# How to correctly recite Jabberwocky **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 10, 2013, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-correctly-recite-jabberwocky/655299 "2013-04-10T06:22:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Greg\_Charles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/839c29/32.png) [@Greg\_Charles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greg_Charles)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2013, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-correctly-recite-jabberwocky/655299/21 "2013-04-10T22:14:43Z")
I always sing it, and although I remember the book I memorized the words from, I have no memory of where I learned the tune. ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2013, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-correctly-recite-jabberwocky/655299/22 "2013-04-10T22:19:36Z")
Does anyone else remember the Mad parody that started: 'Twas Brillo, and the G.E. stoves Did Proctor-Gamble in the Glade? ---
**Author:** ![moriah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b2d939/32.png) [@moriah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moriah)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2013, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-correctly-recite-jabberwocky/655299/23 "2013-04-11T04:04:55Z")
All the YouTube videos make the ‘g’ hard. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2013, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-correctly-recite-jabberwocky/655299/24 "2013-04-11T04:33:41Z")
> [@Greg\_Charles](#): > > I always sing it, and although I remember the book I memorized the words from, I have no memory of where I learned the tune. Possibly the Disney movie? ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2013, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-correctly-recite-jabberwocky/655299/25 "2013-04-11T04:55:16Z")
> [@Washoe](#): > > [Quote=Hail Ants] > > Desi Arnez did a hilarious reading of it (with his thick accent) on an old, old (season 1) episode of SNL. Of course, like every thing NBC owns, it’s not on YouTube, only Hulu (subscription)… God, I remember that! I must have been about 15 years old. So it’s still floating around out there in the aether somewhere? [/quote] I don’t think I’ve seen it since it first aired. I’m not sure if Arnez was completely ‘in’ on the joke, he seemed genuinely perplexed by it. At one point in the middle he just looks off camera and says, _ **“Who the hell talks like this?!”** _ ---
**Author:** ![appleciders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85f322/32.png) [@appleciders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/appleciders)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2013, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-correctly-recite-jabberwocky/655299/26 "2013-04-11T06:47:13Z")
“Gyre” is a real word, dating back well before Carroll. It is indeed pronounced with a soft “g”. ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2013, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-correctly-recite-jabberwocky/655299/27 "2013-04-11T14:29:44Z")
> [@Doug\_K](#): > > Does anyone else remember the Mad parody that started: > > 'Twas Brillo, and the G.E. stoves > Did Proctor-Gamble in the Glade? Here you go: > **[JV: Jabber-Whacky](http://www76.pair.com/keithlim/jabberwocky/parodies/jabberwhacky.html)** I first saw this in a children’s reading book while I was substitute teaching. ---
**Author:** ![Gedd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gedd/32/4938_2.png) [@Gedd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gedd)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2013, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-correctly-recite-jabberwocky/655299/28 "2013-04-11T16:22:49Z")
> [@Gagundathar](#): > > This remarkable bit of poetry can be sung to the tune of _Greensleeves_, and I have done so to the amusement of others. The hard or soft ‘g’ in ‘gyre’ is always a problem with me. I pronounce it wrong, apparently. So it goes. [Singing in my head . . .] Woah! That’s pretty cool. It’s a fitting tune too. Do you alternate the verse and chorus, stick with the verse, or what? I’ve also had it memorized (with I believe Carroll’s pronounciation) since high school and might have to make singing it my new thing 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2013, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-correctly-recite-jabberwocky/655299/29 "2013-04-11T21:26:01Z")
It’s the only poem I know by heart. My performance is the definitive one. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Wallaby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/dc4da7/32.png) [@Wallaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallaby)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2013, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-correctly-recite-jabberwocky/655299/30 "2013-04-11T23:49:50Z")
For some reason, when reading Jabberwocky, a Scottish accent always sneaks into my thoughts. Particularly at the end of several stanzas: ‘He went galumphin’ back '. ‘He chortled in his joy’ - aye. Since it is composed of made-up words about a mythical creature, I don’t think there is any particular way you should recite it. Though I would suggest doing it completely straight - almost dead-pan. ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2013, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-correctly-recite-jabberwocky/655299/31 "2013-04-12T03:38:56Z")
Read it [like this](http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=fvwp&v=aJN-NfKtBoo). ---
**Author:** ![Washoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ecae2f/32.png) [@Washoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Washoe)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2013, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-correctly-recite-jabberwocky/655299/32 "2013-04-12T17:47:12Z")
OK, I have another question—do the words “One two! One two! And through and through” have an actual, specific meaning in sword fighting? If they do, I want to accurately simulate these moves with a mock sword. ---
**Author:** ![wombattver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b77776/32.png) [@wombattver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wombattver)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2013, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-correctly-recite-jabberwocky/655299/33 "2013-04-13T04:26:54Z")
I always remember a fellow student in drama school who interpreted the entire thing from the perspective of being horribly drunk, room spinning and needing to vomit, desperately. Thus, the vorpal sword was a finger to be thrust down the throat. Can’t shake the image to this day - 20+ years later! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-correctly-recite-jabberwocky/655299.md?page=1)