Life in the 1500's(1500年代の生活)
今朝、Kamalさんから来たメールを紹介します。途中まで和訳を併記しましたが、私にはかなり難解なので、途中までです。どこまでが事実で、どこからが冗談なのか分かりかねています。*******************************************************************The next time you are washing your hands and complain because thewater temperature, isn't just how you like it, think about how things used to be. Here are some facts about the 1500s:次回、手を洗って水温が気に食わないと不平を言いたくなったら、かつてはどうだったかについて考えてみましょう。 以下、1500年代の状況についてです。Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath inMay, and still smelled pretty good by June. However, they werestarting to smell, so brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide thebody odor.ほとんどの人々は6月に結婚していましたが、年に一度の入浴を5月にするので、6月まではまだそれほど臭わなかったからです。とは言え、花嫁は体臭を隠すために花束を持ったものでした。Hence the custom today of carrying a bouquet when getting married.それで、今日においても、結婚する時には花束を使う習慣になっています。Baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot water. The man of thehouse had the privilege of the nice clean water, then all the othersons and men, then the women and finally the children. Last of all thebabies. By then the water was so dirty you could actually losesomeone in it. Hence the saying,風呂は熱い湯が満たされた大きな桶でした。一家の主がさら湯を使い、次に息子や男、その次に女、最後に子供、最後の最後に赤ん坊。 赤ちゃんが入る頃には、水は非常に汚くなっており、中で溺れていても見えないぐらいでした。 それ故、次の諺ができました。Don't throw the baby out with the Bath water..Houses had thatched roofs-thick straw-piled high, with no woodunderneath. It was the only place for animals to get warm, so all thecats and other small animals (mice, bugs) lived in the roof When itrained it became slippery and sometimes the animals would slip andfall off the roof. Hence the saying家々はわらぶき屋根で、床には木材を使っていませんでした。それで、暖を取る場所は屋根しかなく、猫やその他の小動物(鼠、虫)はそこを住みかとしていました。 雨が降ると滑り易くなるので、時々それらの動物が屋根から落ちてきました。 それ故、次の諺ができました。It's raining cats and dogs.There was nothing to stop things from falling into the house.. Thisposed a real problem in the bedroom where bugs and other droppingscould mess up your nice clean bed. Hence, a bed with big posts and asheet 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 thatwould 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 allstart slipping outside. A piece of wood was placed in the entranceway.Hence the saying a thresh hold.(Getting quite an education, aren't you?)In those old days, they cooked in the kitchen with a big kettle thatalways hung over the fire. Every day they lit the fire and addedthings to the pot. They ate mostly vegetables and did not get muchmeat. They would eat the stew for dinner, leaving leftovers in the potto get cold overnight and then start over the next day. Sometimesstew 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 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 wouldsometimes 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 wouldgather 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 ofplaces 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 havescratch marks on the inside and they realized they had been buryingpeople aliveSo 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.) tolisten for the bell; thus, someone could be, saved by the bell or wasconsidered a ... dead ringer.And that's the truth ... Now, whoever said History was boring! ! ! Educate someone. Share these facts with a friend