Notes

James C. sent another version of this rhyme:

Hi!

We were always taught:

What's your name?
Mary Jane
Where do u live?
Down the lane.
What's your number?
Cucumber
What's your address?
Watercress
What do you eat?
Pork pies!
Greedy pig you ought to die!

As taught by my father, born 1927.

Spoke to a dear friend of exactly my age (56) yesterday who grew up in the North of England - Lancashire. I am from Leicester. She remembers MARY JANE,too, but not the final pork pie line. I wonder if this is a local corruption.

Sincerely
Jim
London, England

*****

Here's a version sent by Val Whitby:

What's your name
Mary Jane
Where do you live?
Down a grid
What's your number?
Cucumber
What's your street?
Pigs feet.

Comments

Kelsey Forbes kindly wrote me in June 2004, "...for the English rhyme 'What's Your Name?' the stanza that reads here as 'Where do you live?' 'Down the lane' I have also seen as 'Where do you dwell?' 'Down the dell'."

Thanks and Acknowledgements

Thanks to James, Kelsey and Val for sending more versions of this rhyme!

Thanks so much!