Fiction_L Archives three men in a tub stumper Dates: 12/21/99,11:00 AM  through  12/21/99,1:05 PM  (4 postings) Search for: Select one or more indexes to search: 2011-current     2009-2010     2004-2008    1995-2003    (Matches from each index will be displayed separately in the results page.) Return to December 1999 thread menu   |   Fiction_L Archives Menu

FROM: "Doriene" <[removed]@bgpl.lib.in.us>
REC'D: 12/21/99, 11:00 AM

FROM: "Cynthia Orr" <[removed]@cpl.org>
REC'D: 12/21/99, 11:52 AM

FROM: "Susan K Sanders" <[removed]@scls.lib.wi.us>
REC'D: 12/21/99, 12:47 PM

Believe it or not, I've read that this is a reference syphilis (for which
soaking in a tub was an attempted cure). I think I read this in the
syndicated "Straight Dope" column.

Susan Sanders
Madison Public Library
[removed]@scls.lib.wi.us

At 11:47 AM 12/21/99 -0500, you wrote:
> I checked the Huck and Sutherland children's lit textbooks, the
>scant notes in all my Mother Goose books, our Funk and Wagnall's
>dictionary of Folklore, but no luck. I told him you guys were amazing,
>but I don't know about this... Doriene Malloy Beech Grove PL, IN
[removed]@bgpl.lib.in.us
Susan Sanders
Madison Public Library

FROM: "Dennis K. Lien" <[removed]@tc.umn.edu>
REC'D: 12/21/99, 1:05 PM

>Date: Tue, 21 Dec 1999 11:47:17 -0500
>From: "Doriene" <[removed]@bgpl.lib.in.us>
>Subject: three men in a tub stumper
>
>This is a multi-part message in MIME format.
>
>- ------=_NextPart_000_0730_01BF4BA9.21F93680
>Content-Type: text/plain;
> charset="iso-8859-1"
>Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
>
>Hello, all. I'm cross-posting this, and apologize to people who get it =
>twice. My patron wants to know if there is any historical significance =
>to the rub a dub dub, three men in a tub nursery rhyme (the way ring =
>around the rosy is supposed to refer to the Plague), and why the three =
>men were in the tub together. I said probably just to share water, but =
>I couldn't find any real answer. I checked the Huck and Sutherland =
>children's lit textbooks, the scant notes in all my Mother Goose books, =
>our Funk and Wagnall's dictionary of Folklore, but no luck.
> I told him you guys were amazing, but I don't know about this...
>
>Doriene Malloy
>Beech Grove PL, IN
[removed]@bgpl.lib.in.us=20
>
>


Baring-Gould's ANNOTATED MOTHER GOOSE gives some textual variants, but
does not suggest any "hidden meaning." Baring-Gould also gives short
shrift to the idea that "Ring a ring of roses" refers to the Plague,
pointing out that it doesn't even appear in print until 1881. . . .

Dennis Lien / U of Minnesota Libraries // [removed]@tc.umn.edu

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