"SLEEP TIGHT DON'T LET THE BED BUGS BITE"

I found this article very interesting,

It tickled my fancy because my Dearest Dad & Mum

Always told us about their encounter with bed bugs,

 On the first night of their honeymoon.

In some hotel, 

The other side of the black stump.

They spent the night sitting up in chairs with the lights on,

So they wouldn't be bitten.

This took place in April 1948.

I have never encountered the little beasties myself,

But my Dear Hubby,

Who is originally from Hungary

Tells me he has experienced them.

About the end of winter last year_

_The news broadcasts and paper media,

Were warning people,

That the pesky little insects were making a comeback,

Thus they were hitching rides from Hotels,

Back packer lodges and Motels

In peoples luggage.

So the message was keep all luggage away from walls and off the floor

Perish the thought.

What's the origin of the expression,

"Sleep tight"?

Can you help solve this riddle? ---Guy Nolan, Washington, DC.

SDSTAFF Hawk replies:

There are two possible explanations for this expression.

We'll start with the one I personally like,

Because it's a lot more interesting,

And then we'll get to what in all probability is the real one.

Explanation 1:

Where I live, before the days of mattresses,

Beds were square frames elevated from the ground,

With ropes tied across in a sort of weave.

It was similar to a hammock in concept.

Anyway, in order to sleep well, the "mattress" couldn't sag,

So the bed had to be "tight."

(And free of bed bugs, but I thought that went without saying.)

For further insight I spoke to Dr. Jerry Lee Cross,

A historian with the state of North Carolina.

He confirms that the beds were,

In fact, made of ropes tied across a frame.

He adds that the origin of the phrase

"Sleep tight" is almost common knowledge among historians,

Simply because the modern bed is a little over a hundred years old.

But first a little information about bedbugs.

The 1996 Grolier Multimedia Encyclopaedia,

Under "bedbug," shows a pesky little insect not unlike a flea.

Known to others as Cimex lectularius, this beast is a bloodsucker---

(Literally).

It is further described as nocturnal

And capable of consuming its body weight in blood in five minutes.

This one meal can provide nourishment for the insect for six months!

This flat, oval, wingless bug measures about 0.6 cm long

And produces irritating bites but is not known to carry disease.

How comforting.

Dr. Cross's wife, Carolyn,

Adds that she remembers her mother,

Telling her stories about how she slept on such beds.

Mrs. Cross recalls how her mother said---

She had to put the bedposts in small cans

(Like tuna cans) filled with kerosene,

In a sort of moat-like fashion,

To keep the bedbugs from climbing into the bed.

(The bugs being wingless and all).

Mrs. Cross also says that there were "rules" for sleeping:

You couldn't let the sheets hit the floor,

Or have the bed too close to the walls,

Lest the bedbugs could climb into bed that way.

In Charles Panati's Extraordinary Origins of Everyday Things,

(Sorry, Cecil),

He writes that mattresses were made of organic materials,

Such as "straw, leaves, pine needles, and reeds"

And thus tended to rot, mildew, and harbour rats and mice,

Which were hunting for bugs!

Inorganic materials didn't appear on the scene---

Until about the 1870's or so, when conical springs came into use.

Cylindrical springs, which had been attempted earlier,

Had problems with no support, too much support,

As well as spring failure from the poor metallurgical methods of the time.

(Personally I say if it doesn't have Magic Fingers, it isn’t a bed.)

The point is, when people used to say,

"Sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite,"

They weren't trying to be cute.

They meant it.

23:08 - Thursday, April 5, 2007 - post comment