I know I've discussed this before.
Apr. 18th, 2006 10:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
conuly
But I can't begin to remember what I said or what answers I got, so we can discuss it again, okay? OKAY????
I was reading the most recent two in a series of kid's books lately (the Gregor the Overlander series... not half-bad. A bit heavy-handed in parts, but at those parts I remind myself that I'm well past the age range for these books. Is it just me, or is there a serious surplus of fantasy in the kid's section nowadays? Not as many long-ranging series like I had growing up, but a heck of a lot of fantasy.... But I digress) and they mentioned this nursery rhyme:
Bat, bat, come under my hat
And you shall have some bacon
And when I bake, you shall have cake
If I am not mistaken
It's apparently a real nursery rhyme, just one of the less-popular ones.
Which got me thinking on two or three lines at once.
1. Which nursery rhymes have tunes, and how can I find these tunes?
2. What makes a nursery rhyme? Classic nusery rhymes seem to include songs, moralistic poems, proverbs, educational rhymes, political slogans, and riddles (humpty dumpty is supposed to be a riddle). What makes these nursery rhymes instead of simply "children's songs" or such?
3. Can we add to the canon of nursery rhymes? Say, if we define a nursery rhyme as being a popular rhyme most children know which is less than so-and-so long, could we add other songs to that list if they were short? Like, say "A peanut sat on a railroad track"? Or is it only those rhymes which are already acknowledged as being nursery rhymes?
4. Do you know any less-known nursery rhymes you'd like to share? What's your favorite? Least favorite? (I'm always eager to memorize new things, y'know)
5. How do nursery rhymes run in other languages?
Answer, please.
I was reading the most recent two in a series of kid's books lately (the Gregor the Overlander series... not half-bad. A bit heavy-handed in parts, but at those parts I remind myself that I'm well past the age range for these books. Is it just me, or is there a serious surplus of fantasy in the kid's section nowadays? Not as many long-ranging series like I had growing up, but a heck of a lot of fantasy.... But I digress) and they mentioned this nursery rhyme:
Bat, bat, come under my hat
And you shall have some bacon
And when I bake, you shall have cake
If I am not mistaken
It's apparently a real nursery rhyme, just one of the less-popular ones.
Which got me thinking on two or three lines at once.
1. Which nursery rhymes have tunes, and how can I find these tunes?
2. What makes a nursery rhyme? Classic nusery rhymes seem to include songs, moralistic poems, proverbs, educational rhymes, political slogans, and riddles (humpty dumpty is supposed to be a riddle). What makes these nursery rhymes instead of simply "children's songs" or such?
3. Can we add to the canon of nursery rhymes? Say, if we define a nursery rhyme as being a popular rhyme most children know which is less than so-and-so long, could we add other songs to that list if they were short? Like, say "A peanut sat on a railroad track"? Or is it only those rhymes which are already acknowledged as being nursery rhymes?
4. Do you know any less-known nursery rhymes you'd like to share? What's your favorite? Least favorite? (I'm always eager to memorize new things, y'know)
5. How do nursery rhymes run in other languages?
Answer, please.
