What does "pop goes the weasel" mean in the nursery rhyme "all around the mulberry bush".?

Question

What does "pop goes the weasel" mean in the nursery rhyme "all around the mulberry bush".?

Answer 1

it means when the weasel came up a hunter shot him

Answer 2

Pop goes the Weasel

Rhyme Lyrics, Origins and History

Rhyme & History

The Nursery Rhyme, 'Pop goes the weasel' sounds quite incomprehensible in this day an age! The origins of the rhyme are believed to date back to the 1700's. We have listed two versions of the rhyme o n this page. The first rhyme is the better known version - some translation is in order!

Pop and Weasel?

These words are derived from Cockney Rhyming slang which originated in London. Cockneys were a close community and had a suspicion of strangers and a dislike of the Police (they still do!) Cockneys developed a language of their own based roughly on a rhyming slang - it was difficult for strangers to understand as invariably the second noun would always be dropped. Apples and Pears ( meaning stairs) would be abbreviated to just 'apples', for instance, "watch your step on the apples". To "Pop" is the slang word for "Pawn". Weasel is derived from "weasel and stoat" meaning coat. It was traditional for even poor people to own a suit, which they wore as their 'Sunday Best'. When times were hard they would pawn their suit, or coat, on a Monday and claim it back before Sunday. Hence the term " Pop goes the Weasel"

Answer 3

I know that a lot of old children's songs had to do with political or illnesses . Sad but true IE... Lon den Bridges  a Plague in England and La cockroach that was ab ought the black Plague and the women who came out to raid the bodies dressed in black they were named cockroaches . I do be leave it was some illness like that.

Answer 4

Oh man... I was afraid there was going to be a question like this that will bother me for the rest of my life. It's things like this that make you want to knife yourself to death.

I hate to even bring this up but I am afraid that weasels don't pop and it is just another lie that has been told to us by Bush and Halliburton so they can steal more oil from the poor people in Iraq.

Answer 5

I looked it up online, and the song is not about an illness.  "Pop" is cockney slang for "pawn" and "weasel" is slang for coat.  So pop goes the weasel is slang for someone selling a coat they either already had or made for money.

Answer 6

The songs are actaully about childhood illnesses

Edit:  Nevermind, that is not right, that only applies to ring around the rosies

Answer 7

In the UK a pawn shop...or a place where you get cash for goods which you can then redeem on re payment...was called a "Pop shop"   In the past when people were very poor they would p**n anything of value...coats, blankets...and weasels....the thing that hjad been pawned was then reffered to as being "In Pop"...Hence the rhyme..."Half a pound of tuppeny rice half a pound of treacle...thats the way the money goes...pop goes the weasel"

Answer 8

its about sickness, and so is the song ring around the rosie

Answer 9

Ask James Patterson :-s

Answer 10

The monkey popped the weasel's head off.

Answer 11

Are you writing your resum'e for working at Disney?

Answer 12

This is an example of Cockney Rhyming Slang dating back to the 17th century. Pop means pawn and weasel means coat. Economic hardship meant pawning your coat. The mulberry bush part is a verse added later, probably in the colonies (America). The meaning of the mulberry part is somewhat unclear. At one time in early America an attempt was made to develop a silk industry. Since silkworms require mulberries, large numbers were planted. The experiment was a costly and dismal failure. That's my best guess about the mulberry bush.

Answer 13

...... in North America, the opening line was generally "all around the mulberry bush," possibly due to conflation with the similar tune "Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush." In the UK, however, it was usually "all around the cobbler's bench." This gives us a better idea of the song's original meaning. Most authorities think "Pop Goes the Weasel" describes the acts of weaving, spinning, and sewing. A weasel, Tom reports, was a mechanism used by tailors, cobblers, and hatters that "popped" when the spool was full of thread.

Some argue that to pop the weasel is also cockney slang meaning to pawn one's coat. This makes sense in light of the second verse of the kids' version: "A penny for a spool of thread / A penny for a needle / That's the way the money goes," etc. A version popular in 19th-century English music halls makes things even clearer: "Up and down the City Road / In and out the Eagle / That's the way the money goes," etc. The Eagle in question was a London tavern; clearly the lyricist was describing the consequences of spending too little time at the cobbler's bench and too much on a barstool.

http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a99...

Answer 14

I think it means that weasel's sometimes hide in Mullberry Bushes, and when chased around by Monkeys, they tend to POP out of the top of the Mullberry bush.  Now, surprisingly, no one has ever seen this happen.  Weasels sometimes are chased by dogs, cats, sometimes harassed by Eagles, but never on record by a Monkey....Now Freud,  and Jung the great Physiologist's felt that there was a sexual meaning to the song.  The Mullberry Bush represents Women, the Monkey represented the womans sexual parts, so the Women is chasing the man, when the "Pop Goes the Weasel" happens, the man has been caught by the women and they are making love.....Now I discount that theory, I still think more research needs to be done.  I will apply for a government grant to study Weasels, Mulberry bushes, and Monkeys, and report my findings in 2009.

Answer 15

the weasel i gess is popping out of a box or something

Answer 16

it means, the weasel is popping