HoundsGood: Chronicles of a Virtual Volunteer

My interest in the etymology of words and the origin of different sayings has never waned, especially if it involves animals.  I know, I am a total dork.  Yesterday, I got thinking of the old nursery rhyme involving a rodent and a grandfather clock. However, it could have been a grandmother clock as well.

Hickory dickory dock
The mouse ran up the clock
The clock struck one
The mouse ran down
Hickory dickory dock

This was first published in 1744. The “hickory dickory” part is meant to mimic the sound of a clock and if you think about the individual words it is really just that and nonsensical. Dock is a weed that has medicinal properties. Hickory, of course, is the hickory tree, shortened from “pohikory,” the tree’s name up through at least the late 1600s. The name came from the liquor pawcohiccora, which was a native american word for a beverage that was derived from pounding hickory nuts.

Why the mouse? Could this have to do with the image of the counterweight going up and down? Or is this nonsense also? Maybe it was just an indication of the living conditions. There were just mice everywhere!

I think the 18th century mouse that was the star of the show would have been VERY confused if he/she saw this Howard Miller Clock. It is indeed a Grandfather clock, believe it or not. I wonder what would happen when the clock struck one with this one, however. Does it bob up and down? I think this one would be a test of balance for the mouse.  It would be:

Hickory dickory plop
The mouse fell off the clock
The clock struck one
The mouse downed some liquor for his/her aching head
Hickory dickory plop

For me, I think that a mantel clock would be less likely to be barreled into by overzealous canines. However, how would the nursery rhyme have gone with a mantel clock?

Hickory dickory dock
The mouse jumped over the clock
The clock one
The mouse hid behind it
Hickory dickory dock

No, not nearly as neat and tidy, is it? I am sure that one wouldn’t have caught on, but a mantel clock is infinitely easier to move. You don’t have to bring someone in to adjust the counterweights.

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