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Nursery Rhymes and Vulgar Language

Filed under Nursery Rhymes, Random Strangeness

I’ve been researching Mother Goose rhymes and have come across 2 questionable rhymes (if you have virgin ears, skip this post):

See, saw, Margery Daw,
Sold her bed and lay upon straw;
Was not she a dirty slut,
To sell her bed and lie in the dirt!

They that wash on Monday
Have all the week to dry;
They that wash on Tuesday
Are not so much awry;
They that wash on Wednesday
Are not so much to blame;
They that wash on Thursday
Wash for shame;
They that wash on Friday
Wash in need;
They that wash on Saturday
Oh! they are sluts indeed.

so… when did the meaning of slut become as sexual as it is today?

  
Posted by Leslie, June 24th, 2007

One response to “Nursery Rhymes and Vulgar Language”

  1. MizBella says:

    Hmmm, good question. Oxford English Dictionary says that "slut" is "a slovenly or promiscuous woman" so maybe it just evolved into a lazy woman being a slut because she was too lazy to get a job?