The analysis by Sarah Giles and Sarah Shea of head injuries in nursery rhymes, which appeared in the “Findings” section of the 2003 Holiday Review, caught the attention of not only our regular readers, but also the lay media and general public. Many people, it seems, have an interest in nursery rhymes and their subtexts, origins and hidden meanings. We publish here a small selection of the eletters that were posted with the online version of the article. The complete discussion thread can be found on eCMAJ (www.cmaj.ca/cgi/eletters/169/12/1294). — Editors
After publication of their research on head injuries in nursery rhymes, Sarah Giles and Sarah Shea1 might consider pursuing a monetarily significant Canada Council grant to study the impact of sociologically inappropriate child models in nursery rhymes — such as Peter Pumpkin Eater, Little Miss Muffet, Little Jack Horner and similar diminutive persons — on the dietary proclivities of contemporary youth. Such work would no doubt disclose a close correlation between the careless ingesting of subliminal messages in nursery rhymes and the eating disorders rampant among children today. Such research should be conducted in a controlled foreign environment (e.g., southern France) while dining on roast beef or similar rich red meat (cf. Jack in the Beanstalk), excellent red wine, cheesecake or deep-dish apple pie à la mode, and culinarily appropriate liqueurs.
S. Grant Bartlett Orangeville, Ont.
Footnotes
Competing interests: An interest in sailing may indicate a previously unidentified psychological disorder from “rowing my boat” and crewing with “three men in a tub.”
Reference
- 1.Giles SM, Shea S. Head injuries in nursery rhymes: evidence of a dangerous subtext in children's literature. CMAJ 2003;169(12):1294-6. [PMC free article] [PubMed]