What Are Little Boys Made Of?
| "What Are Little Boys Made Of?" Roud #821 |
|
| Written by | Traditional |
|---|---|
| Published | c. 1820 |
| Written | England |
| Language | English |
| Form | Nursery rhyme |
"What Are Little Boys Made Of?" is a popular nursery rhyme dating from the early nineteenth century. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 821.
[edit] Lyrics
Here is a representative modern version of the lyrics:
- What are little boys made of?
- What are little boys made of?
- Snips and snails
- And puppy-dogs' tails,
- That's what little boys are made of.
- What are little girls made of?
- What are little girls made of?
- Sugar and spice
- And everything nice,
- That's what little girls are made of.[1]
The rhyme appears in many variant forms. For example, other versions may describe boys as being made of "slugs",[2][3] "snakes",[4][5] or "snips",[6] rather than "frogs" as above.
[edit] Origins
In the earliest known versions, the first ingredient for boys is either "snips" or "snigs",[7] the latter being a Cumbrian dialect word for a small eel.
The rhyme sometimes appears as part of a larger work called "What Folks Are Made Of" or "What All the World Is Made Of". Other stanzas describe what babies, young men, young women, sailors, soldiers, nurses, fathers, mothers, old men, old women, and all folks are made of. According to Iona and Peter Opie, this first appears in a manuscript by the English poet Robert Southey (1774–1843), who added the stanzas other than the two below.[1] Though it is not mentioned elsewhere in his works or papers, it is generally agreed to be by him.[8]
The relevant section in the version attributed to Southey was:
- What are little boys made of made of
- What are little boys made of
- Snips & snails & puppy dogs tails
- And such are little boys made of.
- What are young women made of, &c
- Sugar & spice & all things nice[1]
[edit] References in pop culture
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This section does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (June 2010) |
- In The Smurfs Movie, when Gargamel created Smurfette in his laboratory, some of the ingredients in the magical potion were "sugar and spice but nothing nice", paraphrasing this old song.
- "Sugar and Spice" is a 1963 song by Merseybeat band The Searchers
- The title of one Star Trek episode, "What Are Little Girls Made Of?", refers to the rhyme.
- In Roman Polanski's 1968 film, Rosemary's Baby, Rosemary asks Minnie Castavet what is in the drink she is giving to her, to which Minnie replies "snips, snails, and puppy dogs tails."
- Commander Riker in "The Outcast", an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation uses a portion of the rhyme when asked the differences between males and females.
- David Bowie uses a modified line from this in the song "Magic Dance" from the Labyrinth soundtrack.
- Tori Amos references a line in her song "Oscar's Theme".
- Green Day reference it in their 1997 song "King for a Day", a song about cross-dressing.
- The animated TV series The Powerpuff Girls is based on this poem. Its three main characters are made from sugar, spice and everything nice, and the Rowdyruff Boys (who appear later in the series) are likewise made from armpit hair snips, escargot, and a puppy dog's tail.
- Kaori Yuki uses this poem in one of her manga, God Child.
- A Slitheen uses this poem in the The Sarah Jane Adventures story Revenge of the Slitheen.
- Sugar and Spies is A short film starring Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner. Its title is a pun on the first part of the "What Are Little Girls Made Of?" poem.
- Yana Toboso uses this poem in one of her manga, Black Butler.
- In My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Snips and his partner in crime Snails have their names based of this poem.
- Dr. Gregory House in "Skin Deep", an episode of House M.D., uses "frogs and snails and puppy dog tails" when revealing that female character Alexandra Simms is actually male, but with androgen insensitivity syndrome.[9]
- The ninth episode of the sixth series of Doctor Who had the working title of "What Are Little Boys Made Of?", but was changed to Night Terrors due to the length of the title.
- In Calvin and Hobbes, Calvin asks what tigers are made of and Hobbes replies, 'Dragonflies and Katydids, but mostly chewed-up little kids!"
ftuouof6o78fv==Notes==
- ^ a b c I. Opie and P. Opie, The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1951, 2nd edn., 1997), pp. 100–1.
- ^ anonymous (July 29, 1871). "Frankenstein's Chemistry". Punch 61: 41. http://books.google.com/books?id=rzlXAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA41#v=onepage&q=&f=false. Retrieved 2010-03-27.
- ^ Daubeny, Giles A. (November 1901). "A Snail Hunter; Cockchafers". Nature Notes: The Selborne Society's Magazine 12: 215. http://books.google.com/books?id=vF0DAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA215#v=onepage&q=&f=false. Retrieved 2010-03-27.
- ^ Teacher's Magazine XXXII (4): 115–116. December, 1909. http://books.google.com/books?id=6fAKAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA115#v=onepage&q=&f=false. Retrieved 2010-03-27.
- ^ Wintemberg, W. J. and Katherine H. (January–March 1918). "Folk-Lore from Grey County, Ontario". Journal of American Folk-Lore 31: 83–124. http://books.google.com/books?id=sfkoAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA92#v=onepage&q=&f=false. Retrieved 2010-03-27.
- ^ Griffin, Gerald (1827). Suil Dhuv, the Coiner. Saunders and Otley. P. 449 of the 1842 edition.
- ^ Dance, Charles (1837). The Bengal Tiger: A Farce.
- ^ Delamar, Gloria T. (2000). Mother Goose: From Nursery to Literature. IUniverse. pp. 175–177. ISBN 0-595-18577-0.
- ^ Fox Broadcast Company. "House Episode Guide". House TV Show. Fox Broadcast Company. http://www.fox.com/house/recaps/season-2/episode-13.htm. Retrieved 30 July 2011.
