Talk:Oranges and Lemons

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[edit] In India...

This is completely not relevant at all, but in India we used to play the same game with different lyrics:

Oranges and lemons, sold for a penny,
Oh, those school girls are so many!
The grass is green and the rose is red,
Remember me when I am dead-dead-dead-dead-dead!

And on the last "dead", you bring your hands down, like the chopper. The school girl reference is weird, but trust me, this is a real game. Gaurav 19:51, 3 May 2005 (UTC)

Hey for the trivia section: wasn't that rhyme used in a recent popular fiction novel? i want to say a Dan Brown book but i am not sure. --Kstrubb 05:37, 30 November 2005 (UTC)

It was used in Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-four. I don't recall it being used in Angels & Demons or The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown. -- Mcmvanbree 22:57, 30 November (UTC)

Yes! That's the one! Thanks; I don't know how i got those books confused but yes, I did encounter it in 1984. In any case, that should be added to the trivia portion.--Kstrubb 05:03, 2 December 2005 (UTC)


I'm going to add a referece to nineteen eighty-four where this rhyme plays a big part

never mind.--Acebrock 23:10, 1 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] St Clement's

I just read in Bamber Gascoigne's Encyclopedia of Britain that St Clement, Eastcheap is near the docks where the citrus fruit would be unloaded. Is Bamber right, and if so is this the origin? --Bonalaw 14:43, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

Gaurav's trivia is quite interesting, would it be possible to integrate it into the article? As children we always sang 'when I grow old for' the Bow line though I don't know if the article will benefit from the addition of endless variants as with the pop goes the weasel article. Empty Hat

It is not by any means universally accepted that St Clement's Eastcheap is the right church (see its own article). It is in fact the bell of St Clement Dane's which play the tune. Sasha 12:21, 3 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Early arrangement of lyrics

A different arrangement of the lyrics appears in "Tommy Thumb's Song Book for All Little Masters and Misses" (1788). An 1815 reprint of this book is available here: http://www.archive.org/details/tommythumbssongb00loveiala

Not sure whether these lyrics deserve a space in the article, or whether the book should be referenced? Neonpaul (talk) 23:11, 29 January 2008 (UTC)