The Messed Up Origins of The Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe

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▼ Timestamps ▼
» 0:00 - Little Old Woman – Not a Nice Lady
» 2:15 - The Rhymes
» 6:45 - The Theories

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▼ Credits ▼
» Edited by: Mary Tuck & Jon Solo
» Written & Directed by: Jon Solo

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» If I used your art in any portion of this video please send a message to my business email with proof that you're the original artist so I can give you credit!

#messeduporigins #nurseryrhymes #folklore #NativePartner #Deodorant #AluminumFree

[wordforger]

0:46 The version I heard as a kid: "There was an old woman who lived in a shoe who had so many children she didn't know what to do. So she fed them all gruel, without any bread, and whipped them all soundly and sent them to bed." Have also heard "kissed them all sweetly" but am pretty sure that's the nicer version.

[gakailyn]

I always thought that it didn't make sense that an old woman could have so many young children. I never thought the children were hers biologically. I thought she ran an orphanage and the rythme was about what orphanages were like.

[youareherediversity]

I learnt it as: there was an old woman who lived in a shoe, she had so many children she didn’t know what to do, so she gave them some broth without any bread then whipped them all soundly and sent them to bed.
I hadn’t heard the sanitised version with bread and kissing. It was a nursery rhyme about poverty to me

[LowKoLissa]

There was an old woman who lived in a house.
She had 6 kids but one had moved out.
She fed them all well, and tended their needs.
But Mama damn sure was smoking some weed.

[racookster]

I was a child in the 'sixties, and the version I heard was closest to the earliest one: "...so she gave them some broth without any bread / And she spanked them all soundly and sent them to bed." I figured it was an insulting, classist rhyme about a promiscuous poor woman, her bastard children, and negligent, abusive parenting — but maybe it was just normal parenting in the 16th century.

[ArtTasticCreations]

A lot of fairytales were rather dark and morbid and many didn't have happy endings as they were meant to serve as a warning for children. Also the concept of a happy ending is a modern concept. This is why a lot of stories in mythology and from very ancient civilizations rarely had a happy ending. They were meant to reflect the brutal realities of daily life.

[miketalley]

I remember when it was common to tie old shoes and tin cans to the back bumper of a newlywed's car, as they drove away from the church.

[bubblemum]

I've loved this version from MAD magazine sometime in the early 70's-
There was an old woman who lived in a shoe
She had so many children she didn't know what to do
Her doc prescribed pills but they cost too much loot
So she's still having kids but she's moved to a boot.

[AphroditeLee]

When I was a kid I asked my mom why did the Woman spank the kids after dinner, before bed and my mom said that it used to be an old practice to "swat a kid's bottom" before bed because it would make them cry... which, in turn, would cause them to cry themselves to sleep QUICKER than just putting them to bed ESPECIALLY if their bellies were not full... WOW. I know, right...

[angellahanson]

The word Coffin has another meaning back in the colonial days; a coffin was a pasty crust. Maybe she was going out for food and she came home to find the kids goofing off?

[pamelamays]

When I was in kindergarten in 1964, in my classroom they was a wooden Little Old Woman Who Lived In A Shoe playset that was supposed to help the kids in my class learn how to tie shoes. Every morning as we entered the classroom room, each of us would try to properly tie the big red shoestring that was laced in the toy wooden shoe.

[orleansartist]

The one I learned
There was an old woman who lived in a shoe, she had so many children she didn't know what to do.
So she gave them some broth, without any bread, she whipped them all soundly, and sent them to bed.

[wirelesmike]

I always interpreted it as a widowed mother who was so poor she lived in a house so tiny it was compared to living in a shoe. A house too small for her and all her children, more of whom than she could afford to take care of. And, instead of allowing them to slowly starve to death and suffer, she fed them poisoned broth without bread so that there would be nothing to soak up the poison inside their bellies. And, they all went to bed and died peacefully in their sleep.

[jaidengames]

When I was little I had a puzzle of the rhyme and heard it but it had different wording and the woman seemed to be a bit more motherly“ There was a old woman who lived in a shoe she had so many children she didn’t know what to do so she fed them some stew without any bread then read them a story and sent them off to bed” Actually I think I’ve heard a couple versions. One where the woman beats her children and one where her children put themselves to bed. Also I found your channel a couple years ago and now I annoy everyone around me with the messed up origins of things.

[FoxofMaysville]

This is what my mother told me about The Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe. She said that it was a way of saying the Old Woman lived on a she string budget. Why her budget was so tight was the number of kids she had. She feed them what little she could, but when the kids cry about being hungry the Old Woman would beat them, then send them to bed.

[justinbond]

*That opening line alone is the reason I love this!*
Not to mention the fact that he does so much research, and explaining his work, with complete detail, is just amazing!

[RavynAngelDarck]

Hi Jon, the shoe throwing tradition started with the shoes being thrown at the bride by her parents since they aren't responsible for her anymore. Glad this isn't traditional anymore, my mom had a wicked pitching arm!!

[iamjustamomdoingthebestica]

NOT the one I grew up with. She was poor, over bred and seemed angry about it. Left with like 10 kids, all under the age of like 9 and alone. Her home was always set apart from the town and she was always way too old to be their mom. I was told she was most likely a government child farmer on a shoe string budget and most likely ate nearly nothing herself. That she may have even been about those old women that killed the kids too.

[mariebelladonna]

Also, I, too, was raised on the "spanked them all soundly" version. I always took it as a cautionary rhyme. Like, I always though it was created to warn those kids of the olden days, that if they didn't behave, they'd get punished. Spanked and sent to bed without supper. As for the old woman and shoe, I didn't think much into that, as a kid. But, as an adult, I just thought about how families in old times often had many kids (no birth control, religious reasons, etc), and the shoe could be a metaphor, like you said, for a tiny, cramped, dirty living space, which was where a lot of poor families spent their lives. And they often *didn't* know what to do with their big families, and all their kids. Money was often tight, not enough to buy food (broth without bread), and they often didn't have much security, of any kind. So maybe the shoe could represent transient housing/lifestyle, as well. Always traveling, living in temporary housing-like tents, or shacks one built with their hands. And I never thought about the old lady's husband at all, but people died young, in those days. The world was very dangerous. So maybe he died, and left her broke, and trying to raise a bunch of kids (never knew the number, though you said it was eight), and she really *didn't* know what she was gonna do. Just my take, looking at its possible literal representations. But maybe I'm just thinking way too into it, lol.

[angelakilpatrick]

That nursery rhyme was about me and my 7 crazy a**kids😂😂😂😂