'Round the Rugged Rock the Rude Rascal Ran

[Woodwould]

How much wood could a wood-chucker chuck if a wood-chucker could chuck wood?
A wood-chucker would chuck as much wood as a wood-chucker could, if a wood-chucker could chuck wood.

I'm not a pheasant-plucker, I'm the pheasant-plucker's son
and I'm only plucking pheasants 'til the pheasant-plucker comes.

[AlexS]

She sells sea shells by the sea shore
And the shells she sells are sea shells I'm sure.

[Greg Ward]

I remember it as: 'Round the rugged rocks, the ragged rascal ran".......
Thanks for tweaking the memory box.
Greg

[Wongdai]

one of my favourite rhymes is

"the elephant is a graceful bird,
it flits from bough to bough
it alights upon a mulbury bush
and whistles like a cow"

Edward Lear
(of The Owl and the Pussy Cat fame)

My mum used to recite this, but slightly differently

"The Elephant is a funny bird,
It flits from bough to bough.
It lays its eggs in a peanut shell
and whistles like a cow."

Not sure where she got her words from. Maybe she mis-remembered it.

[Wongdai]

...and one I made up from the woodchuck one...

How much brew could a Hebrew brew if a Hebrew could brew brew.

[wheelinround]

The boy stood on the burning deck
his britches caught on fire
the flames lept and up they crept
to his loves great desire

The boy stood on the burning deck
Picking his nose like mad
Rolling it into little balls
And flicking them at his dad.


The boy stood on the burning deck
The oars were in the rowlocks
A spark flew up his trouser leg
And burned him on the... knee

[jimbur]

After that edifying selection here's one my Dad used to drive my Mum mad with by telling it to us:

Polish it behind the door!

[Dennis Millard]

My English teacher used to say, "Why do you choose such dull books to be read to out of from for? or
"Never use a preposition to end a sentence with!"

[Poppa]

When I was but a wee lad I had a speech impediment - I couldn't say the letter "r". And one of the things they used to make me repeat endlessly was:

Round the rugged rocks the ragged rascal ran.

So I think that's how it goes. Brings back memories from 40 years ago...

[TermiMonster]

Not quite in the same category, but how's this:
'One bright day, in the middle of the night,
two dead men jumped up in fright.
Back to back, they faced each other....
Drew their swords, and shot each other.'

TM

[jimbur]

Not quite in the same category, but how's this:
'One bright day, in the middle of the night,
two dead men jumped up in fright.
Back to back, they faced each other....
Drew their swords, and shot each other.'

TM

My grandad used to recite that one to me over sixty years ago.

[joe greiner]

Broke loose some cobwebs, didn't I? And all of them are great.

In no particular order,

How can you pick pickled peppers? They're not pickled until after they're picked.

Australian or otherwise, June Factor's work could be a good starting point. Most professional researchers provide citations to earlier work, and those references provide more citations, and so it goes. In many sciences, there are even citation indexes working forward as well as back - gold mines for graduate students.

IIRC, my late Mum used a shorter version, without Betty: A bit of butter makes a bitter batter better (cake batter).

I found a few with the ragged rascal, too.

The one about prepositions is priceless.

There's another one, which I don't quite remember, involving something through a rough bough, to thrash the -ough pronunciation.

And, of course, ghoti = fish. (Think about it).

Cheers,
Joe

[wheelinround]

Dad's favourite to recite was

The Monkey and the Baboon
sat upon the grass the monkey shoved its finger
up the baboons $%^&
The baboon said God bless my soul
will please take your finger out of my %$^$&ole

[Dennis Millard]

Broke loose some cobwebs, didn't I? And all of them are great.

In no particular order,

How can you pick pickled peppers? They're not pickled until after they're picked.

Australian or otherwise, June Factor's work could be a good starting point. Most professional researchers provide citations to earlier work, and those references provide more citations, and so it goes. In many sciences, there are even citation indexes working forward as well as back - gold mines for graduate students.

IIRC, my late Mum used a shorter version, without Betty: A bit of butter makes a bitter batter better (cake batter).

I found a few with the ragged rascal, too.

The one about prepositions is priceless.

There's another one, which I don't quite remember, involving something through a rough bough, to thrash the -ough pronunciation.

And, of course, ghoti = fish. (Think about it).

Cheers,
Joe

Joe,
With regard to your remarks about June Factor, The Opies, Iona nd Peter, are renowned for their books on children and their rhymes etc. Specifically, 'The Lore And Language Of Schoolchildren'. Regarding the 'ough' pronunciation, and other things, I wrote this some time ago, but you may find it amusing. I don't know how to include the footnotes so I'll just add them in brackets.

ENGLISH FOR BEGINNERS
(With a spot of Welsh and Irish and footnotes for students)

A young English student named Alastair Cholmondely, (Pronounced Chumley)
Met a lady co-learner both pleasant and comely,
They met by the sea. As they strolled the tan shore,
She revealed that her name was Patricia Featherstonehaugh, (Pronounced Fanshaw)
In due course they were married and settled in Slough,
Where they baught a small- holding with hens and a cough
The years were all blissful; their marital poise,
Resulted in children, a girl and two boise.
Pat got Broncho-pneumonicosilicosis, (Pronounced D.o.A.)
And passed, we all must, the great metamorphosis.
Poor Alastair, aged and saddened and weary,
Sold off the whole farm and removed to Dun Laoghaire, (Pronounced Dunleary)
Odd this may seem, but just think of the shoch,
Had ir been llanfairpwyllgwyngyllghogerchwerndrobwllantysiliogogogoch. (Pronounced very rarely)

[jimbur]

llanfairpwyllgwyngyllghogerchwerndrobwllantysiliog ogogoch

My other grandad used to say that one. He was Welsh of course
Cheers,
Jim