Did anyone else know that the "Ring around the Rosey" nursery rhyme referred to the black/bubonic plague? Because I really didn't know 'till now and it's making me feel stupid.

yea i knew that for a long long time! i knew that for about 5 years

No, now I feel stupid :(

*feels stupider than before* You're making it worse!

wtf...thats weird ####.

yeah, my EX step dad was into all war and history stuff, so he told me a lot of things that i didn't really listen to.

i knew that for ages... the 'ring' is the first symptom, the 'pocket full of posies' was meant to cure it... by the time the unstoppable sneezing starts, its too late... so you fall down dead.


Nice, huh? ^_^

Actually, I heard it differently.

"ring around the rosey" was the circular red rash. "pocket full of poseys" people carried around flowers, scented candles, and perfumes to hide the bad smell of the rash. "ashes ashes" I think they burned the bodies to prevent further spreading. o_O; and "We all fall down" Everyone died, not a specific race or persons.

But, I think a lot have heard it differently.

Yeah I heard that first in high school, in my 10th grade Western Civ class when we talked about the bubonic plague. And I think Halo is correct with his summation of what the lyrics mean, about the ring being the rash, poseys to cover the smell, and yes they did burn the bodies because there were so many it was quicker and cheaper than burial, also it helped to keep the disease from spreading. Oh and a slight correction, it wasn't the rash that smelled it was the large systic pustules that were a later system that would ooze pus that smelled bad, although probably no stage of the illness smelt very nice
:(


Actually a lot of popular kid songs are really abour weird/gross/terrible things. Puff the Magic Dragon is about pot for example.

[QUOTE=
Actually a lot of popular kid songs are really abour weird/gross/terrible things. Puff the Magic Dragon is about pot for example. [/QUOTE]

Actually puff the magic dragon isn't about drugs or the writer didn't want it to be. It was for the vietnam warship that was nick named puff.

Also, In order to show the stupidity of calling this a drug song, the band sometimes performs "The Star Spangled Banner" at concert and pauses periodically to explain how the previous lines could describe drugs or drug-induced hallucinations.

sorry, but its true

Even London Bridge? And puff the Magic Dragon?? How does it refer to pot?

magic dragon is another slang word for pot

y'learn something new every day!

Actually magic dragon was another word the pipe and puffing is what you do to a pipe.

Thousandfs of slongs are like this most of them we never hear the true/full versions of,"Oh susana" is the perfect example of this. Being able to find alternate meanings in lyrics is an art and I love to hear them.

Snopes.com is one of the best sites to find out about rumors like this, an intreaguing site worth anyones time. its a rumor site you click on the rumor you wanna know (after going into the area it would be in) and view the text a green light means its true red means its not and there is a list of others.

The site uss strictly scientific data to figure out whter these are true and many fall under the catagory of undecided however evidnce is given to support both sides so one may draw there own conclusion.

I found that site about a week ago. And ever since I have been going into the horror section to check out the cool urban legends. Like the one about the guy waking up in a bathtub full of ice without his kidney!! Haha. But anyways. Yeah it contains some pretty interesting rumors. (whether true or not)

the story about the kidney guy is probably true to some extent, most urban legends have some truth in them.

okay, i fully admit i dont know what you're talking about. :ermm:

There is an Urban Legend about a guy who went to a bar and someone sneaked a drug into his Drink. He woke up the next day in a bath tub full of ice, missing both his kidneys.

ew

if that had really happened, it wouldve been in the news or something. wouldnt it have been?

Yep. But, it didn't really happen. Just a rumor to scare people in bars.

hee hee, that's a good one.................................................................................................................................................ok, i'll shut up now...................................................................................................................................

If my kid sings this song ima slap the crap out of him/her.

You would slap your son?? That's pretty mean...

if he sings about death? yes, stupid child, sing about sex, lol

i remeber playing ring round the rosey in kindagarden.

oh i never played it.

Ring around the rosey was a fun childrens game.

Watch your expressions when referring to children or warnings will rain

wtf, there my chldren, y u on my ass all the tiem man, wat i do to make u mad.

Okay, do you even know the name of the band who made this song?! I doubt it since you only refer to them as "a band", and if you don't even know who wrote it how can you claim to know so much about it? Its by Peter Paul and Mary, who were BIG time hippies so it completely makes sense that they would make a song about pot.

For people on this post who are mystified as to why this song is about pot...wow... where do I begin. First of all magic dragon is synonomous with pot so when they say puff the magic dragon they are telling you to puff on pot, get it? Then theres the little boy in the song named Jackie PAPER. Hello you need paper to roll joints. The lyric is "Little Jackie Paper loved his dragon puff..." get it? ALso the land that Puff is said to live in in the song, Honeliea is surrounded at all time by mist, aka smoke.

Add to all of this the fact that Peter Paul and Mary have admitted that this song is indeed about pot and there you go, irrefutable evidence that this is a drug song.

ps: Who the hell would name a warship "puff"?! :Whirly:

...

I would.

Anyways, I've known about Ring Around the Rosey for a long time. And the rumors about the lyrics being related to the black plague are something that I find... interesting. However, this is the first time I've even heard of a song called "Puff the Magic Dragon". oO