Yeah this was the first one where there were 2 acceptable answers.
For all the other ones, anybody who didn’t answer correctly with me is dead to me.
Came across a new one!
All around the cobbler’s bench
The monkey chased the weasel
The monkey
- …stopped to pull up his socks
- …thought it was all in fun
- Something else
- I’ve never heard of this one
0 voters
Pop goes the weasel!
You got it all wrong!
Half a pound of tuppenny rice
Half a pound of treacle
That’s the way the money goes
Pop goes the weasel
I guess I know absolutely none of the rhyme except the “pop goes the weasel” part.
I’ve heard of that one, but it’s almost non-existent on this side of the pond. I guess that is the oldest version rather than an added on verse like I thought, but I have no idea what a weasel has to do with rice or treacle.
Also, I forgot to add the second poll!
Around what does the monkey chase the weasel?
- Cobbler’s bench
- Cobbler’s house
- Mulberry bush
- Something else
- No idea, pass the treacle
0 voters
One thing about raising a child in a country that stubbornly speaks a different language is learning new nursery rhymes in old age and thus seeing more easily what utter insanity they are.
French ones are certainly no exception, here’s a quick translation of one my son currently listens to over and over on a CD. (It’s two voices speaking to one another.)
I have a beautiful castle
I have a beautiful castle
No, ours is better
We will destroy it
We’ll pay a ransom
We ask for your daughters
Which will you take?
That one there
What will you give us?
Some pretty jewels
We don’t want them
Do you want some plates?
Yes, we’d love them
(Obviously when I googled it just now there is no agreement on the ‘real’ lyrics.)
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I actually know it EXCEPT for the third line, I’ve never heard it clearly. First line was always mulberry bush.
I thought the monkey was on the table and we had to knock it off with a stick and then go down the pub.
Edit: goes something like
Every time that I go out
A Monkey’s on the table
Take a stick an knock it off
Pop goes the weasel
Up and down the something (city?) streets
In and out The Eagle
That’s the way the money goes
Pop goes the weasel
Given it’s a cockney rhyme I think ‘to pop’ = to pawn (a pop shop is a pawn shop ) and a ‘weasel and stoat’ = a coat. A monkey would be £500 though, which would be a lot to blow at The Eagle.
I’ll be damned if you’re going to say Lisa Loeb is wrong.
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Old Mother Hubbard had so many children
her uterus fell out.
–A.D. Clay
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Nothing to do with nursery rhymes but was surprised to discover that “daylight robbery” didn’t originate as some phrase for openly swindling someone. The original daylight robber seems to have been William III of England who decided in 1696 it might be a good idea to tax windows. Faced with having to open their purse, many folk chose to brick up their windows instead.
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Did you get a response to this? I was thought it originated during the bubonic plague.
Ring around the Rosie (fire for burning corposes)
Pocket full of Posies (For blocking the smell of said corposes)
Ashes, Ashes, we all fall down (We all die from the plague)
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The wiki on it doesn’t think this is true. The rhyme post-dates the plague by a couple hundred years.
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Back when plagues know the value of an honest day’s work. Today’s plagues are soft and no one benefits from all the participation trophies. Toughen up, plagues! (But seriously, that is an interesting follow up from Wikipedia)
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Well, I’m not sure about nursery rhymes coming from this plague, but we did get at least one pretty decent song out of it:
Little Bunny Foo Foo hoppin’ through the
Through the what?
- Forest
- Meadow
- Little bunny who who?
0 voters
Picking up the…
Picking up what?
- Chipmunks
- Field mice
- I still don’t know this one
0 voters
and bopping them on the head.
I had never heard of this before I met my wife. She always heard it as Little Rabbit Foo Foo.
Oh, I didn’t hear that one before.
1st the worst
2nd the best
3rd ???
4th ???