I'm a Little Teapot

"I'm a Little Teapot" is a nursery rhyme describing the boiling and pouring of a teapot.

The recitation of this rhyme is generally accompanied by physical actions that involve imitating a teapot (actions described in brackets below).

The rhyme with a rhythm:

I'm a little teapot, short and stout

Here is my handle (place one hand on corresponding hip to imitate handle), here is my spout (position other hand in air to imitate spout).

When I get all steamed up then I shout. (alternately, "hear me shout")

Tip me over and pour me out (lean to the right to imitate pouring tea from the spout).

The third line often varies: one line used is "When I spy a teacup, then I shout".

Though uncommon, an optional second verse exists:

I'm a clever teapot, yes it's true

Here's an example of what I can do

I can change my handle to my spout (switch arm positions and repeat tipping motion).

Just tip me over and pour me out.

Another version, common in the United Kingdom, with a 9-7-9-7 rhythm:

I'm a little teapot, short and stout,

Here's my handle, here's my spout,

When I hear the tea-cups, hear me shout, (or when I give a whistle)

"Tip me up and pour me out".

Another version, though apparently uncommon, rather short - but charming - goes as follows:

I'm a little teapot, short and stout,

One, two, three - d'you want a cup of tea!

The song was written by George Sanders and Clarence Kelly in 1939.

Parody

In the children's show, Animaniacs, Dot (During a short called "Dot's Poetry Corner" in which she recites parodies of famous nursery rhymes) recites a parody of the song in which the "teapot" is really an insane person who thinks he/she is various forms of kitchen appliances. The parody went as such-

I'm a little teapot, short and stout. Here is my handle... ...And here's a letter from my shrink! (Dot holds up a sheet of paper with writing on it.) He says I'm getting better! Last week I thought I was a toaster oven! (Maniacal laughter.)

Fans of the popular computer game World of Warcraft have come up with a joke about the Paladin (a playable character in the game), for using the spells Divine Shield (a force field like aura protecting the character from damage), and Hearthstone (teleport to a preset city) too often, when in trouble:

I'm a little paladin short and stout

Here is my hammer here is my mount

When trouble comes I scream and shout

Then I bubble and hearthstone out.

An episode of children's TV show Mighty Morphin Power Rangers featured comic relief characters Bulk and Skull singing the nursery rhyme to a distressed little boy as a means of cheering him up after the kidnapping of his father by the show's villains. As two girls walk past in the midst of this rendition, the two men hurriedly stop singing and assume macho expressions and attitudes, only to resume once more when the girls have left.

Some people have commented that the last line of the nursery rhyme sounds like the ending of the Jeopardy! theme song.