# What little boys are made of... **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 19, 2001, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-little-boys-are-made-of/58627 "2001-03-19T22:00:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2001, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-little-boys-are-made-of/58627/21 "2001-04-26T03:26:33Z")
Snaps. I learned it as “snaps.” And no, I never had the least idea WTF that meant. ---
**Author:** ![SninaDos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7c8e57/32.png) [@SninaDos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SninaDos)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2001, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-little-boys-are-made-of/58627/22 "2001-04-26T04:09:49Z")
Some time ago (maybe 10th grade), I heard that every edition of Trivail Pursuit has one wrong answer in it. It has something to do with the Trivial Pursuit people stealing their questions from quiz books or quiz books stealing questions from the Trivial Pursuit people…yeah, so I don’t quite remember the story… Anyway, my point is, this could be one of the wrong Trivial Pursuit answers. I’ve always heard it as snips, and really, if it was on the Powerpuff Girls (Best. Cartoon. Ever.), snips must be right. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2001, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-little-boys-are-made-of/58627/23 "2001-04-26T05:07:42Z")
Maybe TP only has one deliberate wrong answer per edition, but I’ve found more than that. I’ve even found a few which have multiple errors in the same question. ---
**Author:** ![Mort\_Furd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Mort\_Furd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mort_Furd)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2001, 10:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-little-boys-are-made-of/58627/24 "2001-04-26T10:28:35Z")
I seem to be odd man out here, I learned it as “Snails and shells and puppy dog tails.” ---
**Author:** ![Francesca](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9fc348/32.png) [@Francesca](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francesca)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2001, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-little-boys-are-made-of/58627/25 "2001-04-26T10:49:26Z")
I’ve got to agree with _ **Twitch** _ - I’m from the south-east of England and i’ve only ever heard it as “slugs and snails”. In fact, i distinctly remember a nursary rhyme book i had that was illustrated with pictures of slugs and snails. However, as is the way of these things, i nolonger have the book and can’t remember what it was. “Slugs and snails and puppy dogs tails” yeilds only four pages from Google though and all of these seem to based in the south of England so it may be a regional thing. More puzzling to me is that while i was browsing through my collections of nursary rhymes (none of which have “What are little girls made of”!), one of them had the poor spider as “Ipsey Wipsey Spider” when everyone _knows_ it’s “Insy Winsy Spider”, surely? And on TP getting it wrong - i’ve been playing it for years and have come accross several examples of them getting it wrong. Hell, no one’s perfect. Fran ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2001, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-little-boys-are-made-of/58627/26 "2001-04-26T11:40:02Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Francesca \* > I’ve got to agree with _ **Twitch** _ - I’m from the south-east of England and i’ve only ever heard it as “slugs and snails”. In fact, i distinctly remember a nursary rhyme book i had that was illustrated with pictures of slugs and snails. However, as is the way of these things, i nolonger have the book and can’t remember what it was. “Slugs and snails and puppy dogs tails” yeilds only four pages from Google though and all of these seem to based in the south of England so it may be a regional thing. A quick survey of my officemates yields “slugs and snails” too. Must be an English thing. > [@](#): > > More puzzling to me is that while i was browsing through my collections of nursary rhymes (none of which have “What are little girls made of”!), one of them had the poor spider as “Ipsey Wipsey Spider” when everyone _knows_ it’s “Insy Winsy Spider”, surely? Let me be the first to say: **Itsy-Bitsy Spider**. Again, possibly a British/American divide. Much like “Ready, Steady, Go” vs. “Ready, Set, Go”. > [@](#): > > And on TP getting it wrong - i’ve been playing it for years and have come accross several examples of them getting it wrong. Hell, no one’s perfect. Ditto on finding wrong answers. But just **try** and argue with the other players about it… ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2001, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-little-boys-are-made-of/58627/27 "2001-04-26T13:01:38Z")
Just wanted to weigh in here that _I’ve_ always and ONLY heard it as “Snips and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails…” This thread is the first place I’ve seen otherwise. In recent years I’ve heard a lot of variations on “Itsy Bitsy Spider” Now some demon inside me wants to say “The **Mitsubishi** Spider…”, as if it’s a brand of sports car. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2001, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-little-boys-are-made-of/58627/28 "2001-04-26T13:18:31Z")
Wow. Someone resurrected my thread. Well, here’s a nice e-mail I got from Barbara Elleman, Professor of Children’s Literature at Marquette University re: What little boys are made of: > [@](#): > > I am not sure how much I can help you on your Mother > Goose question as it looks like you have checked the best sources. I did look at a book I have called The Annotated Mother Goose and this is what I found concerning What Little Boys are Made Of. “The rhyme, said to be a favorite of Longfellow’s, has long been ascribed to Robert Southey, but there is no evidence to associate him with it.” The poem > they print uses the line “frogs and snails” but my memory of it has always been snips and snails. The introduction to this book, written by William Baring-Gould and Ceil Baring-Gould, does say that the rhymes come from everywhere and nowhere and that there is no one source for them. I would imagine that various cultures have developed versions of > the rhymes and that is why you find a variety of words used. ---
**Author:** ![Balor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/45deac/32.png) [@Balor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balor)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2001, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-little-boys-are-made-of/58627/29 "2001-04-26T13:44:58Z")
Just to complete the list, we say “slugs and snails” in Ireland too. I have never seen or heard any other version, and the rhyme is in many children’s books in this country and in Britain. The inclusion of slugs is annoying for every boy , and I used to hate the rhyme. Only girls repeated it. This use of “slugs” may explain how the rhyme evolved to the US form. It either began over here with slugs or went from frogs to slugs. Slugs had phallic overtones, and Puritans in America probably did not like it and produced American versions with snips/snaps/snakes etc. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2001, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-little-boys-are-made-of/58627/30 "2001-04-26T13:57:09Z")
