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The Disturbing Origins of 5 Common Nursery Rhymes

cracked.com — We grew up memorizing these seemingly nonsense lines of verse from Mother Goose, which seem to exist for no other reason than to keep toddlers entertained. There couldn't possibly be some kind of weird, twisted history to them, could there?

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  • netgeek06, on 08/29/2008, -35/+7Duplicate submission again. Check the Original http://digg.com/odd_stuff/The_Disturbing_Origins_o ...
    • K0MMIE, on 08/29/2008, -2/+23This one was submitted a full minute before the other one.
      • netgeek06, on 08/29/2008, -5/+3Check the URL this one has _2 that means a dupe.
      • manishmohan1986, on 08/29/2008, -0/+7It seems like you and me got it at the same moment and i was late in submitting it. Therefore putting some comment like this isn't a good thing. Its about the community to decide which one to promote and as you can see this one made it. So, just be a bit more choosy when putting a comment like that.
      • ElAmo, on 08/30/2008, -2/+1You both are fags for just submitting the same old Crack.com stuff that everyone sees anyway. Stop being Digg whores.
    • mavranos, on 08/29/2008, -4/+15If you had kept your mouth shut your submission might have gotten dugg up. Oh well. Have a nice day!
    • edwartica, on 08/29/2008, -4/+5Considering when I pressed the "digg" button on the actual website it lead me here, I say this is the one to digg. I think I'm going to bury yours out of spite.
    • BXRWXR, on 08/29/2008, -3/+3I did - and buried it.

      Have a nice day!
  • bluepill2, on 08/29/2008, -30/+80How about this one:

    Ring a-ring o' roses,
    A pocketful of posies.
    a-tishoo!, a-tishoo!.
    We all fall down.

    Give up? The 1665 Great Plague of London. Translated:

    Symptoms of serious illness (bubonic plague caused red-then-black skin spots)
    Flowers to ward off the stench (or funeral flowers, could be too)
    We're burning the corpses (could mean sneezing too, bubonic plague came often with pneumonia)
    We all drop dead. (Weee!)

    Thanks Wikipedia, and now off to a beautiful day!
    • Cyrusnov, on 08/29/2008, -11/+50Sorry to destroy your illusion, but:
      http://www.snopes.com/language/literary/rosie.asp
      You'll probably still have a beautiful day, 'tho.
      • drlha, on 08/29/2008, -4/+16Actually the first time I've read a Snopes article and not been particularly convinced by their arguments.

        For which I blame my evil 3rd year History Teacher!
      • sancho, on 08/29/2008, -3/+3drlha:
        Do you also believe that Christopher Columbus was alone among his peers in believing that the Earth was round?
      • Shizlanski, on 08/30/2008, -1/+2They didnt have much evidence to the contrary. The article just sounded like nuh ah!

        I usually believe snopes.
    • wanderingsun, on 08/29/2008, -2/+32I thought the third line was "ashes ashes"
      • drlha, on 08/29/2008, -1/+15In America people sing "Ashes". In the UK people sing "A-tishoo" like sneezing.
      • ncapone, on 08/29/2008, -1/+12That reminds me: When I was in kindergarten, we had a British kid in class and he said "A-tishoo" when the rhyme was recited and I remember thinking, "WTF?"
      • matthewaaron, on 08/29/2008, -1/+3I prefer to sing "ashes a-tishoo"
      • Dubbsacc, on 08/30/2008, -0/+1Got something against "A-choo" or what? "A-choo" is a sneeze, I don't know wtf "A-tishoo" is...
    • RadiatedAnt, on 08/29/2008, -7/+1obvious cat is obvious
    • Corinne716, on 08/29/2008, -10/+3I heard that it was about the Holocaust. The ashes had to do with the "ashes to ashes dust to dust" and ring around the rosie was about the mass graves. Don't remember what the pocket full of posies was about but it had something to do with all of it. Don't know if it's true, I think it was in a documentary we watched in high school.
      • drlha, on 08/29/2008, -1/+17Given that there are published versions of this rhyme from the 19th century, I think we can rule out it being about the Holocaust.
      • Joab, on 08/29/2008, -1/+7Was a bad documentary then.
      • Corinne716, on 08/29/2008, -2/+2Didn't pay that much attention to the origin. Guess I should have before I put up a comment. I was just wondering if anyone else had heard that. Apparently that was a bad documentary.
    • Metasquares, on 08/29/2008, -0/+1Watch out for that guy who controls the bears.
  • chrissku, on 08/29/2008, -4/+18These are nursery rhymes done the right way.


    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNwpM51AGV8
  • Schooley02, on 08/29/2008, -19/+3Buried because it is a duplicate.
    • edwartica, on 08/29/2008, -3/+3Yeah, well, at least the first comment isn't something totally idiotic like "They teach this crap in pre-school? LOL"
    • katjas, on 08/29/2008, -1/+5But the first comment here is "Duplicate."

