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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to be a bit shocked..

34 replies

OohBridget · 10/12/2013 06:35

At this -1 minute 50 in.

The duck threw him down the stairs for not saying his prayers?!

..I thought dd was watching wheels on the bus!

OP posts:
DoJo · 10/12/2013 09:26

Link doesn't work for me, but I am intrigued...!

talkingnonsense · 10/12/2013 09:27

I

talkingnonsense · 10/12/2013 09:28

Is it goosey goosey gander? Nursery rhyme?!

COCKadoodledooo · 10/12/2013 09:36

The link just takes me to a rather twee version of Old McDonald that's only 1min 18 seconds...

ShylaMcClaus · 10/12/2013 09:50

That nursery rhyme used to terrify me as a child. The DC loved it Hmm

Original poster
OohBridget · 10/12/2013 10:05

yes goosey goosey gander Hmm

about the man who wouldn't say his prayers.

DD just went all wide-eyed. And I just thought, Surely I didn't actually just hear that?!

OP posts:
DustyBaubles · 10/12/2013 10:07

He does get thrown down the stairs, somehow I hadn't ever realised it was a duck doing the throwing.

DoesntLeftoverTurkeySoupDragOn · 10/12/2013 10:09

What about poor Humpty Dumpty?

ShylaMcClaus · 10/12/2013 10:10

This illustration from a Ladybird book was probably the reason I didn't like it.

No sanitised nursery rhymes in the seventies Grin

NoComet · 10/12/2013 10:12

And what is he doing 'in my lady's chamber'

Always sounded dodgy!

I always added "So he put himself together again" to Humpty Dumpy, I hated the idea of leaving him in pieces.

ShylaMcClaus · 10/12/2013 10:13

Mrs Pumpkin Eater should LTB Angry

flipchart · 10/12/2013 10:14

Ha! I remember sitting on my grandad's knee over 40 years ago with him singing this to me.

You have made me cry!!!

Theas18 · 10/12/2013 10:15

There I met an old man who wouldn't say his prayers
So I took him by the left leg and threw him down the stairs!

IIRC

Glad my kids were pre u tube ! It's not scary on a twee CD for the car or in a book even (though I'm glad didn't't have THAT ladybird version!)

diddl · 10/12/2013 10:17

It's "I" who throw him down the stairs, isn't it?

Goosey, Goosey Gander
Whither shall I wander
Upstairs & downstairs
And in my lady's chamber

There I met an old man
who wouldn't say his prayers
So I took him by the left leg
And threw him down the stairs

The stairs went crack
The old man broke his back
And all the little ducks went
"quack quack quack"

What was the old man doing in the lady's chamber??!!

diddl · 10/12/2013 10:17

Oops, bit slow there!

Original poster
OohBridget · 10/12/2013 10:30

Shyla Shock

That is sinister!

OP posts:
KirstyJC · 10/12/2013 10:34

I always thought it was about a prostitute - my lady - and a client who didn't pay ie say his prayers. Not sure where I got the idea from and goodness only knows what they were doing with ducks.....Hmm

Katz · 10/12/2013 10:38

Google provides these explanations for various nursery rhymes.

www.cracked.com/article_16576_the-disturbing-origins-5-common-nursery-rhymes.html

Topaz25 · 11/12/2013 00:36

Katz, that's interesting but disturbing. The origin of Mary, Mary Quite Contrary is really horrible too, I used to like that as a child.

ShylaMcClaus · 11/12/2013 00:56

Katz, that link is fascinating!

JollySantersSelectionBox · 11/12/2013 01:07

I can just see a Damon Hill lookalike farmer doing a dance with 3 animals in a not very profitable farm.

Little Red Riding Hood was also quite adult, and I remember the "Here does the chopper to chop off your head" was also about losing your virginity (Maidenhead).

BillyBanter · 11/12/2013 01:15

Re: Pop goes the weasel. The Eagle pub is my local and has left me poverty stricken a number of times.

missingmumxox · 11/12/2013 01:15

Diddl I have just fucking screen captured that as you are the first person in my 43 years who knows that last line! (Apart from my mum and gran both deceased nearly 20 years! My aunts, uncles even my own brother has denighed it's very exsistance.
I have even googled it and it doesn't appear anywhere thank you thank you thank you xxxx

JollySantersSelectionBox · 11/12/2013 01:17

Comes. Not does. Although that sounds even seedier now.

missingmumxox · 11/12/2013 01:18

Actually from the stairs went crack all of that bit, my gran told me it was a old man killed by the lady, because he tried to have sex with her against her will, I didn't get the idea of it I was 13, will look at the link now to see if she was correct.