@ shan
I dont think anyone has been around long enough to check <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/silly.gif" alt="" /> a couple of billion years.... hmmmmmm, i think i'll stick around till they check <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/evilgrin1.gif" alt="" />
@ gal
Yip its been proven over 500 years ago about the wine.... but there is something even MORE scary than wine containing ergot....
in the 1600's most cups and "glasses" / mugs were made of pewter.... now... imagine this.....
Mix alcohol and ergot (in the wine they made... and the ergot value was MUCH higher than today's wine, since they allowed much more mould in the wine) and add to that the reaction that alcohol has with pewter...... + the reaction that ergot has with pewter....(pewter allows free passage to the brain[it has something to do with enlarging the blood vessels, which allows more to travel to the brain].... so ergot had a EXTREME effect on them)
Which is where the term "laying in wake" (i am not natively english, so i may have this saying wrong) comes from.... people used to pass out from drinking wine in pewter cups and fall into a very deep coma.... after they discovered numerous graves with scratch marks in, they made it tradition to lay the person in wake for 3 days...... to see if they wake up....
After that discovery (they still didnt know it had to do with the pewter), they tied a string around a dead person's wrist before burrying them.... the string would be attached to a bell on top of the grave. Hence the saying "saved by the bell".... this also resulted in the dreaded "graveyard shift".
The saying "raining cats and dogs"
also in the 1600's the houses' roofs were thatch, coming very low over the side of the house, and often touching ground at the "back" of the house... the small yard animals (chickens, cats, dogs etc) used to crawl into the thatch because of the shelter and heat it offered.... when it rained though, the thatch became very slippery ... resulting in cats and dogs falling off the roof.
"Bless you"
During the black plague, the pope made it tradition to tell somebody who sneezed , "Bless you" this was because sneezing was a sign of the plague and the person was sure to be near his death.....
now here is an Interesting one.... it may be a little rated... but i am sure that judging from the content i will write here... .no one will take offence...
Where does the word f*ck come from??????
It is actually an abreviation!!!! it stands for FORNICATING UNDER CONSENT of the KING!!!!
In years past people were not allowed to become pregnant without the kings consent.... (in the days of Elizabeth I and II). people who wanted to have kids, had to come before the king, bearing a banner with the letters on: F. U. C. K. if the king approved, they were allowed to have a kid... (i am very glad that i didnt live in those days!!!!)