      Now I don't know which one to Digg...
      • BXRWXR, on 08/29/2008, -2/+3Bury both. Tards won't learn unless you beat 'em.
  • Vimmy, on 08/29/2008, -1/+17I thought that Mary Mary Quite Contrary was going to turn out to be about a brothel.
    • TalksInMaths, on 08/29/2008, -4/+1Wasnt that "Mary Mary" based on a RUN DMC song?

      :)
    • SpiderBoar, on 08/29/2008, -1/+1Contrary to that guess, it isn't. Also, is your name Mary
  • ieatpizza, on 08/29/2008, -2/+1croughberries make me jealous of my inner stipe
    i once found one
    my world changed forever
  • TalksInMaths, on 08/29/2008, -6/+2Wasnt that "Mary Mary" based on a RUN DMC song?

    :)
  • devila2208, on 08/29/2008, -1/+3Man I wish cracked wasn't blocked at work.
  • MYarms, on 08/29/2008, -8/+2Come on is this even real? I don't think cracked.com is the most reliable source of literary history.
  • DeFex, on 08/29/2008, -4/+2This is what they used to indoctrinate people before they had fox news.
  • Bear78, on 08/29/2008, -2/+10"Captain Choppy"
    • CaptainChoppy, on 08/29/2008, -1/+7At your service. Who's up next?
      • completerobot, on 08/29/2008, -0/+6It would've been funnier if you hadn't just registered today.
  • mweflen, on 08/29/2008, -4/+5Why don't Digg and Cracked just merge into one website? It's kind of pointless getting a long list of "Everything Cracked Is Doing Today" on Digg.
  • thegreatsam, on 08/29/2008, -3/+1This again?
  • FeloniusMonkey, on 08/29/2008, -6/+2It's worth mentioning that "Eenie, Meenie, Miny, Moe" probably derived out of racism: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eeny,_meeny,_miny,_mo ...
    • nesagwa, on 08/29/2008, -2/+3If you read the thing it says pretty plainly that it DIDNT.
      • FeloniusMonkey, on 08/29/2008, -1/+1Eh, quit pissin' in my tea, ya troll.
    • chrisdjohnson, on 08/29/2008, -1/+3Obviously just another example of the man trying to keep me down! If it weren't for rhymes like this, I'd be better educated and wouldn't steal near as much!
    • whazdown, on 08/29/2008, -0/+2As pointed out in The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes,[3] the word "*****" was common in American folk-lore, but unknown in any English traditional rhyme or proverb. This, combined with evidence of various versions of the rhyme in England that predate the "*****" version, suggest that the "*****" version merely became the most popular at some point in the 20th century, probably originating in America.

      Just racist Yanks being knobs, nothing to do with the origins.
  • Shady77, on 08/29/2008, -1/+8Huh.
    I always thought Pop Goes the Weasel referred to something completely different.
    • celeryuk, on 08/29/2008, -0/+3Being a good ol' Cockney from London meself...Weasel means "coat" as it says. This is because old Cockney rhyming slang has it as "weasel & stoat - coat".

      No one ever says that thesedays in old London Town though.
      But I will often have a "butchers" for my "old china" if I'm out having a few Britneys.

      butchers hook/look
      old china plate/mate
      Britney Spears/beers
      daft init

      :D
      • Stavrosian, on 08/29/2008, -0/+1Must have been a nice weasel if it was being pawned for a monkey back then.
  • CYR1X, on 08/29/2008, -3/+1While this cracked article seems to be worthwhile don't you find it annoying how they all get front paged?
  • megaton, on 08/29/2008, -1/+8I always like Cracked's "Top N Things You Thought You Knew But You Were Wrong" posts, but sometimes I'd really like to see some sources for the material.

    Not that it's any less interesting without traceable evidence, but I'd rather not sound like an ***** repeating this stuff as fact if it's really not.
  • michael43, on 08/29/2008, -5/+16Old Mother Hubbard
    Went to the Cupboard
    To fetch her poor doggy a bone
    But when she bent over
    Old Rover came over
    And gave her a bone of his own
  • saralovemuffins, on 08/29/2008, -1/+1I never knew how ***** up nursery rhymes really are.
  • ebbv, on 08/29/2008, -18/+2***** YOU CRACKED SPAM! ***** YOU CRACKED SPAM! ***** YOU CRACKED SPAM! ***** YOU CRACKED SPAM! ***** YOU CRACKED SPAM! ***** YOU CRACKED SPAM! ***** YOU CRACKED SPAM! ***** YOU CRACKED SPAM! ***** YOU CRACKED SPAM! ***** YOU CRACKED SPAM!
  • SpiderBoar, on 08/29/2008, -0/+5These are the real bedtime stories that manned up previous generations, unlike ours today.
  • WhoDoneIt, on 08/29/2008, -2/+2There once was a man from Nantucket...

