# Has anyone ever heard this little "jingle"? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 20, 2011, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-heard-this-little-jingle/589773 "2011-07-20T23:23:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2011, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-heard-this-little-jingle/589773/1 "2011-07-20T23:23:22Z")
My mother used to say little rhymes and songs and stuff around the house when I was growing up. Some of them were things she learned in school (she was born in 1924), but the following one is kind of strange. I wonder if anyone has ever heard it and/or can tell me the origin of it. It almost sounds like something from an old-time radio ad or something. Here goes: “Today’s the day they give babies away with a half a pound of tea.” ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2011, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-heard-this-little-jingle/589773/2 "2011-07-21T00:02:38Z")
There is a long discussion on this [folk song forum](http://mudcat.org/thread_pf.cfm?threadid=50412). They don’t reach a definitive conclusion on origins, although it’s clear that it was familiar (mentioned in a newspaper article) in 1904. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2011, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-heard-this-little-jingle/589773/3 "2011-07-21T00:46:04Z")
SV, you are The Bomb! 🙂