I wrote the othere day about the English nursery rhyme 'Pop Goes the Weasel'. My friend Jane (about the only person to comment on
this blog) writes the following from England:
I have a
book called Pop Goes the Weasel: The Secret Meanings of Nursery Rhymes by
Albert Jack and it also has 'weasel' meaning coat (weasel and stoat) According
to him an earlier possible meaning is to do with immigrant textile workers. A
spinner's weasel was a mechanical thread-measuring device shaped like a spoked
wheel, which made a popping sound when the required length of thread had been
reached. The last verse (which I'd never heard before) includes 'A penny for a
ball of thread, Another for a needle'.
The third
verse (which I do remember) is
Every night
when I go out,
The monkey's
on the table.
Take a stick
and knock it off,
Pop goes the
weasel.
A monkey is
apparently a Victorian sailors' term for a glazed tankard and 'knocking off a
stick' meant to drink alcohol. As a child I predictably felt sorry for the poor
monkey being pushed off the table. I assumed it was something to do with organ
grinders.
I (Simon) should add something about possible confusion of weasels
and stoats: the weasel is weasily distinguished from the stoat, which is
stoatally different.
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