low.

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 they still smelled pretty good by June.
However, since they were starting to smell, 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 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 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 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. Hence: a thresh hold. (Getting quite an education, aren't you?)

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 talking 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 ''The Upper Crust''.

Lead cups were used to drink ale or whisky. 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''. 


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 would tie a string on the wrist of the corpse, thread 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 that's the truth.

Now, whoever said history was boring ! ! ! So ..... get out there and educate someone!

[woof woof !]

I well remember living through some of those "historical" practices Reg  !

In particular

"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."

Early '50's life on Merseyside was still pretty "rustic"   

The bath was hung up on a nail in the back yard for most of the week BUT friday night it was brought inside, filled with pot''s and pans of hot water and we all took our turn   

The "good old days"             

[damjan193]

I never understood the not bathing thing. Even rich people didn't bathe back then. Was water such a rarity?

[Reg]

My old man was born in 1931 and lived in the Dingle until he got married at 29. Every bath he had was in a tin bath in the living room until then, my gran only got an indoor bathroom some time in the early 60's. A think they were given government grants to get bathrooms?

[MerioNIcelt]

I've discovered quite a lot of helpful info on your website particularly this page. Many thanks for sharing.

[RED BEERGOGGLES]

There is an old Hotel/Pub in Marble Arch, London, which used to have a gallows adjacent to it.
Prisoners were taken to the gallows (after a fair trial of course) to be hanged.
The horse-drawn dray, carting the prisoner, was accompanied by an armed guard, who would stop the dray outside the pub and ask the prisoner if he would Like ''ONE LAST DRINK''.  If he said YES, it was referred to as ONE FOR THE ROAD.
If he declined, that Prisoner was ON THE WAGON.
So there you go ... More history.

They used to use urine to tan animal skins, so families used to all pee in a pot and t hen once a day it was taken and sold to the tannery.
If you had to do this to survive you were "***** poor", but worse than that were the really poor folk, who couldn't even afford to buy a pot,
they "Didn't have a pot to ***** in" and were the lowest of the low.

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 they still smelled pretty good by June.
However, since they were starting to smell, 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 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 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 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. Hence: a thresh hold. (Getting quite an education, aren't you?)

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 talking 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 ''The Upper Crust''.

Lead cups were used to drink ale or whisky. 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''. 


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 would tie a string on the wrist of the corpse, thread 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 that's the truth.

Now, whoever said history was boring ! ! ! So ..... get out there and educate someone!

Brilliant that Reg ,really enjoyed reading it,born and raised in the Dingle myself , just off Mill St .

[Reg]

My gran was in Alwyn Street down at the St Michael's end.  Dad played at the rugby club in St Michaels in the Hamlet and we used to go visit gran after the games on the way home. I reality I think dad needed to sober up before mum sussed him. I remember the house well but that would be nearly 50 years ago now Red........ 

[RED BEERGOGGLES]

My gran was in Alwyn Street down at the St Michael's end.  Dad played at the rugby club in St Michaels in the Hamlet and we used to go visit gran after the games on the way home. I reality I think dad needed to sober up before mum sussed him. I remember the house well but that would be nearly 50 years ago now Red........ 

Alwyn St was in Aigburth mate, just off Aigburth Rd ,I done all my courting down there in my youth by the infamous Wench bench .Jesus,I haven't talked about the Wench bench for years ,so called because ......well I think you can guess     

I was born in Moses St which is one of the streets from that collective referred to as the Holy land ,there was also Jacob St ,Isaac St and David St . I remember David being the only street that allowed the Orange Lodge to walk up it ,even the suggestion of attempting to walk up the other streets 'all staunch Catholics' would see my dad and all the other parents drafting up a battle plan ,our house resembled a War room at times mate ,things were really hostile back then and only a visit from the local priest would quell the insurgents   Looking back, it sounds ridiculous that such events could unfold over your religious persuasion and in hindsight I actually believe the priest got huge satisfaction from calling back his soldiers. People were scared witless by priests in those days ,I can remember being slapped so hard by the old Irish ***** that I hit my face on the wall and when I went home my Dad was determined to find out who done this and seek rapid retribution ,my dad with a snarl on his face and in full flight heading for the door was easily the most disconcerting of experiences I witnessed back then but when I finally blurted out it was the priest his hurry dropped to an uneasy shuffle and he stood transfixed with his hand frozen on the doorknob "Father Morgan " and that was that ,as my dad would say 'finished with engines' . I mean this was a priest that would pull Dockers out of pubs by the scruff of the neck on the bequest of their long suffering wives ,this was a priest who could drink his weight in whiskey and one I've personally seen knock fellas out before they've even  hit the ground. He was in all honesty a cantankerous ,evil ***** and a huge giant of a man that threw an extremely ominous shadow .....what else could he have been other than a priest 

[Reg]

1. Let the cat out of the bag
Meaning: To disclose a secret, normally without meaning to.

Origin: Paul Anthony Jones explains how the phrase originates from the days when you would go down to an agricultural fair and buy “a prize piglet that would get put in a sack and you’d take it back home and when you open the sack again you’d find it was just a stray cat, and you’d been had.”

Example: “The party was meant to be a surprise but Dad let the cat out of the bag by turning up with a giant cake.”

2. Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth
Meaning: Don't find fault with something that you’ve been given as a gift.

