The horrible meanings behind nursery rhymes

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Nonc Hilaire
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The horrible meanings behind nursery rhymes

Post by Nonc Hilaire »

http://www.ncregister.com/blog/matthew- ... ery-rhymes
It turns out that, according to several internet sites (and who disbelieves the internet?) Humpty Dumpty was a name for a cannon protecting a fort which fell. While the men attempted to lift the cannon again, they were being slaughtered and finally they surrendered because they couldn’t get the cannon working.
This, my children thought was cool. In fact, talk of a cannon and war enticed the boy to come over. Awww. It was a nice family moment predicated on the slaughter of men attempting to raise a cannon to blow their opponents into little bitty opponent pieces. Hey, I’ll take my nice moments where I can get them.
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noddy
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Re: The horrible meanings behind nursery rhymes

Post by noddy »

neat - i was aware of some of the nastier originals but not all of them.
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Re: The horrible meanings behind nursery rhymes

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Typhoon
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Re: The horrible meanings behind nursery rhymes

Post by Typhoon »

noddy wrote:neat - i was aware of some of the nastier originals but not all of them.
Seconded.

I knew about "ring around the rosie" being a sign of bubonic plague, but not the rest.
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Torchwood
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Re: The horrible meanings behind nursery rhymes

Post by Torchwood »

Typhoon wrote:
I knew about "ring around the rosie" being a sign of bubonic plague
Urban myth, apparently.
Many folklore scholars regard the theory as baseless for several reasons:

The plague explanation did not appear until the mid-twentieth century.[13]
The symptoms described do not fit especially well with the Great Plague.[16][19]
The great variety of forms makes it unlikely that the modern form is the most ancient one, and the words on which the interpretation are based are not found in many of the earliest records of the rhyme (see above).[17][20]
European and 19th-century versions of the rhyme suggest that this "fall" was not a literal falling down, but a curtsy or other form of bending movement that was common in other dramatic singing games.[21]
But we all love "Horrible Histories"...
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Typhoon
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Re: The horrible meanings behind nursery rhymes

Post by Typhoon »

Torchwood wrote:
Typhoon wrote:
I knew about "ring around the rosie" being a sign of bubonic plague
Urban myth, apparently.
Many folklore scholars regard the theory as baseless for several reasons:

The plague explanation did not appear until the mid-twentieth century.[13]
The symptoms described do not fit especially well with the Great Plague.[16][19]
The great variety of forms makes it unlikely that the modern form is the most ancient one, and the words on which the interpretation are based are not found in many of the earliest records of the rhyme (see above).[17][20]
European and 19th-century versions of the rhyme suggest that this "fall" was not a literal falling down, but a curtsy or other form of bending movement that was common in other dramatic singing games.[21]
But we all love "Horrible Histories"...
Well, I knew one of the urban myths . . .
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Shocking News about the Humpty Roman Empire............

Post by monster_gardener »

Nonc Hilaire wrote:http://www.ncregister.com/blog/matthew- ... ery-rhymes
It turns out that, according to several internet sites (and who disbelieves the internet?) Humpty Dumpty was a name for a cannon protecting a fort which fell. While the men attempted to lift the cannon again, they were being slaughtered and finally they surrendered because they couldn’t get the cannon working.
This, my children thought was cool. In fact, talk of a cannon and war enticed the boy to come over. Awww. It was a nice family moment predicated on the slaughter of men attempting to raise a cannon to blow their opponents into little bitty opponent pieces. Hey, I’ll take my nice moments where I can get them.
Thank You Very Much for your post, Nonc.

FWIW the explanation I have heard for Humpty Dumpty is that he is the Roman Empire who the Euroz ;) oops I mean Europeans keep trying to reestablish even with things that are Not Holy, Not Roman, and Not truly Empires as that electrifyingly shocking fellow VOLTaire ;) :twisted: once remarked.

http://www.historytoday.com/richard-cav ... man-empire
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