|
Post by onlymark on Nov 12, 2010 7:48:30 GMT
Maybe change didn't come as easy to us from the old country.
A little known fact is that prior to the middle ages in England school toilets were always inside the building. This changed in the reign of Henry VIII. He, even as a child, gorged himself on unhealthy foods with the resultant effect on his digestive system. This made the school he went to have certain 'odours' that were unpopular with the rest of the children and the staff.
A solution that was felt to be fitting, rather than try and control his diet which as a potential King would anger him and cause consequences, was to simply remove the toilet from the building and put it in the far reaches of the playground. This offered the ideal solution and subsequently all schools were built to follow this example.
Apparently Henry VIII caused much suffering throughout his life because of this and that is one of the reasons no wife would seem to stay with him for long. He was first married to Catherine of Aragon who became aware of a new style of cooking popular in Holland using a cast iron pot with a tight fitting lid, called a Dutch Oven. She introduced this idea to the kitchens of Buckingham Palace, much to the delight of the King as it produced very tasty food. He was told of the method of the cooking and one night whilst in bed with Catherine played his normal trick of farting with gusto. Remembering the meal that night he thrust Catherine's head under the covers folding them tightly around her, saying "That's my version of a Dutch oven!"
And so was introduced into the English language the slang phrase that amused thousands of men ever since.
|
|
|
Post by bixaorellana on Nov 12, 2010 8:09:08 GMT
;D
Mark is back.
|
|
|
Post by onlymark on Nov 12, 2010 9:25:15 GMT
It's all true. Honest.
|
|
|
Post by bixaorellana on Nov 12, 2010 15:23:47 GMT
It was interesting to find out that there is a name for that fun-loving ( ) maneuver.
|
|
|
Post by mickthecactus on Nov 12, 2010 16:21:52 GMT
Slightly wrong. Because of her love of cooking she was actually known as Catherine of Tarragon. Something was lost in the translation from Olde Englysh.
|
|
|
Post by onlymark on Nov 12, 2010 16:50:08 GMT
I bow to your greater knowledge and whimsy. I only wish I'd have thought of that.
|
|
|
Post by mickthecactus on Nov 12, 2010 16:57:26 GMT
I am but a pupil to the master................
|
|
|
Post by onlymark on Nov 12, 2010 18:04:00 GMT
Yeah, yeah. By the way as an afterthought, I spent off and on quite a bit of time in Hitchin. Not that that has anything to do with much I suppose other than you may also be familiar with the place (though I do know Herts is not big, but big enough to not know everywhere).
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Nov 12, 2010 19:20:57 GMT
I remember when there were 48 states in the United States.
|
|
|
Post by bixaorellana on Nov 14, 2010 16:24:54 GMT
I remember when "angel hair" for Christmas trees was fiberglass. You itched horribly after applying it. Must have been great for the eyes, too. And does anyone else remember how those "icicles" you threw on the tree were so heavy? That's because they were made of lead! Oh yeah, and those big colored bulbs for the tree could get good and hot. I was reminded of this when reading the Misguided Environmentalism thread.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Nov 14, 2010 17:14:19 GMT
Luckily, we did not use angel hair and very little of those foil strips. I remember how those light bulbs would even burn the colored paint off the glass. And since the blue bulbs were the darkest, they would heat up the most and burn out first.
That was still better than the first generation of miniature lights where if one single bulb burned out, the whole string would go dark and you had to check each bulb one by one.
Yes, and we did have one of those aluminum Christmas trees for a few years with a floodlight disk of changing colors. I hated it at first after having had real trees, but now I feel sort of nostalgic about it.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Nov 14, 2010 20:48:10 GMT
I remember when people put real candles on Christmass trees
|
|
|
Post by onlymark on Nov 14, 2010 21:30:44 GMT
I remember before we had Christmas. We just celebrated the birthday of Sol Invictus.
|
|
|
Post by cheerypeabrain on Nov 14, 2010 21:48:10 GMT
...and before that we had the Winter Solstice..... ;D
|
|
|
Post by bixaorellana on Nov 14, 2010 22:54:23 GMT
I remember when light broke forth from the firmament.
|
|
|
Post by onlymark on Nov 15, 2010 6:34:07 GMT
Hold on, hold on, I think you're exaggerating there. That means you were a concious being before the dawn of creation. The only way that could be is if you were a god..............
Sheeeeit! We have a god on here! Is it like a genie and you do wishes?
|
|
|
Post by bixaorellana on Nov 15, 2010 6:44:03 GMT
Naah ~~ back then I was just some incipient algae.
|
|
|
Post by mickthecactus on Nov 15, 2010 19:34:28 GMT
Yeah, yeah. By the way as an afterthought, I spent off and on quite a bit of time in Hitchin. Not that that has anything to do with much I suppose other than you may also be familiar with the place (though I do know Herts is not big, but big enough to not know everywhere). I know Hitchin well. Used to play cricket at Hitchin CC. first Sunday of the season. Their ground is on the top of the hill and was always freezing. Used to get a few runs their though....
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Nov 15, 2010 19:38:23 GMT
I remember when Christmas ornaments were fragile. Now you could play tennis with them.
|
|
|
Post by bixaorellana on Nov 15, 2010 20:24:47 GMT
I remember when I didn't know what cricket was, aside from Pinocchio's conscience.
I remember when Christmas season didn't start before Halloween.
|
|
|
Post by onlymark on Nov 15, 2010 20:56:56 GMT
Mick, all it was is that the company I worked for had a house not far from the railway station and I'd stay there for a few weeks at a time in between jobs abroad. Never played cricket but I know where you mean. Anyway, small world.
|
|
|
Post by onlymark on Nov 15, 2010 20:59:06 GMT
I remember the milkman having a horse and cart and the brewery in the town still ran drays for deliveries and not just as a gimmick.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Nov 15, 2010 22:57:29 GMT
I remember when England was an island before being hooked on to France. ;D
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Nov 16, 2010 8:14:11 GMT
I remember when people used the word "conservation" while waiting for the word "ecology" to be invented.
|
|
|
Post by tod2 on Nov 16, 2010 15:29:20 GMT
We still have library cards. But then I am in Africa. No, I'm joking.....I actually don't know as the last time I went to our city library they still had the card system in 1984. I think the mobile library that parks at the shopping centre still has cards.
I do remember looking at a calender as a very young child and seeing 1957 printed in big bold numbers !
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Nov 16, 2010 21:24:50 GMT
I remember when French headlights were yellow instead of white. (I saw a car with yellow headlights tonight for about the first time in two years.)
|
|
|
Post by bixaorellana on Nov 16, 2010 22:41:24 GMT
When we lived in Spain (in the 50s), my dad bought a Peugeot and went to pick it up in France. My brother went with him and I can still remember when they came home with the car. I don't so much remember being thrilled to see them and the new car, as how much we were all amazed by yellow headlights. We brought the car back to the US, but I don't remember if the lights were changed or not.
|
|
|
Post by fumobici on Nov 16, 2010 23:33:03 GMT
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Nov 16, 2010 23:38:57 GMT
I really liked the yellow headlights, but it was clearly psychological, because the French always said that the white headlights were "blinding" and everybody else said the yellow headlights were "blinding."
Frankly, 'white' being a brighter color than 'yellow,' I think it was the other group that was lying.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Nov 16, 2010 23:43:17 GMT
The yellow color was supposed to penetrate fog better than white. I agree. Probably why they were so popular in parts of Europe.
|
|