Greetings--
>To refine further, Canadians (at least while I was growing up) learned
>"Atishoo" while my small son now in the States says "Ashes"
>While this rhyme might not have grown out of a plague context, I wonder if
>it might still not be "about" the plague.
I guess the main problem I have with that is that a) few of the other
variants can be interpreted to have Plague meanings; b) is there a late
19th century reason why folks would be interested in the Plague? Besides
Victorian fascination with the Middle Ages? None of those who collected the
variants seem to have mentioned a Plague interpretation in the first 20-30
years of its life in written sources.
Of course, folks assigning new meanings to old words or old literature is
nothing new. (Keeps many of us employed...:-)
By the way--thanks to those of you who mentioned pre-1961 references to the
Plague interpretation. I am getting *extremely* curious as to when the
interpretation first appeared--and why...
Susan Carroll-Clark
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
|