I have often wondered where the phrase “living over the brush” comes from. We all know it means an unmarried couple that live together, but apparently it originates in the tunnel building days of the 19th century. If a boy and a girl (usually a camp follower, a prostitute in reality) took a liking to each other then the other men and woman would respect them as man and wife. They could not afford a church wedding so, holding hands, they jumped over a brush or broom handle held by two others. They were then married in the eyes of their peers.
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Morality over the ages!
I have often wondered where the phrase “living over the brush” comes from. We all know it means an unmarried couple that live together, but apparently it originates in the tunnel building days of the 19th century. If a boy and a girl (usually a camp follower, a prostitute in reality) took a liking to each other then the other men and woman would respect them as man and wife. They could not afford a church wedding so, holding hands, they jumped over a brush or broom handle held by two others. They were then married in the eyes of their peers.
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3 comments:
keep going dave
From paddy
I have never heard of that before! There you are, never too old to learn.
Middle Ditch thirteen is posted. I believe that you have not been for a while so you have some catching up to do about this crazy little village with flesh eating pigs
lol
Dear Monique,
I must firstly apologise for not keeping up recently and I will be getting back on track in the next couple of days. I have been neglecting the blogging over the last few weeks, but I am back as keen as ever...just had a few things on recently. The flesh eating pigs sound fascinating! I'm sure it must improve the taste of the bacon!
David
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