# meaning of "pop goes the weasel"

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-pop-goes-the-weasel/289998>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [February 14, 2005, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-pop-goes-the-weasel/289998 "2005-02-14T14:43:24Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![geemsmith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/91b2a8/32.png) [@geemsmith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/geemsmith)\
**Post date:** [February 14, 2005, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-pop-goes-the-weasel/289998/1 "2005-02-14T14:43:24Z")

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“Pop goes the weasel” comes from London’s Cockney dialect (I am a Cockney’s son).

“Pop” means to pawn something by taking it to one’s “uncle”, a euphemism for a pawnbroker.

My “weasel” comes from rhyming slang: “weasel and stoat” -\> coat  
(similarly my “trouble” is my “trouble and strife” -\> wife)

The song goes:  
“Up and down the City Road, in and out of the Eagle  
That’s the way the money goes, pop goes the weasel”

The Eagle would be a public house wherein I spent the week’s wages, thus forcing me to pawn my coat (the only thing of value I now have) to give my “trouble” some cash to buy food!

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**Author:** ![owlstretchingtime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/958977/32.png) [@owlstretchingtime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/owlstretchingtime)\
**Post date:** [February 14, 2005, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-pop-goes-the-weasel/289998/2 "2005-02-14T14:50:53Z")

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The Eagle is still there (in Farringdon Rd - opposite the Guardian’s offices) It is now better known as the first Gastropub in Britain (and is crawling with Guardian staff).

Food’s good though.

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**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\
**Post date:** [February 14, 2005, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-pop-goes-the-weasel/289998/3 "2005-02-14T15:09:19Z")

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Now if somebody could just explain “The Jabberwocky” to me…

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**Author:** ![ArrMatey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/arrmatey/32/3522_2.png) [@ArrMatey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ArrMatey)\
**Post date:** [February 14, 2005, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-pop-goes-the-weasel/289998/4 "2005-02-14T15:54:11Z")

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Hrm. Friend of mine -insists- the tune has something to do with lockpicking. Anyone out there brave enough to prove her wrong?

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**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\
**Post date:** [February 14, 2005, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-pop-goes-the-weasel/289998/5 "2005-02-14T17:19:18Z")

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That’s funny, on some historic house tour as a child I was told that it’s a spinning wheel count song.