Pop Goes the Weasel: The Secret Meanings of Nursery Rhymes by Albert Jack

Author:Albert Jack [Jack, Albert]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: General, Humor
ISBN: 9780141909301
Publisher: Penguin
Published: 2008-08-28T00:00:00+00:00

The origins of this rhyme come from the ancient belief that each day of the week has something special about it. Even today that can be seen very clearly in the names of our weekdays. Sunday was the day of the sun and Monday of the moon. The rest of the week comes from the Norse gods: Tuesday is named after Tyr, the god of single combat; Wednesday after Woden, the one-eyed king of the gods; Thursday after Thor, the god of war; and Friday after Freya, the goddess of love. Saturday is the day of Saturn, the Roman god of farming. Depending on what day of the week you were born, you would come under the protection of its particular deity and hence your character would reflect theirs.

This is reflected in the rhyme: Saturday’s child works hard for his living, toiling in the fields or at a desk; Sunday’s child is sunny-natured (bonny and blithe and good and gay); Monday’s is good-looking (as proverbially fair as the moon); and Friday’s appropriately loving and giving.

When it comes to the remaining days of the week, the rhyme goes its own way, however. Children born on a Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday would otherwise be a pretty feisty lot, if not downright bolshy and apt to pick a fight. They’d be dealing out woe rather than on the receiving end of it.

On that very point, the rhyme has long bothered many who were born on a Wednesday. I have even read about one poor soul who convinced himself he was born on a Tuesday instead. And then there is the woman who booked a Caesarean on a Tuesday to make sure her daughter wasn’t saddled with the implications of a Wednesday birthday for the rest of her life. Well, I have good news for all of those whose lives have been ruined by finding out they were born on a Wednesday. Because the original publication of the rhyme in Harper’s Weekly on 17 September 1887 went like this:

Monday’s child is fair of face,

Tuesday’s child is full of grace,

Wednesday’s child is loving and giving,

Thursday’s child works hard for a living,

Friday’s child is full of woe,

Saturday’s child has far to go;

But the child that is born on Sabbath-day

Is bonny and happy and wise and gay.

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