Quote:
Originally posted by uncle phil
How about this...The nursery rhyme Ring Around the Rosey is a rhyme about the plague. Infected people with the plague would get red circular sores ("Ring around the rosey..."), these sores would smell very badly so common folks would put flowers on their bodies somewhere (inconspicuously), so that it would cover the smell of the sores ("...a pocket full of posies..."), People who died from the plague would be burned so as to reduce the possible spread of the disease ("...ashes, ashes, we all fall down!")
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This is the AMERICAN version of the rhyme, using the words "Ashes, Ashes" to denote that bodies were burned in disease outbreaks. This only became common practice in the 1800s.
The original English version was a description of Bubonic Plague -
"Ring a ring of rosies" (the postules that formed in rings on the skin)
"A pocketfull of posies" (herbs were supposed to ward off the disease)
"Ah-tishoo, ah-tishoo" (sneezing - looks like the herbs weren't so effective after all - and being in the same room where someone was sneezing resulted in...)
"We all fall down" (dead).
One other one... In class-ridden England, how you pour a cup of Tea or Coffee denotes your class. "Tea without milk" or "Milk in the cup first" is lower class while "Tea first, then add milk" is upper class.
The reason fir this was that only the upper classes could be sure of having milk that wasn't sour thus ruining an expensive beverage.
Mike.