The Truth About Nursery Rhymes

When we actually take the time to examine some of the words in these classic nursery rhymes and start to investigate how they came about, the harrowing reality of many of these cute little poems begins to be unveiled.

Children poems has got a bit of a dark streak, as evidenced by the unexpectedly sinister theories surrounding the origins of these poems:

1.Jack And Jill

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.

2.London Bridge Is Falling

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.

3.Three Blind Mice

Critics suggest that the blindness in the title refers to their religious beliefs.

4.EENY, MEENY, MINY, MO

No, there’s nothing particularly inflammatory about the lines “Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Mo, Catch a tiger by his toe.” But there is when you consider that the word “tiger” is a relatively new development in this counting rhyme, as a replacement for the n-word. Even with the lyrical switch-out, any reference to the poem still has the ability to offend.

5.Here WeGo Round The Mulberry Bush

According to historian R. S. Duncan, a former governor of England’s Wakefield Prison, the song originated with that 420-year-old institution’s female prisoners, who were exercised around a mulberry tree.

6.Goosey Goosey Gander

Goose” used to have a far more pejorative connotation than it does today; it was a slang term for “prostitute” in 16th century England. It’s unclear, however, if this is the meaning of the word in this rhyme. The later lines seem to refer to the persecution of Catholic priests by Henry VIII, who refused to “say their prayers” in the new, Anglican form. To avoid punishment for practicing their faith, priests would hide in “priest holes,” or tiny hidden chambers in the homes of sympathetic laymen. If they were found, the punishment was often death, as implied by the fate of the old man in the poem, who is “thrown down the stairs.”

7.Yankee Doodle

Yankee Doodle went to town / Riding on a pony / Stuck a feather in his cap / And called it macaroni!

At the time, however, macaroni was the favored food of London dandies, and the word had come to refer to the height of fashion. British soldiers, who originally sang the verse, were insulting American colonists by implying they were such hicks they thought putting feathers in their hats made them as hip and stylish as London socialites.