texashuntingforum.com logo
Main Menu
Advertisement
Affiliates
Advertisement
Newest Members
TraeMartin, Beatixre, MooseSteed, Trappernewt, casyoo
71987 Registered Users
Top Posters(All Time)
dogcatcher 110,788
bill oxner 91,416
SnakeWrangler 65,416
stxranchman 60,296
Gravytrain 46,950
RKHarm24 44,585
rifleman 44,461
Stub 43,768
Forum Statistics
Forums46
Topics536,991
Posts9,719,212
Members86,987
Most Online25,604
Feb 12th, 2024
Print Thread
Piss Poor #5352551 10/10/14 05:34 PM
Joined: Oct 2009
Posts: 6,314
K
KG68 Offline OP
THF Trophy Hunter
OP Offline
THF Trophy Hunter
K
Joined: Oct 2009
Posts: 6,314
Where did "piss poor" come from?

If you're young and hip, this is still interesting.

Us older people need to learn something new every day...

Just to keep the grey matter tuned up.

Where did "Piss Poor" come from? Interesting Story.

They used to use urine to tan animal skins, so families used to all
pee in a pot. And then once it was full it was taken and sold to the
tannery...

If you had to do this to survive you were "Piss 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 piss 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 1500's

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.

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
the 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 threshhold.

(Getting quite an education, aren't you?)

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."

Sometimes they could obtain pork, which made them feel quite special.
When visitors came over, they would hang us 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 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; “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 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."

And that's the truth.

Now, whoever said history was boring!!!

So get out there and educate someone! Share these facts with a friend.
Inside every older person is a younger person wondering, "What the
heck happened?"

Re: Piss Poor [Re: KG68] #5352870 10/10/14 08:11 PM
Joined: Sep 2010
Posts: 2,831
R
RedHoss Offline
Veteran Tracker
Offline
Veteran Tracker
R
Joined: Sep 2010
Posts: 2,831
Now I knows it all cuzz you done went and "edumacated" me. Now I bees smert!

Re: Piss Poor [Re: KG68] #5370361 10/20/14 08:35 PM
Joined: Oct 2011
Posts: 21
D
Draymun Offline
Light Foot
Offline
Light Foot
D
Joined: Oct 2011
Posts: 21
Really interesting. Never knew where some of these terms came from.
Thanks for sharing!

Draymun


Favorite quote: In a life and death situation, do something. It may be the wrong thing, but do something....
Re: Piss Poor [Re: KG68] #5374712 10/23/14 01:31 AM
Joined: Dec 2012
Posts: 236
W
Wisemd123 Offline
Woodsman
Offline
Woodsman
W
Joined: Dec 2012
Posts: 236
Hahaha! Cool man, good read!

Re: Piss Poor [Re: KG68] #5374900 10/23/14 02:57 AM
Joined: Jul 2013
Posts: 2,773
G
Gone to Texas Offline
Veteran Tracker
Offline
Veteran Tracker
G
Joined: Jul 2013
Posts: 2,773
up

Re: Piss Poor [Re: KG68] #5385629 10/29/14 01:07 AM
Joined: Aug 2011
Posts: 12,547
C
chital_shikari Offline
Minor in training
Offline
Minor in training
C
Joined: Aug 2011
Posts: 12,547
dats sum Kool stuf ser
i nevr thot id lern anithin

Previous Thread
Index
Next Thread

© 2004-2024 OUTDOOR SITES NETWORK all rights reserved USA and Worldwide
Powered by UBB.threads™ PHP Forum Software 7.7.3