Hic ory Dic ory Doc
oils on canvas board 16 x 12 inches
Nursery Rhymes are possibly the best known and oldest forms of abbreviated human reference. Easily recalled and passed from generation to generation.
However, due to their nature, and historical longevity, the original context of the message(s) are often now completely misunderstood or lost.
For example: individual letters are often, by area dialect, missing. Specific letters (depending upon where you hear them spoken and by whom).
G, H, and K are commonly 'dropped' in speech, but since introducing grammar in the 16th Century, the English, also established a unified and 'correct' spelling.
Whilst grammatical rules remind us of the relative position of these letters in words (though sometimes silent), these rules apply in a modern sense whereas nursery rhymes often predate these by centuries.
Something as simple as the first person indicative use of 'I' (as suggested in the title of this page) may change completely in usage by area into 'A'. Both intended to mean and be applied in exactly the same way - although different in appearance and sound.
"The Queen's English" arose to address these difficulties, but was never adopted en masse by the English in speech. Consequently issues in understanding continue for those not familiar with regional and dialectal idioms.
For anyone originating elsewhere in the world, attempting to learn or use the English language - in Britain particularly - face endless obstacles in communication/comprehension simply because so few Britons actually speak or use the language as it's taught formally.
Having said all of that, nursery rhymes do carry important messages, details and significance. They shouldn't be dismissed simply as childish riddles.
Example:
Hickory ........
Dickory .......
Doc......
The Mouse ran up the cloc,
The Cloc s truck One,
The Mouse ran down,
Hic ory
Dic ory
Doc
Tic, toc, tic, toc,
Interestingly, the potential translation could well be along the following lines:
Ic ory, dic ory, Doc = "In the past, a wise one told"
the mouse ran up the cloc = "of one who created a circle"
(possibly a stone circle or bell)
the cloc struck one - " the circle rang (or counted) "
the mouse ran down = " the wise one created a fortress ( town or field ) "
Ic ory, dic ory, Doc = "In the past, a wise one told"
Tic, toc, tic, toc = " Measured talk, measured talk " - exampled.
Of course, I'm no linguistics expert, but that translation does seem more appealing to me (at very least) and also gives meaning which I (perhaps alone) suspect was the original intention, albeit abbreviated and perhaps coded.
Created when language was unwritten for the majority.
Magic was understood to be knowledge - intuitive, conceptual, and original - limited by number only to those with the ability to apply it and share it imaginatively and creatively.
Before it was associated with and demonised by religion.
