# ring around the rosie

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ring-around-the-rosie/178884>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [June 1, 2003, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ring-around-the-rosie/178884 "2003-06-01T03:19:52Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![caddyman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/94ad74/32.png) [@caddyman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/caddyman)\
**Post date:** [June 1, 2003, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ring-around-the-rosie/178884/1 "2003-06-01T03:19:52Z")

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whats the nursery rhyme ring around the rosie all about? someone told me it was about the plague. i was told that posies were put on the eyes of the dead and that the bodies were burned to stop the spread of the plague.

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**Author:** ![Alex\_VA](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f475e1/32.png) [@Alex\_VA](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alex_VA)\
**Post date:** [June 1, 2003, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ring-around-the-rosie/178884/2 "2003-06-01T03:29:07Z")

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Ring around the rosie: circular bubonic scars appear on victim  
Pocket full of posies: popular way of fending off the plague  
Ashes, Ashes: Dead were creamated  
We all fall down: We all die

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**Author:** ![AntaresJB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c2a13f/32.png) [@AntaresJB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AntaresJB)\
**Post date:** [June 1, 2003, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ring-around-the-rosie/178884/3 "2003-06-01T03:33:21Z")

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[Snopes says false](http://www.snopes.com/language/literary/rosie.htm).

It’s just a nonsense rhyme, and somebody decided there just _had_ to be an explanation for it, so they came up with the plague thing. The link explains it better.