silver spoon

English translation: See comment below...

10:11 Apr 5, 2004

English language (monolingual) [PRO]
Art/Literary - Poetry & Literature / nursery rhymes

English term or phrase: silver spoon

Might there be another nursery rhyme context for "silver spoon" besides:

Sippity sup, sippity sup,

Bread and milk from a china cup.

Bread and milk from a bright silver spoon

Made of a piece of the bright silver moon.

Sippity sup, sippity sup,

Sippity, sippity sup.

(Thanx)

Joanna Kwiatowska KudoZ activity Questions: 10 (none open) (1 closed without grading) Answers: 92 Poland
Local time: 01:24

Selected answer:See comment below...

Explanation:
I'm not familiar with this nursery rhyme, but it seems to me that the reference to both 'china cup' and 'silver spoon' is clearly indicating that the person (child?) is of a wealthy family, and thus 'fortunate'

I can't say I've ever come across a mention of it in any other nursery rhymes...

The most famous spoon I can think of is a runcible one :-)

Selected response from:

Tony M
France
Local time: 01:24

Grading comment

1 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

SUMMARY OF ALL EXPLANATIONS PROVIDED

5 +3

silver spoon

Gayle Wallimann

4 +1

nursery rhyme

vixen

to be born with a silver spoon in the mouth

danya

See comment below...

Tony M

Discussion entries: 2

Answers

8 mins confidence:

to be born with a silver spoon in the mouth

Explanation:
a proverbial expression to show that someone is lucky and has been lucky since he was born
it may well be alluded to here

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Note added at 10 mins (2004-04-05 10:22:44 GMT)
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oops, looks like i stepped in malapropos :-//
sorry

danya
Local time: 02:24
Native speaker of:

Russian
PRO pts in category: 4

8 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +3

silver spoon

Explanation:
I found this one too, although I never learned it as a child in the US.

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Note added at 15 mins (2004-04-05 10:27:00 GMT)
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You probably already saw this website with the song that you want to present to your English students, but I thought it was interesting. \"Cat\'s in the cradle\", as a string game like I said beofre, could be the confusion with \"Rock-a-by baby\", \"Little boy blue\" (sheep in the meadow and cows in the corn) and \"Hey Diddle diddle, the cat has a fiddle...\"

\"Cat\'s in the Cradle for that matter. \"the cat\'s in the cradle and a silver
spoon, Little Boy Blue and the man in the moon\" At the end of the song, when
\"it occurs\" to him, the fractured nursery rhyme is the tragedy of the
unattentive father. It was just a catchy verse the first three times through. Now it\'s
evidence that he can\'t even acurately quote Mother Goose.\"

http://www.harrychapin.com/music/candor/candor - 4k

www.beeworks.com/UsingNorthern.htm - 8k

Gayle Wallimann
Local time: 01:24
Works in field
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 4

10 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +1

nursery rhyme

Explanation:
A swarm of bees in May
is worth a load of hay,
A swarm of bees in June
is worth a silver spoon,
A swarm of bees in July
is not worth a fly!
Anon circ 1850

I would submit, the above ditty is antiquated and should have absolutely no bearing on modern beekeeping, it should be ignored during yearly manipulations, but too often beekeepers use the timing contained in the ditty without giving it a real thought.

The nursery rhyme was written in the times when bees were kept in straw skeps, and at the end of the season, in Sept, the skeps would be hefted and the heaviest ones killed and harvested. Totally the reverse of modern thinking, as we now feed bees in the times of a dearth of nectar, now we "cull the worst and breed the best" the best being in most cases the heaviest, or best producer.
http://www.beeworks.com/UsingNorthern.htm

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Note added at 18 mins (2004-04-05 10:30:35 GMT)
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A \'silver spoon\' also features in the following song from the Beatles. Nothing to do with nursery rhymes, though:

She came in through the bathroom window
Protected by a silver spoon
But now she sucks her thumb and wanders
By the banks of her own lagoon

Didn\'t anybody tell her?
Didn\'t anybody see?
Sunday\'s on the phone to Monday,
Tuesday\'s on the phone to me

She said she\'d always been a dancer
She worked at 15 clubs a day
And though she thought I knew the answer
Well I knew what I could not say.

And so I quit the police department
And got myself a steady job
And though she tried her best to help me
She could steal but she could not rob

Didn\'t anybody tell her?
Didn\'t anybody see?
Sunday\'s on the phone to Monday,
Tuesday\'s on the phone to me
Oh yeah.

http://www.lyricsdepot.com/the-beatles/she-came-in-through-t...

vixen
Greece
Local time: 02:24
Native speaker of: Dutch
PRO pts in category: 8

4 hrs confidence:

See comment below...

Tony M
France
Local time: 01:24
Works in field
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 260

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