History Lesson @ MindSay

Have you ever wondered what the world was like 100 years ago? The current issue of Smithsonian contains an article called "1908" which tells something about what people were doing and experiencing 100 years ago.  Curious about this, last year the magazine's editor read the entire year's worth of The New York Times from 1908 and loved it - felt like he had been sent back to the past. Here's a bit of what the article contains:  (especially note the predictions)

 

In 1908, the population of the US was about 90 million, and Teddy Roosevelt was President.  It was a leap year and an election year. The Panama Canal was under construction.

 

Wilbur Wright made a 2.5 hour flight, causing the French to call him “Bird Man” instead of “the bluffer.” The US military was  considering a contract to buy some "flying machines" and Wright had to prove  the capabilities of his machine.  (my note: Incredibly, only 6 years later World War I had begun and there were dogfights in the skies over Europe.)

 

Women cleaned their homes with the remarkable new vacuum cleaner.

 

At 700 feet tall, the Singer Building in NYC was the tallest inhabited building in the world.

 

Vast numbers of Americans lived in poverty or near poverty, and the working class included about 2 million children who joined adults in the steel mills and coal mines.

 

Oil was discovered in Iran.

 

Production of the Model T Ford was begun.  For $850, the buyer could get a 5-passenger family car that could go 20 mph and was “powerful, speedy, and enduring.”  An extra $100 would buy a windshield, speedometer, and headlights.

 

Predictions for 2008 from The World newspaper and Hampton’s Magazine

 

--everyone would have his own pocket telephone and could be called wherever he happened to be

--the population of the US would be 472 million (it’s 300 million)

--there may be aeroplanes winging the once unconquerable air

--there may be gyroscopic trains as broad as houses swinging at 200 mph up steep grades and around dizzying curves

*I have not double checked this info. I am simply reporting what was in the article - but I'd hope and expect that Smithsonian would have its facts checked!

 

 

I am sure that some of you have seen or heard about some these word origins before. It is always interesting to find out how these words and sayings came about.

These are quite interesting. There are plenty of things that our origins have come from these are just a few. Today's History Lesson - Here are some facts about the 1500s:

Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath in May, and still smelled pretty good by June. However, they were starting to smell, so 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 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 adding more thresh until when you opened the door it would all start slipping outside. A piece of wood was placed in the entranceway. Hence the saying 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 "upper crust."

Lead cups were used to drink ale or whiskey. 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 that History was boring ! ! !

The more I learn in Global Studies the more I realize how much I don't know about the world or my own country.

The Vietnam War, or as they call it, the American War, is still highly debatable. Pretty much I came to the conclusion that the US jumped into Vietnam's business to stop them from being communist… because we
care and want to spread democracy so that all the Vietnamese have a say in their government?

No, the US is not an angel. Looks to me like they wanted to stop communism in Vietnam to keep it from spreading in Asia because that would close off the free trade market or hinder it…

It's all about the money, it always is. But that's my opinion.  I went to the War Rembrandts Museum and I thought they did a pretty good job at trying to show the horridness of the war for both the Vietnamese and Americans. There were pictures of napalm victims and American soldiers "hanging out" and camp, and all kinds of things. A very broad coverage of the war. They even had a cell for display to show where the Vietcong kept there Vietnamese and American prisoners.

I guess I should give a brief overview of the war… in case you know as little about it as I did. (Maybe I should post my very detailed Global
Studies notes!)

I'll be brief.

The Vietnamese came under French rule in 1858. This is basically around the time when France, Britain, and any other European country with ships and guns tried to take over as many countries as they could. Basically the entire world nonwestern world came under some kind of rule by one or another European bully.

Anyway, they fought them off in like 1942 and then the Japanese came to conquer them. When Japan hit bottom at the end of World War II, the French came back. The Vietnamese kicked their buts big time in 1954. So according to Murphy, Franklin Roosevelt was going to let Vietnam be under their own rule, but when Truman stepped in he had other plans.

He wanted to build and maintain an independent noncommunist Vietnam…which meant instead of honoring the free election (which Ho Chi Mien would have won) the US decides to support a southern Vietnam power that was catholic and ravishly anti communist.  The problem was that the US was not fighting on familiar turf, and they were not only fighting the regular northern army, but also the
Viet Cong. These were the civilians who supported the North, they were farmers by day and fighters by night. The Viet Cong could have been the lonely farmer you saw out in the rice field or his 15 year old
daughter. The American soldiers couldn't tell who their enemies were, and in my opinion that is one of the main reasons they lost the war and why you hear so many stories of soldiers destroying villages.

Also there were the tunnels. The Chu Chi tunnels are an extensive underground network… the Vietnamese soldiers could live down there for months, they could come up and attack and disappear in seconds. The
tunnels were booby trapped and tiny. Many Americans got stuck in them and special American soldiers were sent to fight in the tunnels for weeks at a time. It's super intense.

Now of course, the tunnels are a tourist attraction, so I got to go in one. There are 3 levels of deepness, the lowest being the smallest tunnels that you have to crawl through on your belly. Some of the top level tunnels are dug out bigger now to fit the big tourists. I have to say I've never been closterphobic before but I was feeling it while I was in there. Maybe it was just from having all this war stuff in my head which freaks me out anyway, but either way while I was in there I just wanted out.

Anyway… The US lost the war and after a century of western control, Vietnam was finally free to govern itself. And they are doing pretty well if you ask me.