"There was an old woman..."

Originally posted by Trev33
You think the old woman owned the shoe? In this financial climate? She's clearly squatting.

Originally posted by HandyAndy
She whipped them all soundly and sent them to bed, so we know she was a child abuser.

http://www.famousquotes.me.uk/nursery_rhymes/there_was_an_old_woman.htm

"There was an old woman who lived in a shoe,
She had so many children she didn't know what to do!
So she gave them some broth without any bread,
And she whipped them all soundly and sent them to bed!

"At first glance this would appear to be a purely nonsense rhyme but in fact it has origins in history! There
are two choices of origin. The first relates to Queen Caroline (the old woman), wife of George II who had
eight children. The shoe refers to the British Isles. The second version refers to King George, who began
the fashion of wearing white powdered wigs and was consequently referred to as The Old Woman! The
children were the members of Parliament and the bed was the Houses of Parliament, where they held
sessions. Even today, the term 'whip' is used in the English Parliament to describe a member who is
tasked to ensure that all members 'toe the party line'."

Looking at the tale without Google assistance, many other questions ensue.

Here are a few that come to mind: Age (young woman who gave birth to quintuplets, once or twice) or middle aged widow raising a large family by herself; locale of their residence, remote or densely populated with other less than helpful families close by; socio-economic status, poverty stricken or of moderate means but down to her last coins with a few days still to go to payday; date of year, anytime or Halloween with all the grocery money spent on candy for the 'trick or treating' neighborhood children. Let your imagination run wild.

gb

Well she had so many kids she obviously put it about a bit.

Definitely not a woman of white.

I figured that one. 🙂

-m.

Originally posted by mikelom

Well she had so many kids she obviously put it about a bit.

Definitely not a woman of white.

I figured that one. 🙂

-m.

Originally posted by Grampy Bobby
Appreciate your vivid imagination, Mike, but please unconfuse me this time.

gb

Originally posted by mikelom
Isn't a woman of white considered to be 'virginal' or 'untouched'?

-m.

Originally posted by HandyAndy
The second version refers to King George, who began
the fashion of wearing white powdered wigs and was consequently referred to as The Old Woman!

.

HEAR YE, HEAR YE. HURRY, HURRY. ONLY A LIMITED NUMBER OF COPIES LEFT. LATE BREAKING NEWS ON REUTERS:

THE EXTREMELY RARE FIND OF ONE WELL PRESERVED FAMILY PORTRAIT OF THE LITTLE OLD LADY WHO LIVED IN A SHOE ALONG WITH HER FAMILY HAS BEEN DISCOVERED. THIS ANCIENT AND QUAINT DOCUMENT KNOWN AS A "COLOURING BOOKLET PRIMER" FINALLY PROVIDES A DEFINITIVE COUNT OF ALL OF HER SONS AND DAUGHTERS BY BOTH AGE AND GENDER. THE TREASURE WAS UNEARTHED IN GREAT BRITAIN AT APPROXIMATELY 7:00 AM TODAY AT AN OLD ABANDONED DIG SITE ON RHP!


http://www.enchantedlearning.com/paint/rhymes/coloring/Oldladyshoe.shtml


gb

UNDAYSAY UMPBSAY


😉

Originally posted by mikelom
Well she had so many kids she obviously put it about a bit.

Definitely not a woman of white.

Originally posted by Shallow Blue

Moreover, where are all the absentee fathers - and how many different ones are there? Is this really the kind of example we should be setting children these days, with teenage pregnancy numbers on the rise and most of them ending up in single-parent families with multiple absentee partners? You should see the state of Tunbridge Wells these days!

Richard

Originally posted by Grampy Bobby
[b]http://www.visittunbridgewells.com/

What an attractive, idyllic village.[/b]