Originally posted by myelo
urban legend
Even Snopes can be off now and again
"Views of the Sceptics
The connection between this Rhyme was made by James Leasor in 1961 in his non-fiction book ' The Plague and the Fire. Some people are sceptical of the plague interpretations of this rhyme, many stating that words in the rhyme cannot be found in Middle English. The sceptics must be referring to the later version of the rhyme, possibly with American origins, the English version is "Ring a ring o' rosies" using the Middle English "o" as a shortening of the word "of". The written word " posies" is first mentioned in a poem called 'Prothalamion or A Spousal Verse' by Edmund Spenser (1552-1599). We believe that this addresses the views of the sceptics.
The original English version is
"Ring Around The Roses, A pocket full o posies, Tisha! Tisha! We all fall down"
Just because the earliest version put down in writing wasnt until the 1800s doesnt mean it did not exist prior to it being put down on paper and would not be at all surprising inasmuch as much of the populous didnt know how to read nor write. and often legends stories and the like were handed down verbally from generationt ogeneration for hundreds of years before they were ever put down on paper
