19-05-2019, 07:13 PM
13
Re: Well, Until Today, l Didn’t Know That. Did You?
Originally Posted by Bratti
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He went shopping for roast beef. He wanted something totally different.
19-05-2019, 07:22 PM
16
Re: Well, Until Today, l Didn’t Know That. Did You?
Originally Posted by Judd
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The last little piggy must have been bursting for the toilet cos he went wee, wee, wee all the way home.
Judd, Did you know the reason, why the first piggy went to market?
19-05-2019, 07:23 PM
17
Re: Well, Until Today, l Didn’t Know That. Did You?
Originally Posted by Artangel
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I think l was trying to illustrate that you go through life and recite these rhymes and not know the really meaning of them.Ring a Ring Of Rosie’s was about the plague, wasn’t it?
Humpty Dumpty, according to folklore, was a cannon that sat atop a castle wall and when the wall it was sat on was damaged by a cannon ball from the Roundhead army, it fell to the ground. All the King's horses etc. alluded to the Royalist (King's men) army who couldn't get it back on to the top of the wall because it was too heavy.
19-05-2019, 07:25 PM
18
Re: Well, Until Today, l Didn’t Know That. Did You?
Originally Posted by Artangel
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Probably, no disposable nappies in those days? Judd, Did you know the reason, why the first piggy went to market?
19-05-2019, 08:52 PM
20
Re: Well, Until Today, l Didn’t Know That. Did You?
The Dark Origins of 11 Classic Nursery RhymesBY JENNIFER M WOOD OCTOBER 28, 2015
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WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
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In the canon of great horror writing, Stephen King, Edgar Allan Poe, H.P. Lovecraft, Bram Stoker, and Mary Shelley tend to dominate the craft. But Mother Goose isn’t too far behind. Yes, that fictional grande dame of kiddie poems has got a bit of a dark streak, as evidenced by the unexpectedly sinister theories surrounding the origins of these 11 well-known nursery rhymes.
1. BAA, BAA, BLACK SHEEP (1731)
Though most scholars agree that “Baa, Baa, Black Sheep” is about the Great Custom, a tax on wool that was introduced in 1275, its use of the color black and the word “master” led some to wonder whether there was a racial message at its center. Its political correctness was called into question yet again in the latter part of the 20th century, with some schools banning it from being repeated in classrooms, and others simply switching out the word “black” for something deemed less offensive. In 2011, news.com.au reported on the proliferation of “Baa, Baa Rainbow Sheep” as an alternative.
2. GOOSEY GOOSEY GANDER (1784)
It’s hard to imagine that any rhyme with the phrase “goosey goosey” in its title could be described as anything but feelgood. But it’s actually a tale of religious persecution, during the days when Catholic priests would hide themselves in order to say their Latin-based prayers, a major no-no at the time—not even in the privacy of one’s own home. In the original version, the narrator comes upon an old man “who wouldn’t say his prayers. So I took him by his left leg. And threw him down the stairs.” Ouch!
3. JACK AND JILL (1765)
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Admit it, you fooled around with the lyrics to “Jack and Jill” a bit yourself when you were younger, turning what you thought was an innocent poem into something a little bit naughty. But its origins aren’t as clean-cut as you probably imagined. One of the most common theories surrounding the story’s origin is that it’s about France’s Louis XVI and his wife, Marie Antoinette, who were both found guilty of treason and subsequently beheaded. The only problem is that those events occurred nearly 30 years after “Jack and Jill” was first written. The more likely possibility is that it’s an account of King Charles I’s attempt to reform the tax on liquid measures. When Parliament rejected his suggestion, he instead made sure that the volume was reduced on half- and quarter-pints, known as jacks and gills, respectively.
4. LONDON BRIDGE IS FALLING DOWN (1744)
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In 2006, Fergie got saucy with some of this classic kid tune’s lyrics. But the original song wasn’t much better. Depending on whom you ask, “London Bridge is Falling Down” could be about a 1014 Viking attack, child sacrifice, or the normal deterioration of an old bridge. But the most popular theory seems to be that first one. More specifically: the alleged destruction of London Bridge at the hands of Olaf II of Norway some time in the early 1000s. (“Alleged” because some historians don’t believe that attack ever took place.) The song’s popularity around the world is often cited as further proof that it was the Vikings who created it, believing that they brought the tune to the many places they traveled. Oh, and that whole child sacrifice thing? That’s an idea that is also often debated (there’s no archaeological evidence to support it), but the theory goes that in order to keep London Bridge upright, its builders believed that it must be built on a foundation of human sacrifice, and that those same humans—mostly children—would help to watch over the bridge and maintain its sturdiness. Which we’re pretty sure isn’t a practice they teach you in architecture school.
5. MARY, MARY, QUITE CONTRARY (1744)
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“Contrary” is one way to describe a murderous psychopath. This popular English nursery rhyme, which reads like a solicitation for gardening advice, is actually a recounting of the homicidal nature of Queen Mary I of England, a.k.a. Bloody Mary. A fierce believer in Catholicism, her reign as queen—from 1553 to 1558—was marked by the execution of hundreds of Protestants. (Silver bells and cockle shells are torture devices, not garden accouterments.)
6. THREE BLIND MICE (1805)
“Three Blind Mice” is supposedly yet another ode to Bloody Mary’s reign, with the trio in question believed to be a group of Protestant bishops—Hugh Latimer, Nicholas Radley, and The Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer—who (unsuccessfully) conspired to overthrow the queen and were burned at the stake for their heresy. Critics suggest that the blindness in the title refers to their religious beliefs.
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