Was this woman on benefits

[Manwithnoname]

There was an old woman who lived in a shoe.

She had so many children, she didn't know what to do;

She gave them some broth without any bread;

Then whipped them all soundly and put them to bed.

[sherrardk]

That's the picture on my avatar.

[factor-fiction]

Have you reported her to Social Services?

[Ric.ror]

Her name is karen Matthews

[Maydup]

But did your Old Woman have a flat screen TV manwithnoname?

[sandyRoe]

She's not going to let them get obese and exercises discipline. Should be more like her.

[RATTER15]

There was an old Woman who lived in a shoe, she had so many children her uterus fell out!

[anneasquith]

oh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ratter ?

[Manwithnoname]

very good you lot lol

[Dee Sa]

so they rehoused her,gave her a dirty big fully furnished house in a nice leafy suburb., with enough in benefits for her to feed them on fast food each day and buy a 60in 3D television and a lap top for each child and a people carrier for outings.

[Manwithnoname]

Dee Sa Dont forget the capped £500 a week ;)

[mike11111]

An alternative last line was: "She whipp'd all their bums, and sent them to bed".
One suggestion is that it referred to Queen Caroline, wife of George II, who had eight children, but there is no hard evidence for this.

[Manwithnoname]

Yes Mike but some nasty historical person must of inspired the work, as it normally does.

[pa___ul3]

she didn't know what to do so she whipped them!?! What a bitch!

[starone]

Good for her is all I can say. A few more smacks and a few less less sweets would do them a world of good.

[mike11111]

Not necessarily nasty, but unpopular. I agree with you. Some nursery rhymes have have been decrypted but many still lie in obscurity. Given that the perpetrators at the time were likely at the very least to have their tongues torn out and hands amputated, or at the worst suffer the extreme penalty at Tyburn, it is no wonder that they covered their tracks well. People of the time, though, could not have missed the significance. Teaching innocent children to chant political slogans continued till the 20C. They were untouchable.

[Manwithnoname]

Mike I seem to remember reading the events of Xmas in 1936 when school children sang a carol which was deemed appropriate at the time.

Hark the Herald Angels Sing
Old Ma Simpsons
Pinched our King

These old ditties, folk songs & nursery rhymes can disguise the truth of the past. But its interesting to know that the victims left their subtle messages for us to analyse & decode.

[starone]

Who's that coming down the street?
Mrs Simpson, dirty feet,
She's been married twice before,
Now she's at the Prince's door,

Doesn't make much sense, but we kids all chanted it.

[mike11111]

The messages were not left for descendants but for contemporaries. many we struggle to analyse now would have been instantly understandable to the audience of the time.

"Hark the Herald..." has many variations. The one I remember is:
"Hark the Herald Angels Sing,
Beecham's Pills are just the Thing!
Peace on earth and mercy mild,
Two for adults and one for a child!"

(Beecham's pills were a popular laxative at the time).

[starone]

Political:-

Vote, vote, vote for Stafford Cripps,
Turn old Churchill out the land,
If I had a penny gun,
I would shoot him up the bum,
And he wouldn't come to Bristol any more.

[mike11111]

That one was nationwide. Merely replace the names in the first, second and last lines. My mother's version ran, "Margaret Bondfield", "Baldwin" and "Wallsend".