[lit-ideas] Goosey Goosey Gander

  • From: Lawrence Helm <lawrencehelm@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: Lit-Ideas <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Fri, 21 Oct 2016 07:17:42 -0700

I was reading a review of John Ashbury's /Where Shall I Wander, /(published in 2005) the title of which comes from the nursery rhyme "Goosey Goosey Gander:

Goosey goosey gander

Where shall I wander

Upstairs and downstairs

In my lady's chamber

There I met an old man

Who wouldn't say his prayers

So I took him by the left leg

And threw him down the stairs

I had a Lit-Ideas moment and couldn't go on with the review for thinking about this nursery rhyme. The wandering that leads up to my lady's chamber, one might think in these modern adulterous times was to find the fellow that is cuckolding you, but "an old man"? Speaking as one, that doesn't sound right. And what do his prayers have to do with anything? This morning I checked Wikipedia and found,

*"Most historians believe that this rhyme refers to priest holes <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Priest_hole>—hiding places for itinerant Catholic <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholicism> priests during the persecutions under King Henry VIII <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_VIII_of_England> and later under Oliver Cromwell <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_Cromwell>. Once discovered the priest would be forcibly taken from the house ('thrown down the stairs') and treated badly. Amateur historian Chris Roberts suggests further that the rhyme is linked to the propaganda campaign against the Catholic Church during the reign of Henry VIII.*

**

*"Other interpretations exist. Mark Cocker and Richard Mabey <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Mabey> note in /Birds Britannica <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birds_Britannica>/ that the greylag goose <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greylag_goose> has for millennia been associated with fertility, that "goose" still has a sexual meaning in British culture, and that the nursery rhyme preserves these sexual overtones ("In my lady's chamber").^" *


Despite my attraction to interpretation number two, it doesn't answer my questions; whereas interpretation number one does. I found this further explanation which is provided without references:

*"Back in 16th century Europe, most people were busy either fighting off plagues or killing off Catholics. Priests especially were in high demand as there was a reward for the Protestant who was able to find and execute one. *

**

*"The method of execution was often tying him by the legs and throwing him down a flight of stairs (thus the last line in the rhyme). Unless he would begin to say his prayers in English rather than Latin, he would bounce down the steps faster than your childhood Slinky. If he did give in, he was spared by--oh wait, no. They threw him down the stairs regardless.*

**

*"So that's all well and good, but what the hell does the phrase "Goosey Goosey Gander" have to do with anything?*

**

*"Well, it's thought that "Goosey" is referencing an old slang term "goose" which was a nice but roundabout way of saying "voluptuous lady of the night" which in turn is a euphemism for "goddamn dirty hooker." In fact, the term "goose bumps" was originally slang for the red bumps caused by venereal diseases."*

Hmm. If the rhyme is about catching Catholic priests, the last bit doesn't really explain why "goosey goosey gander' is in the rhyme though, does it? If "goose" refers to a female goose (which doesn't have a special term like the male goose which is called a gander) then why "gander" after "goosey goosey"? And if the goose is a "voluptuoous lady of the night" would her chamber be called "my lady's"? "My lady" seems a more respectful term than one (here in the 21st century) one would apply to a lady of the night, but perhaps not in the 16th century.

Maybe a philologist can answer these questions.

Lawrence

*^
*

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