Lesson For Today

by bill - 2010-06-15 16:44:18 ( in education, language) [php version] rebuild

There is an old hotel/pub in Marble Arch, London which used to have gallows adjacent. Prisoners were taken to the gallows (after a fair trial, of course) to be hung. The horse-drawn dray carting the prisoner was accompanied by an armed guard who would stop the dray outside the pub and ask the prisoner if he would like "ONE LAST DRINK."

If he said YES it was referred to as ONE FOR THE ROAD. If he declined, that prisoner was ON THE WAGON. So there you go. More history...

They used to use urine to tan animal skins, so families used to all pee in a pot, then once a day it was taken and sold to the tannery. If you had to do this to survive you were "Piss Poor." But worse than that were the really poor folk who couldn't even afford to buy a pot. They "didn't have a pot to p*ss in" and were the lowest of the low.

And that's the truth. Now, whoever said History was boring?