topics: |  language | english

Longevity of Nursery Rhymes

Jack og Jill
Vent op de hill
Og Jell kom tumbling after

doggerel recited by children in Anholt, a small island 50 miles out in
the Kattegat strait between Denmark and Sweden.  Taught by occupying
Brit soldiers during Napoleonic wars; handed down thru the
generations...

At the same time, the immensely popular rhyme "Brow Bender" - had disappeared
- not been in print since 1788.  Nors rhyme researchers Peter and Iona Opie
suddenly found their nanny reciting it to put their kids to sleep...

Eenie meenie minie mo : based on counting system that predates the romans,
maybe even the celts.