FIRTH%TARTAN@CMU-CS-C.ARPA (03/20/84)
The nursery rhyme "Goosey, goosey gander" has nothing to do with the proverb "What's sauce for the Goose ...". The original rhyme reads Gandey, goosey gander Whither dost thou wander Upstairs, downstairs In Our Lady's chamber If we find a Proctor That will not say his prayers We'll grab him by his long gown And throw him down the stairs It is an undergraduate taunt, from the English Reformation, and refers to the regulation that all academics at the two English universities had to be practicing members of the Anglican church (which the undergraduates tended to enforce with rather unruly means - school prayer is an older issue than one might think) As is evident from the fourth line, the hapless Gandey was a closet - ahem - follower of the Roman rite, and thereby in danger of expulsion (offical) or defenestration (unofficial). Robert Firth ( MA(Oxon) ) -------