This Old Man, He Played One.....

He played knick-knack on my _________, with a knick-knack, paddy-whack, give the dog a bone- this old man came rolling home.

We're watching a video of nursery rhymes, and I just asked my 4 year old,

"When the old man plays knick-knack, what does that mean?"

Well, of course he didn't know- nobody knows!

But if I had to guess....

It sounds like it was written by a woman who has finally figured out what men want: let the dog have his bone, and with a knick-knack paddy-whack it will be all over and he'll be on his way, or rolling over to go to sleep.

And the moral for children, I assume, is don't let old men play knick-knack on you, anywhere.  Not on your thumb, or your shoe....

Now that I've had this little fantasy, I must look up the true origins of this shit nursery rhyme.

Turns out, it started as propaganda against the Irish.  Apparently, they took an old traditional English song called Jack Jintle (or Gentle), which was about making music that inspired the neighborhood girls to dance, and changed up the lyrics to suit the cause.  The new song is a warning to english women and children about the old men (irish vagabonds) playing nick-nack (stealing) all over the place.

In 10 steps, this old Irish bastard steals from my own hand, then my shoe, my knee, my door, my honey, my firewood- then steals from God in Heaven, then comes back to my gate, steals from me my very spine and then starts all over again.  So, this old man, he's bad news.

Because when the Brits didn't completely wipe out all the Irish, they needed a strongly worded jingle, to keep their children safe from the "rag and bone" men they created.

To this day, the English still use the word "nick" for "steal".   As in, "I say, I'm making so much money ever since we nicked those Africans!  Let's nick some Irish after tea!  Harharhar!"