The “old man” is supposedly a priest, who wouldn’t say the (right) prayers—that is, according to the Anglican Prayer Book in English. Left Leg I fear MID-CHESHIRE [a correspondent to the newspaper] did not read my communication of the 12th with care, or he would have noticed that I stated distinctly the particular district in which the words I gave are used. I must therefore beg to state again that South Cheshire is the district to which I referred, and he writes from Mid-Cheshire. Now it is well known that dialect words are used in one part of a county that are never heard in another part. ... "Gondering," to wander heedlessly, is used with the same meaning in South Cheshire [as in Mid-Cheshire]; and "gonder," a noun, is applied to person, and signifies one who does not mind where he is going. In their podcast Something Rhymes With Purple, lexicographer Susie Dent and author Gyles Brandreth discuss how Goosey Goosey Gander appears to tell the story of such a search party, from the viewpoint of a so-called priest-hunter. GONDER (2) v. n. to mope about.—PULVERBATCH [near Shrewsbury] 'That fellow's good fur nuthin' but gonder about like a kimet ship ["dizzy sheep"].'

Mama Lisa’s Christmas Around The World is a celebration of the diversity and love with which many different cultures mark this joyful time of year. 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. 7. Eeny Meeny Miny Mo // Early 19th CenturyWhile no one can be certain of the identity of the mysterious man who meets an unfortunate end in this rhyme, the best guess seems to be a priest. At the time of the plague in 1665, it was still believed that disease could spread through unpleasant odours, a belief known as miasma theory. One of the first things I learned in my research is that nursery rhymes are often many centuries old, so it’s difficult to know their origins, never mind their meanings. In fact, some researchers suggest that the alleged political origins of many nursery rhymes are pure nonsense. So, by necessity, this article is less about pinning down the One True Meaning behind any given nursery rhyme and more about exploring the different ways people ascribe significance to the meaningless and ridiculous.

Unfortunately, when the wall below it was destroyed by enemy fire, the cannon plummeted to the ground.

Humpty Dumpty

The song was first recorded in 1784 by Gammer Gurton in his nursery rhymes collection The Nursery Parnassus (or Garland).

The history of the nursery rhyme Goosey Goosey Gander is all about how Henry VIII was persecuting priests in his time. This went on with Oliver Cromwell later on after the king’s death, and the priests were given places to hide. Ladybird, Ladybird is also about 16th Century Catholics in Protestant England and the priests who were burned at the stake for their beliefs. It’s still up for debate, but some people believe that Ring-a-ring-o’-roses is actually about the Great Plague of 1665, just a year before the Great Fire of London. Goosey goosey gander’is an entertaining nursery rhyme that details a man tossing another older man down a flight of stairs. In the lyrics above, there is a somewhat happy ending, as the little boy down the lane still gets a third of the profits.The innocent tunes do draw attention away from what's going on in the rhyme; for example the drowned cat in Ding dong bell, or the grisly end of the frog and mouse in A frog he would a-wooing go”, music historian Jeremy Barlow, a specialist in early English popular music, tells me. “Some of the shorter rhymes, particularly those with nonsense or repetitive words, attract small children even without the tunes. They like the sound and rhythm of the words; of course the tune enhances that attraction, so that the words and the tune then become inseparable.” He adds, “The result can be more than the sum of the parts.”