# Question about Nursery Rhyme This Little Piggy

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-nursery-rhyme-this-little-piggy/973026>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Tags:** books-writing-myths\
**Created:** [October 10, 2022, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-nursery-rhyme-this-little-piggy/973026 "2022-10-10T18:18:54Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 3

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![GreysonCarlisle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a87d85/32.png) [@GreysonCarlisle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreysonCarlisle)\
**Post date:** [October 12, 2022, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-nursery-rhyme-this-little-piggy/973026/41 "2022-10-12T00:08:38Z")

</div>

> [@bob\_2](#):
>
> It’s a tickling game that parents play with small children. When it gets to the last line, they run their fingers up the baby’s leg and tickle its tummy.

Huh. For us, the wee wee wee part involved pulling and wiggling the little piggy in question.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\
**Post date:** [October 12, 2022, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-nursery-rhyme-this-little-piggy/973026/42 "2022-10-12T01:02:01Z")

</div>

> [@Jophiel](#):
>
> The women pigs are all shopping and the male pigs are taking goods to market, it seems

I missed that detail – and it’s the sort of thing I usually notice.

– wait a minute: the fourth one down shows three pigs at a market, but the one who appears most clearly to be a vendor I think is female. (And chickens were usually women’s business, at the time.)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\
**Post date:** [October 12, 2022, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-nursery-rhyme-this-little-piggy/973026/43 "2022-10-12T01:27:04Z")

</div>

> [@terentii](#):
>
> Desmond Norris

Sorry, that’s _Morris_.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\
**Post date:** [October 12, 2022, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-nursery-rhyme-this-little-piggy/973026/44 "2022-10-12T02:06:16Z")

</div>

> [@thorny\_locust](#):
>
> the fourth one down shows three pigs at a market, but the one who appears most clearly to be a vendor I think is female

I saw it as two well dressed men pigs engaging in some sort of Very Important Business/Commerce with a woman browsing in the background. I’ll defer to your knowledge of mid-19th century chicken sales though. Seriously, I don’t know nothing about that context.

[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-nursery-rhyme-this-little-piggy/973026.md?page=2)