Where did "Piss Poor" come > from?

>
> Interesting 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
> & 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 piss in" & were the lowest of the low
>
>
> The next time you are washing your hands and
> complain because the water temperature isn't just how
> you like it, think about how things used to be. Here
> are some facts about the 1500s:
>
> Most people got married in June because they took
> their yearly bath in May, and they still smelled pretty
> good by June.. However, since they were starting to
> smell . ...Brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide
> the body odor.   Hence the custom today of carrying
> a bouquet when getting  Married.
>
> Baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot water. The
> man of the house had the privilege of the nice clean
> water, then all the other sons and men, then the
> women and finally the children. Last of all the babies.
> By then 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!"
>
> Houses had thatched roofs-thick straw-piled high, with
> no wood underneath. It was the only place for animals
> to get warm, so all the cats and other small animals
> (mice, bugs) lived in the roof. When it rained it became
> slippery and sometimes the animals would slip and fall
> off the roof...Hence the saying "It's raining cats and
> dogs."
>
> There was nothing to stop things from falling into
> the house. This posed a real problem in the bedroom
> where bugs and other droppings could mess up your
> nice clean bed. Hence,a bed with big posts and a
> sheet hung over the top afforded some protection.
> That's how canopy beds came into existence.
>
> The floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something
> other than dirt. Hence the saying, "Dirt poor." The
> wealthy had slate floors that would get slippery in
> the winter when wet, so they spread thresh (straw)
> on floor to help keep their footing. As the winter
> wore on, they added more thresh until,when you
> opened the door, it would all start slipping outside.
> A piece of wood was placed in the entrance-way.
> Hence: a thresh hold.
>
> (Getting quite an education, aren't you?)
>
> In those old days, they cooked in the kitchen with
> a big kettle that always hung over the fire.. Every day
> they lit the fire and added things to the pot. They ate
> mostly vegetables and did not get much meat. They
> would eat the stew for dinner, leaving leftovers in the
> pot to get cold overnight and then start over the next
> day. Sometimes stew had food in it that had been
> there for quite a while. Hence the rhyme: Peas porridge
> hot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge in the pot nine
> days old.
> Sometimes they could obtain pork, which made them
> feel quite special. When visitors came over, they
> would hang up their bacon to show off. It was a
> sign of wealth that a man could, "bring home the
> bacon." They would cut off a little to share with guests
> and would all sit around and chew the fat.
>
> Those with money had plates made of pewter. Food
> with high acid content caused some of the lead to
> leach onto the food,causing lead poisoning death.
> This happened most often with tomatoes, so for the
> next 400 years or so, tomatoes were considered
> poisonous.
>
> Bread was divided according to status. Workers got
> the burnt bottom of the loaf, the family got the middle,
> and guests got the top, or the upper crust.
>
> Lead cups were used to drink ale or whisky. The 
> combination would Sometimes knock the imbibers out
> for a couple of days. Someone walking along the road
> would take them for dead and prepare them for burial.
> They were laid out on the kitchen table for a couple of
> days and the family would gather around and eat and
> drink and wait and see if they would wake  up. Hence
> the custom of holding a wake.
>
> England is old and small and the local folks started
> running out of places to bury people. So they would
> dig up coffins and would take the bones to a
> bone-house, and reuse the grave. When reopening
> these coffins, 1 out of 25 coffins were found to have
> scratch marks on the inside and they realized they
> had been burying people alive... So they would
> tie a string on the wrist of the corpse, lead it through
> the coffin and up through the ground and tie it to a
> bell. Someone would have to sit out in the graveyard all
> night (the graveyard shift.) to listen for the bell; thus,
> someone could be saved by the bell or was considered
> a dead ringer.
>
> And that's the truth....Now, whoever said History
> was boring!!!