# POP goes the weasel

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-goes-the-weasel/63950>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [May 1, 2001, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-goes-the-weasel/63950 "2001-05-01T12:24:53Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Colin\_Trainer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/958977/32.png) [@Colin\_Trainer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colin_Trainer)\
**Post date:** [May 1, 2001, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-goes-the-weasel/63950/1 "2001-05-01T12:24:53Z")

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What are the words to POP goes the weasel? And do they run around a mulberry bush or something else? It’s driving me nuts.

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**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\
**Post date:** [May 1, 2001, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-goes-the-weasel/63950/2 "2001-05-01T12:40:13Z")

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[http://www.alt-usage-english.org/ucle/ucle9.html](http://www.alt-usage-english.org/ucle/ucle9.html)

The 3rd article.

Also [http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Forum/3041/pop.html](http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Forum/3041/pop.html)

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**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\
**Post date:** [May 1, 2001, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-goes-the-weasel/63950/3 "2001-05-01T13:02:46Z")

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When I was a kid it was “All around the cobbler’s bench…”

Childhood memory time: I was about our or five years old. Dad would sit on the edge of the bed. I’d sit on his knees, facing him, and he would hold my hands. Lifting his heels, he would bounce me left and right in time to the song (which he’d sing). At “Pop!” he’d spread his knees apart. I’d fall backwards ("…goes the weasel!"), being kept from falling to the floor by my legs hooked over his thighs and by his hands holding mine. Oh, it was great fun for a four-or-five-year-old!

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**Author:** ![whitetho](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whitetho/32/1059_2.png) [@whitetho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whitetho)\
**Post date:** [May 1, 2001, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-goes-the-weasel/63950/4 "2001-05-01T13:42:45Z")

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You might find interesting Cecil’s take from a couple years back on [What does “pop goes the weasel” mean?](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/990402.html)

There was also some discussion on this board at: [Weasel pops](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=147).