The Origins of an Ancient Fairy Tale

Humpty-Dumpty fell into the Beck,
All of the sinews wrapped round its neck,
All the king’s doctors, and all the king’s men,
Couldn’t put Humpty Dumpty back together again.

Humpty Dumpty sate [sic] on a wall,
Humpti Dumpti [sic] had a great fall;
Threescore men and threescore more,
Cannot place Humpty dumpty as he was before

“Humpty Dumpty lies in the beck,
With a white counterpane round his neck,
Forty doctors and forty wrights,
Cannot put Humpty Dumpty to rights!”

Wiki wrote:Professor David Daube suggested in The Oxford Magazine of 16 February 1956 that Humpty Dumpty was a "tortoise" siege engine, an armoured frame, used unsuccessfully to approach the walls of the Parliamentary held city of Gloucester in 1643 during the Siege of Gloucester in the English Civil War. This was on the basis of a contemporary account of the attack, but without evidence that the rhyme was connected. http://wikivisually.com/wiki/Humpty_Dumpty

Fred Moletrousers wrote:Humpty Dumpty is also a famous literary figure. In Lewis Carroll's "Through the Looking Glass" Humpty says: "When I use a word it means what I choose it to mean; neither more nor less."

I know some posters like that!

Fred Moletrousers wrote:Oh look, a nice shiny red stripe! I shall wear it with pride.

Someone is obviously not a Lewis Carroll fan...

nicko wrote:Thorin, if you want an extreme example of "a dig at Posters" look at Wolf's and Veya's posts.

nicko wrote:Thorin, if you want an extreme example of "a dig at Posters" look at Wolf's and Veya's posts.

Fred Moletrousers wrote:

nicko wrote:Thorin, if you want an extreme example of "a dig at Posters" look at Wolf's and Veya's posts.

Oh, him? I would have thought that by now even he might have realised that the huge collection of reds that he has posted in my direction over the years hasn't had the slightest effect...I just brush 'em all off, regardless of source, as being futile and childish.

I only ever use them myself to signify my approval of an outstandingly brilliant post, when I award a very rare green, or something that is gratuitously racist or homophobic, which gets an equally rare red.

You can tell him from me that I was thinking of a number of people at the time, most of them not in residence here, and that he doesn't rank in sufficient importance in my life to have been one of them.

Fred Moletrousers wrote:Look! Yet another dire warning from my mysterious stalker, the Anonymous Red Geranium.

How exciting...it's almost as good as being handed the black spot by Blind Pugh in Treasure Island.

I wonder whether it's ol' Shady having a joke at my expense?

HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR

nicko wrote:I enjoy these explanations Quill,   more if possible.

nicko wrote:Thorin, if you want an extreme example of "a dig at Posters" look at Wolf's and Veya's posts.

veya_victaous wrote:

nicko wrote:Thorin, if you want an extreme example of "a dig at Posters" look at Wolf's and Veya's posts.

I'm guessing the irony of your post is lost on you

Thorin wrote:

veya_victaous wrote:

nicko wrote:Thorin, if you want an extreme example of "a dig at Posters" look at Wolf's and Veya's posts.

I'm guessing the irony of your post is lost on you

Wow and I still see you are acting like a child

I am still waiting to know why you locked my thread for no reason

How about you learn to move on and stop being personal all the time

veya_victaous wrote:

Thorin wrote:

Wow and I still see you are acting like a child

I am still waiting to know why you locked my thread for no reason

How about you learn to move on and stop being personal all the time

To Stop me banning you!!!!

This is not a democracy and I have no need to explain myself to you or any other poster

Feel free to leave if you don't like It

veya_victaous wrote:I'll start locking thread just to stop you having the last word in them if your not careful

Fred Moletrousers wrote:Look! Yet another dire warning from my mysterious stalker, the Anonymous Red Geranium.

How exciting...it's almost as good as being handed the black spot by Blind Pugh in Treasure Island.

I wonder whether it's ol' Shady having a joke at my expense?

HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR

Fred Moletrousers wrote:

Fred Moletrousers wrote:Look! Yet another dire warning from my mysterious stalker, the Anonymous Red Geranium.

