Ring around the Rosey
Posted by Bruce Kahl on December 11, 2001
In Reply to: Ring around the Rosey posted by James Briggs on December 11, 2001
: : : Can anybody give the whole nine on "Ring around the Rosey"?
: : : The archive on this site does have a few notations but they lead nowhere and then to a dead web site link.
: : : I googled it and came up with the ol' standby
of bubonic plague, blisters, posies to eliminate odors etc etc which I think is
just hogwash. All the hits on Google seem to contain cuts and pastes of the same
wash from the same hog.
: : : Anybody?
: :
: : Can't say I've ever heard
the expression "Ring around the Rosey" - it could be a New World saying.
: Int he UK it's 'ring around the roses'. I too have never heard of 'rosey'.
OK, I really thought this was an international childrens play song. So here goes: ( This is the USA NY Brooklyn Version )
Picture 3 or 4 little kids all holding hands and walking in a circle while singing:
"Ring around the Rosey
A Pocketfull
of Posies
Ashes, Ashes
We all fall down"
Then they all fall down to the ground.
The common belief or explanation of this song is about the plague.
The
"ring" was a type of skin infection which surrounded a "rosey" or roseola.
"Posies"
are flowers which infected people carried hidden in pockets to mask the odor of
the oozing sores.
"Ashes, Ashes" was the result of burning the bodies after
they died of the plague.
"We all fall down" as a reference to what happens
when you finally die of the disease.
Seems all too urbanlegendish.
Anybody?
- Ring around the Rosey Gary 12/11/01
- Ring around the
Rosey Louise 12/12/01
- Ring around the Rosey TheFallen 12/12/01
- Ring around the
Rosey Louise 12/12/01