Nursery rhymes - who thinks of them?!?

Question

Listening to my daughter's tape of nursery rhymes, got me thinking - just who on earth thinks these things up??!

For eg, Goosy Gander......

Goosy Goosy Gander, where can I wander

Upstairs, downstairs, in my lady's chamber

where I find an old man who wouldn't say his prayers,

I caught him by his left leg and threw him down the stairs

What on earth does that mean, and do I really want my daughter thinking it's ok to sing about throwing someone down the stairs?! The rest of them are pretty bizarre too.

So come on, who think them up?! lol

Answer 1

i don't have a clue and i never wondered why

Answer 2

probably some old man with nothing else to do with teire life, that rhyme is just plain weird

Answer 3

a drunken serf in the 15 century

Answer 4

Most nursery rhymes are about murder + disease - one of the reasons why I never sang them to my son.

Answer 5

Have a look at this website, it gives the origins of loads of different nursery rhymes. Some are a play on history, others simply to help children learn. It's really interesting - and Goosy Goosy Gander's on there!

Answer 6

alot of them where made up by children and I guess it was a way for people to remember history the good and the bad.

The Mary Mary quite contrary origin is one of the worst ones to me along with Ring around the rosy.

Answer 7

Some lucky rich millionaire.