Jack Sprat
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Jack Sprat is an English nursery rhyme with lyrics as follows:
- Jack Sprat could eat no fat
- His wife could eat no lean.
- And so between the two of them,
- They licked the platter clean!
The word between in the third line is alternatively seen as the word betwixt; other variations include "And so betwixt them both between", "And so between/betwixt them both", and "And so between them both, you see".
It has been suggested that the rhyme pokes fun at Charles I of England and his wife, Henrietta Maria of France, who required common people to house troops during his war with Spain;[1] other possible explanations include the suggestion that "Jack Sprat" was a nickname for people of short stature in the 16th and 17th century.[2]
Often, "Jack Sprat" is a term used to refer to couples where the man is below-average weight and the woman is obese.
[edit] Cultural references
In the comic book series Fables, Mrs. Sprat is briefly seen. She is, as the rhyme tells, very fat indeed. Jack, though never seen, is mentioned as one of the victims of the Fable killer known as Ghost.
In Jasper Fforde's novels The Big Over Easy and The Fourth Bear, Jack Spratt is the protagonist. Jack is a Detective Inspector in Reading, investigating crimes committed by nursery rhyme and fairy tale characters. He also possesses traits of Jack the Giant Killer and Jack from "Jack and the Beanstalk". True to the rhyme, Spratt hates fat, often going to great lengths to trim it from his food. Spratt has remarried, following the death of the wife mentioned in the rhyme; Jack cites it as a result of eating too much fat .
In G. Paul Lucas's artworks, mixed-media photomontage is used to offer a contemporary interpretation of Jack Sprat and his rotund wife. Inspired from early childhood by this Mother Goose Rhyme, Lucas creates a world in which the slovenly, beer-drinking Jack is "taken care of" in more ways than one by his dissatisfied, hot-tempered wife. [1]
In a scene deleted from Mel Brooks's film Young Frankenstein, the Monster encounters a cowardly English highwayman somewhat inexplicably named Jack Sprat.
Pittsburgh Steelers iconic middle linebacker of the 1970's, Jack Lambert, had a nickname of "Jack Splat" that played on the nursery rhyme. He was noted for his excellent tackling skills as well as intense play, hence opposing ball carriers would go "splat" when tackled.
