Things people say - sleep tight
By MichaelJay
@MichaelJay (1100)
May 6, 2008 9:59am CST
In Shakespeare's England, mattresses were secured onto bed frames by ropes.
When the ropes were pulled, the mattresses tightened, making the bed firmer to sleep on.
That's here we gt th phrase "goodnight, sleep tight!"
Of course, the other part of that rhyme refers to hoping the bed bugs don't bite and from recent hotel reports it seems that this problem may not have changed since the time of the Bard....
1 person likes this
4 responses
@walnutbrownie (745)
• India
23 May 08
Raining dogs and cats-
ya im told during the 18th century the drainage system was terrible in england that when it rained the drain flodded wid dogs and cats and thats where we started using the phrase..its raining dogs and cats everytime it starts pouring heavily
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@ellie333 (21016)
•
22 May 08
Oh I love to know where sayings originate from and when Gloucester had their floods last year I remember wondering if it always had flooded there as Doctor Foster went to Gloucester in a shower of rain and stepped in a puddle right up ro his middle etc etc. and this must have originated from somewhere. Thanks for sharing this one. Ellie :D
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@newzealtralian (3930)
• Australia
27 May 08
very interesting. Isn't it funny how we use these sayings of yesteryear today and don't actually know where they came from.
