# Who is Puddentain \[sp?\] and why is his/her number “cucumber”? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 1, 2001, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-puddentain-sp-and-why-is-his-her-number-cucumber/48025 "2001-01-01T23:08:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2001, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-puddentain-sp-and-why-is-his-her-number-cucumber/48025/1 "2001-01-01T23:08:02Z")
> [@](#): > > **What’s your name? > Puddentain. > Where do you live? > Down the lane. > What’s your number? > Cucumber.** I learned this verse at my father’s knee, but I have never understood what the heck it was supposed to mean. Who wrote it? Who/what is Puddentain? Is that the right spelling? Is Puddentain male or female? Is the number a house number, a telephone number, or some weird numerology thing? And why is the number not a number? Our long-lost friend **Jois** started a [Puddentane thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=15563) more than a year ago, but my questions were not answered there. ---
**Author:** ![aseymayo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a88e57/32.png) [@aseymayo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aseymayo)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2001, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-puddentain-sp-and-why-is-his-her-number-cucumber/48025/2 "2001-01-02T01:02:20Z")
I’ve heard the Puddentain/Ask me again I’ll tell you the same version. I 've also heard it “Puddentame” - to better rhyme with “name” and “same,” I suppose. AFAIK, the “Puddentain” rhyme is just kid responses to nosy questions (e.g._What’s your name, kid? I’m Bart Simpson, who the hell are you?_). The replies are meant to be nonsense and to foil the interrogator. Puddentain isn’t a specific person, it’s more of an innocent version of a made-up name along the lines of “I.P. Freely” or “Dick Hertz”. (I tried looking up variations of “Puddentain” without much luck, but I did find that “tain” means a tinfoil plate. So maybe it just means “Pudding plate”?) The number could mean house number or phone number - I don’t know how long this rhyme has been round. “Cucumber!” is a good cheeky retort, plus it rhymes with “number” and is funnier than “lumber” or “slumber.” I don’t know how much luck you’ll have tracking down the author. I think this is an oral-tradition style of thing, like counting-out rhymes that we all learned as kids, but never saw written down anywhere. _Engine, engine number nine Going down Chicago Line If the train should jump the track Do you want your money back? Y-E-S spells “Yes” And you are not IT!_ ---
**Author:** ![scratch1300](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dfb087/32.png) [@scratch1300](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scratch1300)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2001, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-puddentain-sp-and-why-is-his-her-number-cucumber/48025/3 "2001-01-02T15:07:14Z")
Iona and Peter Opie delved into the etiology of this in their excellent _The Lore and Language of Schoolchildren_. “Puddentain”, an ancient name with various spellings, is, IIRC, a medieval devil’s moniker. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2001, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-puddentain-sp-and-why-is-his-her-number-cucumber/48025/4 "2001-01-02T16:08:02Z")
Thank you. My friendly neighborhood library has that book, so I’ll check it out the next time I’m up there. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2001, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-puddentain-sp-and-why-is-his-her-number-cucumber/48025/5 "2001-01-02T16:35:57Z")
Interesing. The version I always heard (and used, of course) was: What’s your name? Puddentain. Ask me again, and I’ll tell you the same. ---
**Author:** ![mjstillh2o](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/bbe5ce/32.png) [@mjstillh2o](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mjstillh2o)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2019, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-puddentain-sp-and-why-is-his-her-number-cucumber/48025/6 "2019-02-20T15:51:05Z")
There was an old film noir (Dead End maybe?) where the cops picked-up a young hoodlum and were grilling him. Three cops were firing off questions: “What’s your name?”… “Where do you live?”…“What’s your number?”… and the kid was responding: “Puddentane”…“Down the Lane”…“Cucumber”… and the head cop came back with: “Aw, smart-alek, huh?” Film must of been from the 1930s and was the earliest version I remember seeing of that exchange. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2019, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-puddentain-sp-and-why-is-his-her-number-cucumber/48025/7 "2019-02-20T18:12:07Z")
A quick look at Google Books [pushes the name back to the 19th century](https://books.google.com/books?id=8JtciEJdgDAC&pg=PA175&dq=Puddentame&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwin34iS9MrgAhWl7IMKHc_nAUUQ6AEIODAC#v=onepage&q=Puddentame&f=false). ---
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2019, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-puddentain-sp-and-why-is-his-her-number-cucumber/48025/8 "2019-02-20T18:18:39Z")
Well this thread finally explains this Far Side cartoon I never understood… [![](https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190220/20f159ec8bfb2154e2e1822f5ea6d34f.jpg) ](https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190220/20f159ec8bfb2154e2e1822f5ea6d34f.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![sbunny8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@sbunny8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sbunny8)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2019, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-puddentain-sp-and-why-is-his-her-number-cucumber/48025/9 "2019-02-20T19:27:13Z")
I thought it was Puddin’ Tame (puddin’ = pudding), perhaps similar to Mark Twain’s character Pudd’nhead Wilson. It seems Gary Larson agrees with my spelling. I remember seeing it in the 1932 Our Gang (Little Rascals) short film [Readin’ and Writin’](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJ3aL7ssBQI). Teacher: What’s your name? Student #1: John Brown. Ask me again and I’ll knock you down. Teacher( to next student): What’s your name? Student #2: Puddin’ Tame. Ask me again and I’ll tell you the same. One of the students was purposefully trying to get expelled from school, and had convinced a few other children to help him make the teacher angry. ---
**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:** [February 20, 2019, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-puddentain-sp-and-why-is-his-her-number-cucumber/48025/10 "2019-02-20T19:51:48Z")
> [@robardin](#): > > Well this thread finally explains this Far Side cartoon I never understood… > > [https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190220/20f159ec8bfb2154e2e1822f5ea6d34f.jpg](https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190220/20f159ec8bfb2154e2e1822f5ea6d34f.jpg) I didn’t understand that one, either, until I talked to my future wife about it. She was amazed that I never heard of “Pudding Tame – ask me again and I’ll tell you the same.” In fact, until I read this thread, I didn’t realize that it went beyond that. I never heard the “Down the Lane” and “Cucumber” rejoinders before. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2019, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-puddentain-sp-and-why-is-his-her-number-cucumber/48025/11 "2019-02-20T20:11:03Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > In fact, until I read this thread, I didn’t realize that it went beyond that. I never heard the “Down the Lane” and “Cucumber” rejoinders before. [How soon you forget](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=478602)… ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2019, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-puddentain-sp-and-why-is-his-her-number-cucumber/48025/12 "2019-02-21T01:40:02Z")
Just for completeness’s sake (and, yes, it’s stoopid), here’s the version we had in grammar school: What’s your name? Choo-choo train. What’s your number? Koo-cucumber. Didn’t make sense then, doesn’t make sense now.