Teach me something about history.................. 10 points up for grabs......................?

Question

win 10 points for your history facts

Answer 1

Frederick Douglass was a slave who wrote a narrative, "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass". This biography will provide the perspective of a true slave and the hardships experienced during that century. You can also appreciate his writing style being written using complex sentences. Vocabulary is extensive.

Answer 2

* 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.

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 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."
(Getting quite an education, aren't we?)

* 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
dropped 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 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
"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 of 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."

Answer 3

There are a lot of people talking about Hitler. Well, a lot of people do not know why Hitler and the German offensice chose the Jews. Many think that it is just plainly because Hitler disliked the Jews for many reasons. One reason that Germany hated the Jews at that given time was that the Jews were blamed for the Germany defeat in WWI. This is because the Jews took care of the money for Germany, they were their go-to's, when it came to money. Since, they did not have win WWI, they blamed it on not having enough money for equiptment and food, which led to the blame on the Jews.

goodday.

Answer 4

Thailand was the only country to offer the Union (American North) official aid and alliance at the very start of the American Civil War. England and France waited until they knew that the Union was winning before declaring an alliance.

Answer 5

I found it really interesting that the character “Mad Hatter,” from Alice and Wonderland, was based on true events. The phrase "mad as a hatter" was common at the time (1865) Lewis Carroll wrote Alice. The phrase "mad as a hatter" had been in common use in 1837, almost 30 years earlier.

Hatters really did go mad. The chemicals used in hat-making included mercurous nitrate, used in curing felt. Prolonged exposure to the mercury vapors caused mercury poisoning. Victims developed severe and uncontrollable muscular tremors and twitching limbs, called "hatter's shakes". Other symptoms included distorted vision and confused speech. In advanced cases, hatters developed hallucinations and other psychotic symptoms.

I find it amusing.

Answer 6

Did you know that the citizens in America wanted to make
George Washington the King? George refused because
that was the one of the reasons we were fighting the English.
Also George never cut down an apple tree when he was a child.

Answer 7

ok, history. How about russia?

The last Tsar of russia was Nicholas, (of anastasia fame), who's entire family was killed by the 'reds' (bolsheviks) in the russian revolutionof 1917. The Bolsheviks were under the lead of Lenin, who became head of the soviet union after the revolution. After he died came Stalin (against the words of Lenin). Stalin was corrupted by power. A dictator, he started by having his politicaly rivals killed. Later in his life, he went so made, he started the purges, where millions were killed (more than in the halocaust). Anyone who was reported as being anti-communist was imprisoned and killed. So, basically, if you fell out with your neighbor over a fence, they would report you as being anti-communist, and you would be carted off. As i said, mad.

yeah, well, as for history in general, 'a man who forgets his history is condemed to repeat it's mistakes).

Answer 8

If you would like to kick up your interest in history, do a little research on your family. By asking questions of your oldest relatives and doing some research, you can quite quickly trace you ancestors back to the 1800's or before. Now, you know someone that lived back then. It is very interesting to start applying history to a real person, a relative.

Answer 9

History - it's in the past or in the making. (sorry couldn't resist cheeky answer)

Any particular subject or just history in General

History is a term that came from the old french word estoire, the name itself was created by Brigitte Gasson.

The term history entered the English language in 1390 with the meaning of "relation of incidents, story" from the Old French historie, from the Latin historia "narrative, account." This itself was derived from the Ancient Greek ἱστορία, historía, meaning "a learning or knowing by inquiry, history, record, narrative," from the verb ἱστορεῖν, historeîn, "to inquire."

For more information see the full story on site below -

Answer 10

John Dillinger (famous bank robber of the 30s) played semi-pro baseball and was in the Navy before he went to prison for a small time robbery, he served almost 10 years, for a petty crime. Prison is where he met the members of the Dillinger gang and became a real criminal and Americas first Public Enemy Number 1. He helped make the FBI what they are today, and he almost sunk them. He made the look like fools.

Answer 11

John Brown was hung from a sour apple tree and John Wilkes Booth saw his procession to the site of the execution.