Talk:Wee Willie Winkie

Rude title?

Wee = Little (but also = Urine) Willie = William (but also = slang name for a Penis) Winkie = dubious surname with yet another slang name for a Penis. (Winkle, being perhaps a shade more common).

Unsigned, and nonsense. David Spector (user/talk) 18:40, 4 February 2013 (UTC)

10 O'clock?

As a child, I was always sung this as "Are all the children in their beds, it's past eight o'clock?", and after checking with friends they also say the same. This site: http://www.rhymes.org.uk/wee_willie_winkie.htm also says 8 O'clock. Are we sure the 10 O'clock is correct? --stuzart (talk) 19:39, 1 February 2011 (UTC)

The poem has evidently been adapted in a variety of versions, with the differences in the stated time down to, I'd guess, parents wishing to get kids to bed earlier (I think I was told 8 o'clock too as a kid). The version you cite is anglicised and incomplete and the source is unclear but evidently removed from the original. I assume you've looked at the cited text which is a facsimile of an edition from one year after the initial publication. It clearly says 10 o'clock, so unless we find that the text in the first edition of Whistle-binkie says different, 10 o'clock is correct. Mutt Lunker (talk) 22:06, 1 February 2011 (UTC)

I am afraid that www.rhymes.org is not a reliable source.--SabreBD (talk) 22:11, 1 February 2011 (UTC)

Keep in mind that the theme of the rhyme seems to be a kid who's overly concerned with everyone else getting to sleep on time while he refuses to sleep himself, and makes such a racket that he ends up waking people up. It's 10 o'clock because, while it would be more objectionable to be awake at that hour, it's also less likely anyone is, and he doesn't seem to care about likelihood, only theoretical concern. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.72.204.139 (talk) 20:10, 15 September 2017 (UTC)

The Last Paragraph

The final paragraph of this article is wrong in so many ways! (1.) Why does the article suppose an anti-authoritarian strain in the poem? It says that the child ought to be asleep, and the fact that he's delightful doesn't negate the wish for him to sleep. (2.) What covers the assumption that there was a particular struggle for anti-authoritianism in the 1840s? How would this be different from the Roman riots of the Greens and Blues or the Medieval anti-feudal riots? (3.) Name _any_ classical liberal of that time who made the bedtimes of children a stated issue. Pittsburgh Poet (talk) 14:51, 22 November 2007 (UTC)

I suggest this comment should now be removed, as I can't find the last paragraph to which it refers, and assume it has been deleted after the comment was made. Kim Traynor (talk) 21:42, 6 April 2012 (UTC)

this was a very long time ago. I think it is just that the newer comments were not placed in the right order. We can leave this having noted that it is no longer relevant and eventually archive it.--SabreBD (talk) 21:48, 6 April 2012 (UTC)

Whistle-Binkie

The term "Whistle-Binkie" deserves a definition. Here is one, loosely adapted from Google Books: a person, seated at the Bink (eating board), who entertains by whistling, telling stories, etc. David Spector (user/talk) 18:44, 4 February 2013 (UTC)

Audio file

I've removed the audio file as it appears to be for Baa Baa Black Sheep. It's a fairly similar melody and you could probably fit the words to it but it isn't correct. Mutt Lunker (talk) 00:13, 10 June 2013 (UTC)

Translation

Could someone make an English translation of the original? 178.49.152.66 (talk) 15:39, 17 February 2016 (UTC)

The verity of the dictionary translation given

   "Wearied is the mither That has a stoorie wean, A wee stumpie stousie, Wha canna rin his lane, [...]"

The translated text in English refers to a "small child", but stousie is like "pudgy" or "chubby" if other sources are to be believed, and it goes on to say that can't run his lane, probably meaning the back lane of a terrace, or a ginnel by a tenement or what have you. Not sure if it's saying they're too wee to run, or too round? Either way the translation seems a bit off. As for "stoorie wean", it appears to just mean a "mucky kid", like a child that's always playing in the dirt? Not really sure what "dusty child" is supposed to mean, like are they pallid, are they financially poor, are they filthy -- would be good to have a larger, more expanded, analysis of the meaning of some parts. Pbhj (talk) 23:28, 23 January 2019 (UTC)

You are correct regarding "stousie" and the DSL quotes the poem with the definition. "His lane" is correctly translated as "on his own"; nothing to do with a back lane or the like. Stoor is specifically dust, not muck in general, and a dusty child seems pretty straightforward in meaning. Mutt Lunker (talk) 00:18, 24 January 2019 (UTC)