General Chat

The roman brides used to wear garlands in their hair made from strong smelling herbs to keep evil sprits at bay....I would have through that the flowers symbolized fertility as well...Greek brides carry ivy which means ever lasting love.

OC.......... lol...... I see where your coming from! HOWEVER The bouquet was to do with smells ( Body Odour ) Victorian's used them too and called them Nose Gays or Tussy Mussy's Much happiness Debi

How on earth can we know from this distance when (if ever) people took a bath, fgs! From the research I have done into my own tree in the 1500s, my lot married as the mood took them - usually when heavily pregnant and certainly not noticeably in June! A bride carrying flowers is surely an ancient fertility symbol and nothing to do with smells at all! OC

Hi Helen........ agree I find these facts fascinating - I found out that one I use green eyed monster came from Shakespears Merchant Of Venice - love that play!!

Hi Deborah!! facinating these sayings arn't they!! and how they have come through the ages!!

Helen you beat me to it !! It must be true as its on an e mail that does the rounds now and again along with other interesting bits & bobs - Facts from the 1500's its called.......... here's a few: 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 their 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.' 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 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.'

I have a booked called Red Herrings and White Elephants and it contains the origins of many phrases we hear today. Raining cats and dogs according to the book originated from an ancient nautical myth which led sailors to believe that cats had some sort of influence over storms. According to the Vikings dogs were also a symbol of storms and they always appear in illustrations and descriptions of their own Norse god of storms. Because of the connection ancient mariners believed that when it rained it was the cats who caused it and when the gales appeared they were brought by the dogs, which led to the phrase its raining cats and dogs..

Hi all, Lunar, that comes from the very,very old days when they had just thatch on the roof, animals used to shelter among the thatch to keep warm but when it rained the whole lot use to come down, thatch, cats and dogs!! hence the saying!!

Hey, I say - It's too cold for snow! as it needs to be around 4 degrees C to snow, any colder and you get hail, warmer and it rains - the clouds don't mean much really. It's raining cats and dogs - baffles me!

The saying still holds true azt the poles ,it can't snow with no cloudsand it's coooooold there anyway ,as regards the other sayings ,no idea really, green as a gabbage could mean green as in a novice with no idea of the real way things are.There are some real corkers kicking around though,is'nt there?Fred.

So what happens at the poles Fred ? lol Another one is ' I'll make you laugh on the other side of your face' Lin x

What about as green as cabbage looking ? june xx

Stands to reason really,clouds prevent it getting too cold,so ,no cloud ,no snow ,neeeext question? lol Fred.

My m.i.l. is always saying weird things. One of hers is ' it's too cold to snow ' ?? LIn x