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What is the meaning of hickory Dickory dock?

Other written accounts of the rhyme from the nineteenth century suggest that children used 'Hickory, dickory, dock' as a way of deciding which of them would start a game: it was a way of selecting who was to go first.

interestingliterature.com - A Short Analysis of the 'Hickory Dickory Dock' Nursery Rhyme

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By Dr Oliver Tearle

‘Hickory dickory dock’ is one of the most recognisable nursery rhymes in the English language, but what its original purpose or meaning may have been is less clear. What does ‘Hickory dickory dock’ actually mean? Does it mean anything? First, here’s a reminder of the words:

Hickory, dickory, dock,

The mouse ran up the clock;

The clock struck one,

The mouse ran down,

Hickory, dickory, dock.

It’s worth noting that this version is taken from Iona and Peter Opie’s The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes (Oxford Dictionary of Nusery Rhymes), but some versions offer a different fourth line, and an alternative rhyme with ‘one’:

Hickory, dickory, dock,

The mouse ran up the clock;

The clock struck one,

And down he run,

Hickory, dickory, dock.

The Opies tell us that ‘Hickory dickory dock’ was ‘formerly used for counting-out’, as the nonsensical ‘hickory, dickory, dock’ would suggest. They also note that shepherds in Westmorland (now part of Cumbria, in northern England) have been using dialect numbers including Hevera, Devera, and Dick, which may have become ‘Hickory, dickory, dock’. This analysis is neat and there may be a link, but it’s difficult to prove in any decisive or conclusive way. At the very least, it’s a nice theory, though. There’s also a Scottish link, and John Brown recalled of an occasion in 1810 when Sir Walter Scott entertained a young child named Marjorie Fleming: ‘Having made the fire cheery, he sat her down in his ample chair, and standing sheepishly before her, began to say his lesson, which happened to be – “Ziccoty, diccoty, dock, the mouse ran up the clock, the clock struck wan, down the mouse ran, ziccoty, diccoty, dock”.’ The idea that ‘Hickory dickory dock’ originated as a counting song, then, whether or not it had anything to do with those Westmorland shepherds, seems sound. Other written accounts of the rhyme from the nineteenth century suggest that children used ‘Hickory, dickory, dock’ as a way of deciding which of them would start a game: it was a way of selecting who was to go first. If this is true, ‘Hickory dickory dock’, in the last analysis, may be a distant cousin of ‘Eeny, meeny, miney, mo’. How the mouse comes into it, though, remains a mystery. The author of this article, Dr Oliver Tearle, is a literary critic and lecturer in English at Loughborough University. He is the author of, among others, The Secret Library: A Book-Lovers’ Journey Through Curiosities of History and The Great War, The Waste Land and the Modernist Long Poem.

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indianapublicmedia.org - Miss Muffet And Her Curds And Whey - Indiana Public Media

"Little Miss Muffet, sat on her tuffet, eating her curds and whey. Alon..." You may remember this beloved nursery rhyme, but have you ever wondered, 'what are curds and whey?"

Cottage Cheese

Actually, you've probably eaten curds and whey without knowing it. Curds and whey are actually the lumps and liquid found in cottage cheese.

If you didn't know, cottage cheese is made from skim milk. But how exactly does skim milk become curds and whey?

The Complexities Of Milk

In spite of its simple appearance, skim milk is chemically quite complex. There are dozens of different proteins floating around in that white fluid. Fortunately, for cottage cheese makers, all the proteins in milk can be separated into two basic groups by simply adding a chemical called rennin. Rennin is an enzyme from a calf's stomach, and it makes some of the proteins in milk clump together. These clumping proteins are called "curd proteins," while the milk proteins that refuse to clump are called "whey proteins." These proteins are the curds and whey of Miss Muffet's lunch.

Voilà

Unfortunately, whey doesn't actually taste very good--so modern cottage cheese makers tend to press or wash their product, leaving a cottage cheese that is mostly curds. But that's how you get curds and whey. They are two kinds of milk proteins, which separate when you add rennin to them.

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