I would have thought the migration due to a tendency towards assonance than anything else; “snips/snaps/snakes and snails” rolls off the tongue better than “frogs/slugs and snails”. This is a nursery rhyme, after all. ---
**Author:** ![SCSimmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e495f1/32.png) [@SCSimmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCSimmons)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2001, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-little-boys-are-made-of/58627/31 "2001-04-26T14:14:00Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by pulykamell \* > \*\*Wow. Someone resurrected my thread. Well, here’s a nice e-mail I got from Barbara Elleman, Professor of Children’s Literature at Marquette University … \*\* You can get a Ph.D. in Children’s Lit? Dang, I missed my calling. At least now I know what the ‘Dr.’ in ‘Dr. Suess’ is for. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2001, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-little-boys-are-made-of/58627/32 "2001-04-26T15:42:51Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by SninaDos_: > Some time ago (maybe 10th grade), I heard that every edition of Trivail Pursuit has one wrong answer in it. This is entirely possible, Trivial Pursuit isn’t known for accuracy. I know at least one, don’t remember which, edition relied on the general public for questions & answers. Of course at least one error will get into print. The '80s edition has a question about which movie starring Michael Keaton from that decade made the most money. TP’s answer was “Beetlejuice”, even though “Batman” did better at the box office. ---
**Author:** ![Sunshine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Sunshine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunshine)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2001, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-little-boys-are-made-of/58627/33 "2001-04-26T18:23:26Z")
Don’t forget the _Sienfeld_ episode where the answer to the TP question was “The Moors” but the card was misprinted and read “The Moo **p** s”! (I think it was George) ---
**Author:** ![Marvel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/779978/32.png) [@Marvel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marvel)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2001, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-little-boys-are-made-of/58627/34 "2001-04-27T01:09:20Z")
…I’ve only ever heard “snips” used for boys, as it was in an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, and girls were made of “everything nice,” as I _think_ it says at the beginning of The Powerpuff Girls. Saving the World Before Bedtime, Patty ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2001, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-little-boys-are-made-of/58627/35 "2001-04-27T02:55:54Z")
> [@](#): > > _ **panamajack** said:_ > This means the difference arose across the Atlantic, which is why Americans play “Chutes & Ladders” and those in the UK play “Snakes & Ladders”. Which usage is current in Canada? I’d guess the snakes, which is why Trivial Pursuit has it that way, though I can’t speak for any or most of the English-speaking world. Canadians, at least this particular Southern Ontarian of English background, say ‘Snakes and Ladders’, but on the other hand’snips and snails’. As usual, we’re in the middle. After last weekend, I hesitate to say ‘on the fence’… 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Girl\_Next\_Door](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@Girl\_Next\_Door](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Girl_Next_Door)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2001, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-little-boys-are-made-of/58627/36 "2001-04-27T04:40:17Z")
[hijack] After I make a pie I often have extra pie crust dough left over. I gather it all together, roll it out, spread it with butter, cinammon and sugar, roll it up like a log, slice off coiled pieces and bake them. Some just come off in little pieces (snips) Some stay rolled up (snails). Still others straighten out and just bake up as curved lines (puppy dog tails). We snack on them with a cup of tea. [/hijack] ---
**Author:** ![Girl\_Next\_Door](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@Girl\_Next\_Door](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Girl_Next_Door)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2001, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-little-boys-are-made-of/58627/37 "2001-04-28T14:39:39Z")
Can I kill a thread or can I kill a thread? ---
**Author:** ![st1d](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ac91a4/32.png) [@st1d](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/st1d)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2001, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-little-boys-are-made-of/58627/38 "2001-11-19T02:50:20Z")
Maybe it’s supposed to be snipes, like when we go “snipe hunting”, owing to the fact that most of us are well educated in the art of B.S. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![boudicca13](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@boudicca13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boudicca13)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2002, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-little-boys-are-made-of/58627/39 "2002-04-23T06:30:31Z")
I hope it’s okay for me to ressurect a thread after it’s been dead for a year. If not, just ignore this and let it die again. I just had to say, that I must be in the minority on this thread, but I’ve **always** heard it as “Snakes and snails” - this is the first time I’ve ever heard it with snips, even though I’ve seen that episode of the PowerPuff Girls (I must have missed what they said). I was wondering why Mojo Jojo was throwing snips of hair into the mix instead of snakes. That always bothered me. Now it won’t bother me anymore because I’ll know the variation of the poem. I have an old Nursery Rhyme book from the 1950’s that was my mother’s when she was little before it was mine - it had the poem in it. I will have to dig it out and check which version it has, now that I’m curious about it. ---
**Author:** ![heresiarch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/278dde/32.png) [@heresiarch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/heresiarch)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2002, 8:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-little-boys-are-made-of/58627/40 "2002-04-23T08:08:28Z")
I heard “snakes and snails…” as a kid, but have also heard “snips and snails.” No idea what “snips” are. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-little-boys-are-made-of/58627.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-little-boys-are-made-of/58627.md?page=3)