When you think of nursery rhymes, what comes to mind? Certainly not credit or credit cards, pawning, etc., I'm willing to assume. Throughout the ages, nursery rhymes, which were often traditional stories or poems, were used by parents to teach young children the basics in math, dancing, languaage, etc. One of the most popular nursery rhymes was Pop Goes The Weasel. Though there are many versions of this rhyme the one listed below is about pawning and credit.

All around the mulberry bush,
The monkey chased the weasel.
The monkey thought 'twas all in fun.
Pop! goes the weasel.

A penney for a spool of thread,
A penney for a needle.
That's the way the money goes.
Pop! goes the weasel.

Up and down the City Road,
In and out of the Eagle,
That's the way the money goes.
Pop! goes the weasel.

Half a pound of tuppenney rice,
Half a pound of treacle,
Mix it up and make it nice,
Pop! goes the weasel.

Pop Goes The Weasel dates back to England 1700's. This rhyme is made up of mostly Cockney slang created by the Cockney people themselves due to their suspicious nature and their slang was used to confuse outside people. Both pop and weasel is slang - Pop meaning to pawn and weasel is derived from "weasel and stoat" meaning coat. People would pawn their suit or coat when times were hard. They usually pawned their coat on a Monday and claimed it back before Sunday. This is where the term came from "Pop goes the Weasel".

The Eagle refers to 'The Eagle Tavern' a pub which is located on the corner of City Road and Shepherdess Walk in Hackney, North London. The Eagle was an old pub which was re-built as a music hall in 1825. Charles Dickens (1812-1870) was known to frequent the Music Hall. It was purchased by the Salvation Army in 1883 ( they were totally opposed to drinking and Music Halls). The hall was later demolished and was rebuilt as a public house in 1901.

Articles from October 2006
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