How exciting...it's almost as good as being handed the black spot by Blind Pugh in Treasure Island.

I wonder whether it's ol' Shady having a joke at my expense?

HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR

Ah, well..another day, another red - though my thanks to the kind soul who gave me a green one to balance things out a bit.

I haven't a clue as to the identity of the Anonymous Red Geranium, as I never see any messages attached to them, but it's it quite obviously either some friggin' pervert of a stalker with nothing better to do or a fractious toddler who is overdue for a nappy change.

Fred Moletrousers wrote:Another one! Clearly a friggin' pervert.

Original Quill wrote:I had heard it was English, and had to do with the plague.  But with some variations....




The rings are welts in the skin that appear and are symptomatic of the plague.

The pocket full of posies are herbs that people carried around in their pockets believing it would ward off the evil spirits of the plague.  Early form of pharmacology...as some of them worked.

"Ashes! Ashes!"  Obvious reference to burning bodies.

"We all fall down."  We all face death.

Just a pleasant little ditty to amuse children.

Fred Moletrousers wrote:Ring-a-ring o' roses,
A pocket full of posies,
A-tishoo! A-tishoo!
We all fall down.[4]

I had always accepted this old rhyme as being quintessentially English and as having had its origins in the great plague when, it was thought, rose petals offered some sort of protection against infection.

However, prompted by Quill's interesting thread I looked up what Wikipaedia had to say about it and was surprised to read that it may have its roots back in Pagan times and that there are historic versions in the literature of other countries.

Is there anything in either American Indian or Australian Aborigine folklore to suggest any link to countries as far away as that, and which were, so far as I know, not infected by the European Black Death?

MEANWHILE...memo to the insufferable clown who is red-striping every post I make: Fuck off and grow up. My patience and my good humour are exhausted.

a) I do not care a fish's tit if my every post in every thread has a red stripe against it; unless greens and reds are awarded for either outstandingly sensible or appallingly offensive posts, I have always regarded and treated them as being utterly childish.

Anyone who finds it necessary to red-stripe a quotation from "Through the Looking Glass" must be particularly infantile, and your assumption that I had you in mind was erroneous - unless you were the stupid bugger in, I think, ADO or even Sky, who genuinely believed that a paediatrician was a kiddy fiddler! You, on the other hand, feature less in my thoughts than remembering what day to put my wheelie bin out.

b) Since it is obvious who you are: When I take the extreme and, for me, unusual step of blocking a poster it is for perfectly valid reasons. In your case it was because I am sick and tired of your arrogant assumption that you are the forum's sole expert on everything from aardvarks to zoonoses; I find your constant childish attempts at put-downs on anyone and everyone who has the temerity to disagree with you both irritating and highly offensive, and I am bored to wracking sobs by your never-ending avalanche of cut-and-pasted material and obscure links that are cluttering up my computer's memory.

And in case you are wondering, since I have to suffer putting up with that pathetic little small-print note identifying you and re-iterating that your messages are blocked every time you attempt to inflict your drivel on me, I have not read a single one of them - not one - because (a) I am not in the slightest interested in anything further that you have to say and (b)  my visits to this forum have been infinitely more enjoyable and entertaining since I blocked you and your posts from my sight...in both your IDs.

veya_victaous wrote:I'll start locking thread just to stop you having the last word in them if your not careful

Fred Moletrousers wrote:

veya_victaous wrote:I'll start locking thread just to stop you having the last word in them if your not careful

I have just given you one of my very, very rare greens, Veya.

You have restored my faith in humanity, not to mention  moderators.

I concur completely with your sentiments.

To paraphrase King Henry the Second when he became utterly pissed off with Thomas a Becket..."Will no-one rid me of this turbulent Red Geranium?"

Fred Moletrousers wrote:I suggest that Veya's own words: "Like I said shut the fuck up..." (addressed to members of a discussion group, for Christ's sake!) is clear evidence that he is prepared quite openly to abuse his powers as a moderator solely for his own benefit.

http://www.newsfixboard.com/t20496-why-are-threads-being-locked-for-no-reason-for-all-mods-to-answer-please