Disecting Nursery Rhymes!!!

[theantiquetiger]

OK, I am bored (and read my 2 year old a book alittle while ago).

What is the shelf life of Pea Pourge?


Her book says some people like it "In the pot, 9 days old!"

plus..

What is a posie? (as in pocket full of)

Is it a flower?


Do you have any that keep you up at night?

[Mikey]

Why exactly is London Bridge falling down ?

[Mikey]

What is a posie? (as in pocket full of)

I always thought it was a flower

[theantiquetiger]

Why exactly is London Bridge falling down ?

Inferior British engineering?

[palitoy]

As I recall, London Bridge had everything to do with the plague. The posies being something you carried to ward it off.

Somebody with a history degree can either elaborate or call me moron, I was studying economics and business law....

[HardyGirl]

Actually Ring Around The Rosies was about the plaque. The rings were the marks on your rosie cheeks (a symptom). Pocket Full of Posies were flowers they brought to the dead. Ashes Ashes were the burning bodies, we all fall down, is death.

Pease Porridge Hot I think is Baby talk asking for the porridge (oatmeal) Like Please porridge, only the baby can't say it right. And remember, when these nursery rhymes were made, refrigerators hadn't been invented yet. (hence the nine days old part.)

[The Toyroom]

What's this I hear about "Jimmy crack corn and I don't care"? What kind of attitude is that?

[HardyGirl]

Corn whiskey. It's about slaves drinking when the master was gone.

[theantiquetiger]

IS no one concerned that Wee Willie Winkie runs through the streets in a night gown, screaming at the top of his lungs, and wondering where all the children are?

This one is just CREEPY!!!

[HardyGirl]

I don't get the nightgown part, but I know they used to have the cops check to see that all the kids were at home in bed by curfew.

[jwyblejr]

When you sit and think about it,some really sick minds came up with this stuff didn't they? And I don't even want to know the full story behind Rock-A-Bye-Baby.

[UnderdogDJLSW]

Hate to put a damper on that Plague origin reference but...
http://www.snopes.com/language/literary/rosie.asp

[Adam West]

I think if you go to wikipedia.org, you can get most of the answers to the nursery rhymes.

Most of them are usually a reference to an event, a person, or some type of moral to teach children.

[cjefferys]

Apparently many of the classic nursery rhymes and fairy tales have been sanitized over the years, the original ones were much worse. Try reading one of the old versions of Little Red Riding Hood or Sleeping Beauty, it's not something you would read to your kids.

[Adam West]

I read an article about Little Red Riding Hood once and the earliest versions were pretty graphic. It also mentioned something about the symbolism of the hood's color (It is supposed to represent the changes a girl goes through during adolescence and leave it at that).