Some Old Sayings that Originated from Caroga Lake

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 at
Caroga in the early days - In fact this is where some old "sayings" 
originated: 

1) 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 odor. 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." 

2) 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 rats, and 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." 

3) 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. 

4) 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 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 entry way-- a "thresh hold." 

5) 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 the 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." 

6) 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." 

7) Those with money had plates made of pewter. Food with a 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 200 years 
or so, tomatoes were considered poisonous. 

8) Most people did not have pewter plates, but had trenchers, a piece of wood 
with the middle scooped out like a bowl. Often trenchers were made from stale 
paysan bread which was so old and hard that they could use them for quite 
some time. Trenchers were never washed and a lot of times worms and mold 
got into the wood and old bread. After eating off wormy moldy trenchers, 
one would get "trench mouth." 

9) 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." 

10) Lead cups were used to drink ale or whiskey. The combination would some 
times 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." 

11) The Caroga area is old, rocky, and small and they started out 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,
one out of 25 coffins were found to have scratch marks on the inside and 
they realized 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."