More Sayings From Days of Olde
Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath in May. However, by June, they were just beginning to smell so brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the body odour. A bath was a big tub filled with hot water, the man of the house had the privilege of the nice clean water, then all the sons and other men. Then the women and finally the children. Last of the children would be the babies! By that time 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.”

Years ago the cemeteries in England were running out of places to bury the dead. So they would dig up coffins, take the bones to a house and re use the grave. In reopening the coffins, one out of twenty five coffins had scratch marks inside, this made them realise people had been buried alive. So, they would tie a piece of string to the wrist of the body, lead it up through the coffin lid and up through the ground and tie it to a bell. Some one would then have to sit all night in the graveyard and listen for the bell.

Hence “On the graveyard shift.”

If the bell rang they would know it was a case of being “Saved by the Bell” or he was a “Dead Ringer.”

Bread was divided according to status. Workers got the burnt bottom of the loaf, they family got the middle and guests got the top, or “The upper crust.”

Lead cups were used to drink ale or whiskey. The combination of lead and alcohol would sometimes knock them out for a couple of days.
Someone walking by would take them for dead. The “body” would be taken home and laid on the kitchen table for a couple of days.
The family would gather around and eat and drink and wait to see if the person would wake up.

Hence the custom of holding a “Wake.”