Sunday, June 21, 2009

Nursery rhymes:Tarnishing innocence?

It always takes a change of perspective in observing something to cause a paradigm shift and the observer may not really look at the issue/object being observed as he did before.As examples,i would like to showcase a few nursery rhymes and subject them to a slightly different kind of scrutiny than they are normally subjected to:

1. One,Two,
Buckle my shoe;
Three,four,
Shut the door;
Five,Six,
Pick up sticks;
Seven,Eight,
Lay them Straight;
Nine,Ten,
A big Fat Hen

This particular rhyme seems to resemble a set of instructions instructing the reader to dress up,close the door and engage in sexual activity,the eighth line-'Lay them straight' open to two different interpretations-1.Imagery of the erection of a phallus and 2.Engaging in intercourse,with 'Lay' being a common colloquially used argot for the same.The tenth line-a big fat hen can be interpreted as conjuring up the 'image' of a pregnant female.

2. Ding,dong bell;
Pussy's in the well;
Who put her in?
Little Tommy thin;
Who pulled her out?
Little Tommy Stout;

The above lines from a very popular nursery rhyme seems to put forth imagery of penile erection(Little Tommy Thin and Little Tommy Stout being possible euphemisms for a Phallus before and after erection).Also,the line Pussy's in the well can be understood to mean what is known more popularly as a 'Wet Pussy'.

With the targeted audience consisting of young children from the ages of 3 to 6 possessing a very receptive and adaptable psyche,perhaps we should start advocating the use of other,more ingenuously structured works of literature in place of 'Nursery Rhymes' like the above mentioned for the purpose of education of the same.

1 comment:

Mind-pen said...

Phew! You've worked hard (that's not sexual innuendo for any other forms of fornicative activity ;P) to dig up synonymous meanings for these rhymes. It's a laugh! Buhahaha! Whoever complained about the lack of sex education! ;P