Nursery Rhymes

Ringa Ringa Rosies

Pocket Fulla Posies

Hushaa, Bushaa…

All fall down!

Who hasn’t spent many an hour in their childhood, memorizing and then reciting a ton of nursery rhymes?

While children (and many adults) gleefully sing along the popular ones, do we know the actual history and origin of the popular ones?

Let’s take the case of Ringa Ringa Rosies (that how I would pronounce the rhyme as a kid)

The actual lyrics go:

Ring around the Rosie

Pocket full of Posies

Ashes, Ashes (alternately – Atishoo, Atishoo)

All fall down.

This rhyme has a dark origin. It refers to the Black Death in Europe. The dreaded Bubonic plague swept across Europe in the 1300s. One of the symptoms of the plague, was the appearance of dark, ring like sores on the skin of the victim – Ring around the Rosie.

The plague claimed many a victim, and the streets would be piled up with dead bodies. To counter the foul stench of death, people would stuff their pockets with flowers called posies. In another version of the tale, the poor people had no money to battle the disease. All they had in the pockets were cheap, worthless posies.

The dead bodies were burned, leading to a lot of ashes – the third line. Alternately, the victims would violently sneeze – Atishoo, Atishoo…

The final line refers to the death of the victim.

Pretty dark, eh!

Here’s another one:

Baa Baa Black Sheep

Have you any wool?

Yes Sir, Yes Sir,

Three bags full

One for the master,

One for the dame,

One for the little boy,

Who lives down the lane

This probably refers to the heavy taxes that were imposed upon the commoners. One third of the produce was to be given to the crown, another third would go the church, and the little boy (commoner) was left with barely one third of his produce.

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall

Humpty Dumpty had a great wall

All the King’s horses

And all the King’s men

Could not put Humpty together again

There are various origin stories for this one. My favourite one is the story which claims that Humpty Dumpty refers to a canon which was mounted on a wall. During a particular battle, the canon was knocked off the wall. Despite the valiant efforts of the soldiers and their steeds, the canon could not be mounted again upon the wall. And hence the rhyme.

Yankee Doodle went to town

Riding on a pony

Stuck a feather in his cap

And called it macaroni!

The Americans (especially from the Northern regions) are referred to as Yanks. This ditty was originally sung by British soldiers who sang it to insult the American colonists. They considered the American to be uncouth and less refined. They made fun of them by implying that American thought, sticking a feather in one’s cap, made it fashionable and suitable for high society.

It’s pretty interesting to read up on such back stories and learn more about interesting events from history, and how they have been immortalized through children’s nursery rhymes!

Vocabulary

Do you ever feel dumb when you hear people use certain words and you do not know the meaning of the same?

Do you feel impressed by those who use hi-fi words in their speech?

Have you every described someone’s language as being Shashi Tharooresque?

If yes, then here’s my gyaan on the topic of vocabulary.

The knowledge of words is an integral part of building a rich communication skill. While school education adds basic words needed for simple communication, it takes a little bit of extra effort to build a rich repertoire of hi-fi words that can make you seem erudite.

Let’s start this with my favourite example: Do you know the meaning of the word “SOMNAMBULIST”?

If yes, great! You know a word that is not very common. However, if you are among those who do not know the meaning of this word, do not despair. There is an easy way to try and find out the meaning of the word, using our past knowledge.

Let’s break down this word in to smaller ones. The easiest thing to do is focus on the end of the word: IST. Think of words that end with IST – Cyclist, Pianist, Scientists, Artist, … What is common to all these words? They all denote a person who does somethings. A cyclist cycles. A pianist plays the piano. A scientist works with science. An artist works in art. So, there is a very high chance that the word SOMNAMBULIST, refers to a person who has something to do with “SOMNAMBUL”, whatever that is.

Okay, now let’s take the remaining part of the word and split it further. We could focus on SOMN and AMBUL.

AMBUL reminds us of ambulance. You may also come up with words like amble, ambulatory etc. All these words have something to do with walking. An ambulance is called when the patient cannot walk on his own, right?

SOMN may remind you of the word INSOMNIA – sleeplessness. The prefix IN, often denotes the negative. Invisible = not visible. Invertebrate – without a vertebra. Inorganic = Not organic. So, in the word INSOMNIA, (which means sleeplessness), if IN is the negation, then SOMN probably means sleep.

So, let’s put the parts together. 

SOMN = Sleep

AMBUL = Walk

IST = Person who does the former

So, SOMNAMBULIST could probably mean A PERSON WHO WALKS IN SLEEP.

Isn’t that interesting! Using our knowledge of common words, we can try and identify the meaning of new words. 

Many words are called root words which are derived from other languages. For example, the root words aqua and hydra refer to water and the word phobia means fear. So, hydrophobia could mean fear of water. 

Remembering root words like geo/terra (Earth), aero (air), pyro (fire), litho (rock), therma (heat), astra (star), cosmos (world), andro (male), gyna (female), derma (skin), cardio (heart), pulmonary (lung), gastro (stomach), neuro (brain), renal (kidney), uni/mono (one), duo/di/bi (two), tri (three), tetra (four), deca (ten), micro (small), macro (big), sub (below), ultra (more), hyper (more than), hypo (less than), trans (across), homo (similar), hetero (different) can help you remember a whole range of words.

e.g. Geothermal imaging, Aerodynamic, Pyromania, Lithograph, Astral projection, Androgynous, Monocle, Bipolar, Tripartite, Tetrahedron, Decade, Microeconomics, Macrocosm, Submarine, Ultramicroscopic, Hypertension, Hypodermic, Transcontinental, Homologous, Heterogenous – can you try and guess their meaning using your knowledge of word roots?

Sometimes, the context in which a particular word is used, may aid us in guessing the meaning of the word.

Do you recall the words REPERTOIRE and ERUDITE, which I used in the beginning of this passage? What do you think that word means?

A repertoire of words could probably mean a collection of words. If using rich words makes you seem ERUDITE, which is desirable, then most probably, the word Erudite, means having great knowledge or learning.

So, focus on splitting large words and their context to try and work out the meaning of new words that you come across.

There are a couple of things that I have found useful in improving my vocabulary. 

1. I read a lot. Reading good writers like Dickens, Hemingway, Forsythe, Sheldon, Wilbur Smith, Jeffrey Archer (to name a few) can expose to rich words. Keeping a reference dictionary (or just an online search these days) is highly recommended. Don’t just let it go, if you come across a new word and are not able to understand it from its contextual usage.
2. Once you have understood a new word, try to use it on a regular basis. Trying to rote learn the meaning of a word is bound to make you forget the word in the long run. However, using the word contextually, helps you retain it for long term.
3. I love playing word games like Scrabble, Crossword Puzzles and the like. Surprisingly, they help me understand and retain a lot of words.

Ultimately, its all about making a smart effort to try and work on improving your vocabulary.

If you consciously make efforts to enrich your vocabulary, there is nothing that can stop you from being the next Shashi Tharoor of your group.