Tibits and Tales

So today Julia and I had a great day in London! We went on a really interesting bus tour during this tour we learned all kinds of things about London, and where different saying came from. So I think I'm going to share a couple with you.

"Laughing your head off"

We've all heard this saying before.... Back in the old days executions were known as entertainment for the masses, and on the last execution in London so many people wanted to see it because it was the last one they had to make make-shift stands for the people to stand on. Right before the man being executed got his head chopped off one of the stands collasped and 10 people died. The man being hanged thought that it was extremely funny that the people that came to watch him die died themselves that he started laughing, and he was still laughing as they chopped his head off. Therefore, the term laughing your head off.

"God Bless You"

Everyone has heard the song Ring around the Rosie. The London/English version is a bit different than our own. They say "Ring around the rosies, pocket full of posies, tissues tissues, we all fall down. If you're not familar with the story behind this song I'll give you a little history. This song is about the black plague. The part about ring around the rosies refers to the fact that people's cheeks turned red when they caught the plague. Pocket full of posies refers to the fact that there were so many dead bodies in the streets people carried posies in their pockets so that they wouldn't have to smell it. Tissues tissues, is that right before people died of the plague they had a severe sneezing fit. Once someone with the plague started to sneeze you knew that they were about to die so you called a priest in to give them their last rights or to bless them. That is why when someone sneezes today people say bless you. And obviously the last line refers to how many people died during the plague.

"Posh"

The word posh means money or that you're wealthy. This word came from the fact that back in the old days really rich people traveled the world by boat. Usually it was really hot during this time so they were told to take the Port Out and the Starboard Home. Alas the word posh.

"Cheerio"

This term was also a term that the weathly used. Back in the day it was considered dangerous to walk to the streets of London at night... especially if you were dressed well because people would know that you had money. Therefore, people started to put double doors on their house so that servants could bring a chair to their front door and carry them out to their carriage. Instead of saying chair away people would say cheerio, and that is why British people say it when saying goodbye to someone.

"Pulling my Leg"

I'm not exactly sure how this fits in to this saying exactly for the way we use it today, but it's still a good story so I'll mention it anyway. Back in the day (yes that's how all of these start!) they didn't have trap doors to use when they hung someone. They would have to just kick a chair out from under you. If the executioner wanted to entertain the crowd for a long time he could make your death last for a very long time (hours) but if you had a family member that wanted to be merciful to you they would come up to you and pull your leg so that your neck would break and you'd die right away.

Big Ben

Big Ben is actually the name of the bell that is in the tower by Parliment. The reason why Big Ben is so important to Londoners is because in WWII bells were used as a way to warn Londoners that invasion was coming by air, and that they should take cover so all of the church bells in London were told that they were not allowed to ring anymore because they would cause a false alarm. So the day before the ban occured all of the churches really went full force and had a big bell ringing ceremony. London completely stopped and everyone... the people working, in the subways, in cars... and came out into the street to watch hear and witness the bells ringing. It was a time when all of Englands alli's on the continent of Europe had fallen, and the people in London didn't know if they were ever going to hear the bells again as a free country. So after all of the other bells had got done ringing the people were still standing in the streets around noon. It was going to be the first time that the bells didn't ring to signfy the hour change. Right at noon Big Ben started ringing, and as the people in heard it ringing they started cheering in the streets with each strike of the bell. They say that Big Ben was symbol of England at the time. One country standing in the war, one bell ringing.

I hope that you enjoyed some of the things I learned today!! I thought that it was really interesting! Tomorrow I'm going on a tour about the changing of the guards, and the history behind it. I'm also going on a Harry Potter tour!!! YAY! And I'm going on a haunted London tour, so I'm sure I'll have tons of new information to update!!! However, I am checking out of my hostel tomorrow morning, and I don't believe that I'll be able to make a post tomorrow due to lack of internet. :( sad I know. But I will have a giant post of you on Monday!!! I get into Aberdeen around noon and I don't have any classes that day! So I'll spend a lot of time on a nice blog about London! And you should expect to see a London album on Facebook!

Speaking of pictures... I climbed to the top of St. Pauls today, which is no easy feat!!! (1000 stairs!) and it was right around sunset so I got pictures of all of London at sunset! (St. Pauls is sooo beautiful I wish I could have taken pictures inside of it) Later on Julia and I went around London at night time... basically to take pictures of all of the major places lit up in the dark. We got some really cool ones of Big Ben. But we got AMAZING pictures of Buckingham palace! Or at least I'm quite pleased with them. There is no one else in our pictures but us.... which I think is soooo cool!!! I'm really happy about it. We went quite a bit out of our way to get the pictures but I'm really happy we did. My camera did really well in the dark, and the fact that I'm wearing a white coat really helps me stick out in the pictures! Sorry for the tease about that one, but you'll see the pictures soon enough hahaha!

Now it's time for a shower, because we are getting up super early tomorrow, and we have A LOT planned!