On a tour of the Hoxie House in Sandwich, Massachusetts, I learned about the etymology of a great number of words and phrases, which I thought I would type up here. I find this all very fascinating, although I can't be sure of the accuracy of it all. I would assume some of these are totally incorrect, but it's still interesting to consider.

The roof of the house in the picture above is a common style called a cat slide roof. This is because cats would get up on the roof, and if it rained, they'd wind up sliding down. Supposedly, dogs would also go up there, and at times it would "rain cats and dogs".

Windows at the time were often painted, so they couldn't be seen through. This was done to avoid British taxes. Because very little light got through, this was referred to as "having the living daylights robbed out of you".

Another way to avoid taxes was to make dual-purpose furniture. For instance, tables in taverns often flipped up to make chairs. After dinner was served, the tables would be flipped up and men would lounge around. If a late patron came in and asked to be served, he would be told that "the tables had been turned". As well, men drinking should be careful to not drink too many pints or quarts - they should "mind their Ps and Qs".

When bread was baked, it was done in a beehive oven, and the simple baking process resulted in a crisp, golden top and a burned bottom for the loaf. Naturally, the man of the house received the most delicious piece - the "upper crust".

There was an old nursery rhyme, which included the lines "Peas porridge hot/Peas porridge cold/Peas porridge in the pot/Nine days old". These lines are related to the fact that leftovers might be kept stewing over the fire (to prevent spoilage) for many days before being thrown out. In addition to this, people would often sit around and eat mutton leftovers while talking, and "chew the fat". The smallest children ate from what were called trenchers, wooden troughs which were far from sanitary. From these troughs came illnesses, known commonly as "trench mouth" (I know this term from WWI era books, and quick googling seems to indicate that it does originate from soldiers in the trenches, so who knows).

When children were young, they often had to work on large blocks of sugar, to make it into edible granules. The tools used on this were called "nippers and shavers", and children came to be known by these terms as well. In addition, the parents wanted to be sure none of the sugar disappeared while the children worked on it, so they had to "whistle while they worked".

People in the 16 and 17 hundreds didn't bath much - in fact, many bathed just once a year, in May. Again, the man received the first bath, and then his wife, and so on down the line until the baby got stuck with the murky used water. When done, one must be careful not to "throw the baby out with the bath water". As well, the reason June weddings are so popular is that courtship reached a peak when the men and women smelled least offensive, in May. Finally, if a woman is to be married a month after her bath, she might again be a little ripe, so a wedding bouquet would be given to her to mask the odor.

The original owner of the Hoxie house was a sheep farmer, so they used a wool spinning wheel. This was called a walking wheel, because the operator had to walk back and forth to run it, often as much as 10-15 miles a day. Usually, this task was given to an older, unmarried woman, who became known as a "spinster". Wool also needed to be wound into skeins, and an automated skein winder was often used. This involved turning a crank until a noise was emitted from the machine. The part that makes this noise is called the weisel, so when the machine is done - "pop goes the weisel".

Beds of the time were very simple, with a length of rope being wound through the bottom frame to create a support for the mattress. When a couple was first married, they wound construct this bed and "tie the knot" to finish it. The mattresses that were used were made of straw, and the straw had to be well-cleaned. If it was not, the "bed bugs would bite".

Light in houses was often created using a rush lamp, a lamp which held a piece of rush dipped in oil, clamped in so that the rush was parallel to the ground. This made it possible to "burn the candle at both ends" When this rush burned out, it was a signal that it was time to go. If a host had enjoyable guests, he might put on a very long rush, which would take longer to burn. If he had undesired company, they might be given the "bum's rush", a shorter, quick-burning rush.

Finally, two miscellaneous terms. England demanded that all trees of a certain width be given to them, for use in ship building. These trees would be marked by an inspector, and letter chopped down. However, if one of these trees fell over on its own, after a storm for instance, the colonists were permitted to use it. This became known as a "windfall". When these trees were used to build doors, nails were also hammered into the door, as protection against tomahawks. These nails were longer than the door's width, so they were then nailed back in, curved into the door, making them useless for anything else. They were then dead - "dead as a door nail". Much like this article.