Origin: A horse’s value is determined by its age, and this can be worked out by looking in its mouth: a horse’s teeth get longer as it gets older. To look a horse you’ve been given in the mouth is therefore to assess its value and, quite frankly, on the rude side. This proverb first appeared in print in 1546 when John Heywood wrote: “No man ought to look a geuen [given] hors [horse] in the mouth.”

Example: “Thanks for my birthday present! Of course I’d rather the jumper wasn’t yellow, but I won’t look a gift horse in the mouth.”

3. The whole nine yards
Meaning: Everything there is, or all the way.

Origin: This is an idiom, Paul says, where “there are plenty of ideas” about its origins. Could it be the amount of fabric needed to make a kilt or a nun’s habit? The length of a WWII fighter pilot’s ammunition? The length of the hangman’s noose?


This cat doesn't like bags.

Horses' teeth get longer as they get older.
Luckily, Dr Laura Wright in Word of Mouth went the whole nine yards to get us the answer: in 1885 a newspaper in Indiana ran a story about a judge’s oversized shirt with the quote, “she’s put the whole nine yards in to one shirt”. The phrase carried across the pond and has stayed in circulation ever since.

Raising one's hackles originally came from the quills on the back of a cockerel, which stand up when the bird gets angry.
Example: “Now we’ve spent this much on the wedding we may as well go the whole nine yards and get a horse drawn carriage.”

4. Over the moon
Meaning: To be ecstatically happy.

Origin: The origin of this one comes from the popular 16th century nursery rhyme, Hey Diddle Diddle: “Hey diddle diddle, the cat and the fiddle, the cow jumped over the moon. The little dog laughed to see such fun and the dish ran away with the spoon.”

Example: “We’ve won the lottery! I’m over the moon.”

5. Raise one’s hackles
Meaning: To greatly irritate, annoy, or aggravate someone.

Origin: Paul explains that the word hackle has evolved to mean “the fur on the back of a cat” but, he says, “if you look it up in the dictionary it originally referred to the quills on the back of a cockerel and these will be pushed up when the cockerel gets angry or enraged.”

Example: “You shouldn’t have told Terry his tagine needed more salt – you’ve really raised his hackles.”

6. Bite the bullet
Meaning: To decide to do something difficult or unpleasant.

Origin: It could be that this phrase sprung from the battlefield, at a time preceding anaesthesia or painkillers. For a patient undergoing surgery, a bullet is said to have been an impromptu wartime alternative to biting down on a piece of wood.

Example: “I’m going to bite the bullet and tell the kids the TV is broken.”

7. Caught red-handed
Meaning: To be caught in the act of doing something wrong.

Origin: An old law meant that the only way a person could be convicted of poaching is if he was caught with the animal’s blood on his hands. The first written mention of “red hand” is in the Scottish Acts of Parliament of James I, from 1432: “That the offender be taken reid [red] hand.”

Example: “Ha! I knew you were cheating on me and now I’ve caught you red-handed, canoodling in the street!”

8. Don’t throw the baby out with the bath water
Meaning: Don’t get rid of something valuable or good along with the bad.

Origin: This was originally a German proverb from the 1500s, when the whole household would have shared the same bathwater. The head of the house would have bathed first, followed by the rest of the men, then the women, the children – and lastly the baby. By this point the water would have been dark with dirt and a baby could accidentally be thrown out with the filthy water!

Example: “Don’t start the whole essay from scratch and throw the baby out with the bath water – there are lots of good ideas in there worth keeping.”

[ycsatbjywtbiastkamb]

I always thought the gift horse thing had something to do with the wooden horse of Troy.

[red till i die!!]

Nice op although I thought it was about the movie when I read the thread title  .

Anyone ever hear of greeting the magpie ? My Gran used to swear by that one. Morning Mr Magpie and how is your wife. Apparently its unlucky to see a lone magpie. One for sorrow, Two for joy it goes. Don't think talking to It will make a blind bit of difference but there you go.

Think that one pleased as punch came from that freaky puppet who beats the baby and then the wife to death whilst having the time of his life.    And to think some complain about what the kids watch now 

[Reg]

Nice that Red, reminds me of the tv show "Magpie' when we were kids.

One for sorrow
Two for joy
Three for a girl
Four for a boy
Five for silver
Six for gold
Seven for a story never to be told
Eight's a wish and
Nine a kiss
Ten is a bird you must not miss.

[red till i die!!]

Nice that Red, reminds me of the tv show "Magpie' when we were kids.

One for sorrow
Two for joy
Three for a girl
Four for a boy
Five for silver
Six for gold
Seven for a story never to be told
Eight's a wish and
Nine a kiss
Ten is a bird you must not miss.

That's it     Brings back a few memories does that. God bless the old doll.

I am in my early 40's Reg so Magpie was just a little ahead of my time. My sisters watched it and I can remember the complaining because all we had was a black and white set and they couldn't see the trendy clothes.  Our BBC was fed through the pre-historic cable that was known as "The Pipeline" so it was like they were standing in the middle of the Alps as well    A few years later we discovered that you could get a better reception with 2 coat hangers but the show had ended by then 

[ycsatbjywtbiastkamb]

Everyone was completely in love with Jenny Hanley from Magpie when I was a young lad in the 70's.

[Reg]

Jenny Hanley v's Lesley Judd of Blue Peter....