steiny@scc.UUCP (Don Steiny) (10/08/84)
*** There were complaints about continuing this discussion in net.jokes.d where it originated so .. I was just telling my wife about some of the etomologies for "fuck" - "for unlawful carnal knowledge" is the one I remember. She said it stood for "fornication under command of the king". It hit me that these acronyms must constitute some sort of folk myth. When I first saw one of the acronyms, I thought it was silly. My wife said she heard it on the schoolyard and accepted it as fact all these years. There is a book called "Language and Lore of School Children" by the Opies that points out that children have an active mythology that has origins far back. For instance, "eninie, meenie, mini, moe" is "one", "two", "three", "four" in Tocharan, a now dead Indo-European Langauge. The darling ryhme: Ring around the rosie Pockets full of Posies. Ashes, ashes, all fall down. Is a reference to the bubonic plauge. The plauge caused red circles to appear on the skin. Posies were considered a charm to ward off the plauge, and victims were burned to ashes. Apparently this "fuck" as an acronym thing is an oral tradation. It is probably like the "poodle in the microwave" story, alligators in the sewers, or other strange stories ... urban myths. It is nice to know that there is an oral tradition alive and flurishing in our technological society. Don Steiny - Personetics @ (408) 425-0382 109 Torrey Pine Terr. Santa Cruz, Calif. 95060 ihnp4!pesnta -\ fortune!idsvax -> scc!steiny ucbvax!twg -/ -- scc!steiny Don Steiny - Personetics @ (408) 425-0382 109 Torrey Pine Terr. Santa Cruz, Calif. 95060 ihnp4!pesnta -\ fortune!idsvax -> scc!steiny ucbvax!twg -/
gam@amdahl.UUCP (Gordon A. Moffett) (10/14/84)
> scc!steiny Don Steiny - Personetics @ (408) 425-0382 > > ...The darling ryhme: > > Ring around the rosie > Pockets full of Posies. > Ashes, ashes, all fall down. > > Is a reference to the bubonic plauge. The plauge caused red circles to > appear on the skin. Posies were considered a charm to ward off the > plauge, and victims were burned to ashes. I heard that the "ashes" were in reference to making a mark on the forehead with ashes, another charm to ward off the Plague. (Certainly they would have had a lot of human ashes, though). -- Gordon A. Moffett ...!{ihnp4,hplabs,amd,nsc}!amdahl!gam [ Only these only are only my only opinions, only. Thank you. ]
ljdickey@watmath.UUCP (Lee Dickey) (10/18/84)
>> ...The darling ryhme: >> >> Ring around the rosie >> Pockets full of Posies. >> Ashes, ashes, all fall down. >> >> Is a reference to the bubonic plauge. The plauge caused red circles to >> appear on the skin. Posies were considered a charm to ward off the >> plauge, and victims were burned to ashes. > > I heard that the "ashes" were in reference to making a mark on the > forehead with ashes, another charm to ward off the Plague. Ashes seems to be a variation of "ah-choo". Sneezing is one of the symptoms of the plague. English children pronounce the last line differently from American children, saying "Ah-choo, ah-choo, all fall down".