For questions about nursery rhymes, traditional poems or songs for children.
Questions tagged [nursery-rhyme]
14 questions
92
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2 answers
How do we know Humpty Dumpty was an egg?
As depicted in 1870 by James William Elliott's National Nursery Rhymes and Nursery Songs, the nursery rhyme "Humpty Dumpty" goes as follows:
Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
All the king's horses and all the king's…
Skooba
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votes
3 answers
Why did "they" go to sea in a sieve?
In the poem 'The Jumblies' by Edward Lear, the protagonists go to sea in a sieve.
They went to sea in a Sieve, they did,
In a Sieve they went to sea:
In spite of all their friends could say,
On a winter’s morn, on a stormy day,
In a…
Valorum
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7
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How did the man going from/coming to St Ives have seven wives?
Wikipedia indicates that the classic riddle "As I was Going to St Ives" was written at some point in the 1700s or 1800s.
As I was going to St Ives
I met a man with seven wives
Bigamy, however has been illegal in the UK since at least the 1600s…
Valorum
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7
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Hot Cross Bun Paradox
In the nursery rhyme Hot Cross Buns, there's the line
One a penny, two a penny, hot cross buns
Does this mean that you can buy a hot cross bun for either 1p or 0.5p? If so, why would anyone buy only one bun?
Jacob Barrow
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How many were going to St. Ives?
The traditional nursery rhyme/riddle "As I was Going to St. Ives" appears to have a simple answer
Q. How many were there going to St. Ives?
A. Just the traveller.
But is this what the author originally intended? Surely he could have met the man, the…
Valorum
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