    Real Meaning: He had a large ***** ***** and humped all of our moms, together. :(
  • representDLV, on 08/29/2008, -2/+3Little boy blew...

    He needed the money!
  • enotswhat, on 08/29/2008, -0/+2dugg for"fur slipper"
  • wuvamber, on 08/29/2008, -0/+3Dugg for "A dick bouquet of cockleshells. Weiner."
  • Hodor, on 08/29/2008, -0/+2buried; the picture at the top led me to believe there would be Humpty Dumpty.
    (not really)
  • Hodor, on 08/29/2008, -0/+18It's not just nursery rhymes, old songs are mean/nasty too.
    Example, I will now translate the French Canadian folk tune "Alouette":

    First the French:

    Alouette,
    Gentille alouette.
    Alouette,
    Je te plumerai.
    Je te plumerai la tête (Je t'eplumerais la tête)
    Est la tête(est la tête)
    Alouette!
    OOoooooooooo
    (repeat)

    Now the English: (ps, I'm translating alouette as a bird, but it's literally a skylark. Also, "plumerai" is more literally "to pluck (feathers)", but I'm taking some artistic license here. Sue me.

    Little birdy
    Pretty little birdy.
    Littly birdy,
    I'm going to rip your feathers off.
    I'm going to rip them off your head. (I'm going to rip them off your head)
    Off your head (off your head)
    Little birdy!
    OOoooooooooo
    (repeat)
  • bawitback, on 08/29/2008, -0/+1Shoots and Ladders
  • PopUpGirlscout, on 08/29/2008, -0/+0http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfHlA3fmJG0


    sort of unrelated, but oh well...

    (german)
  • djcrosshatch, on 08/29/2008, -0/+2and humpty dumpty was just about some miracle egg with legs and a mouth who decided it'd be a simply marvellous idea to go and sit on a 20ft wall.

    what a dick.

    the moral of the story. dont be a ***** like humpty.
  • djcrosshatch, on 08/29/2008, -0/+3Yeah in england we all say a-tishoo.
    i had no idea that ashes was ever sung.

    strange.
    • zerofourtwo, on 09/16/2008, -0/+0And i felt just the opposite when i read a-tishoo, ive never heard of that before.
  • dstz, on 08/29/2008, -0/+3"But Some Experts Say...
    The farmer's wife in the poem is an allusion to the 16th Century Queen "Bloody" Mary I, and her enthusiasm for everything involving torture, death, and basically finding new ways to go down in textbooks as history's biggest bitch. The three mice supposedly represent three noblemen who got together and said, "Gee guys, maybe this Mary lady isn't all there." and were consequently prosecuted for conspiring against the queen. "

    The experts are probably wrong since torturing a cute rodent also prominently features in a French nursery rhyme (that one is boiled in both oil and water for wtf??? reason of sexual nature surely.)
  • RSS14, on 08/29/2008, -0/+1"A gramme in time saves nine"

    // obscure reference to a book
  • MtnMan69, on 08/29/2008, -2/+2Jack N Jill Went Up a Hill
    Each With a Buck And a Quarter
    Jill Came Back Down With Two Fifty!
    Whoa! (TY Andrew Dice Clay)
  • Svengalus, on 08/29/2008, -0/+5Since I was a kid I've always wondered why Humpty Dumpty is an egg. It doesn't say he was an egg in the nursery rhyme.
  • webwulf, on 08/29/2008, -0/+2I usually really like the cracked.com articles, but this one had way too many errors and falsehoods in it. Also, I do believe some of the statements in the article were pulled directly from the authors ass.
  • ghall, on 08/30/2008, -0/+2Well that just put my entire childhood into question.
  • thegrantman, on 08/30/2008, -0/+2Think that's messed up? Read the original Grimm's Fairy Tales.They will leave you curled up in a tiny ball crying for your mommy.
  • shadmia, on 08/30/2008, -0/+0Just goes to show all the things we take for granted could really use some scrutiny! How did the one about storks bringing little babies get started??
  • Dante2005, on 08/30/2008, -0/+1As for the 'Pop goes the weasel' I had heard that this was about making a type of moonshine. Rice and treacle being the grain and sugar. The popping of the weasel was a valve that told you when it was ready. Still I suppose like much of history there is no real proof either way.
  • tgcali, on 09/01/2008, -0/+1There are some things I would really rather not know....
  • poddys, on 09/03/2008, -0/+1The number of times I have heard A Ring A Ring Of Roses over here int he USA and cringed when they sing "Ashes Ashes" instead of "Atishoo-Atishoo"...

    Let's face it - the Great Plague was in England - so our original version of the lyrics is right...
    But people just have to be different over here...
  • poddys, on 09/03/2008, -0/+1I used to live in Islington (North London) just off City Road where the Eagle pub still stands.

    City Road links the City of London with Islington - 200 years ago it was an open area and travellers were prone to being attacked by highwaymen.
  • jmaica26, on 09/04/2008, -0/+0I was blasted off with this.
  •  

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