Even in modern society, there are several prejudices regarding beauty, gender, and others. These roots are deep-seated from ancient times and often reflect in the many nursery rhymes.
Moreover, many nursery rhymes are based on real-life characters or contemporary events. ‘Georgie Porgie’ is an example where we can find rejection or mockery of a fat person and how society has tagged them.
Read on to find out the story behind the rhyme and its meaning.
Written Lyrics
Original version
Georgie Porgie, pudding and pie,
Kissed the girls and made them cry,
When the girls came out to play,
Georgie Porgie ran away.
Modern version
Georgie Porgie, pudding and pie,
Kissed the girls and made them cry,
When the boys came out to play,
Georgie Porgie ran away.
Alternate version
Georgie Porgie, pudding and pie,
Fell in the mud and started to cry,
When his friends came out to play,
Georgie Porgie was happy again.
Printable Lyrics
Want to add this wonderful song to your little one’s collection of best rhymes? Then, find the complete printable lyrics here.
Photo Lyrics
Video Links
There are a couple of versions of this nursery rhyme. We have added the YouTube links of two versions that are popularly used.
Georgie Porgie ran away-
Georgie Porgie was happy again-
Origin and History
The original lyrics of the poem in The Kentish Coronal (1841) were:
Georgie Porgie, pudding and pie,
Kissed the girls and made them cry,
When the girls came out to play,
Georgie Porgie ran away.
Rudyard Kipling also quoted this version in the story published in 1891.
In 1853, James Orchard Halliwell used different lyrics in his collection of The nursery rhymes of England:
Rowley Powley, pumpkin pie,
Kissed the girls and made them cry;
When the girls begin to cry,
Rowley Powley runs away
By 1884, the third line changed to "When the boys came out to play" and was also used by Peter and Iona Opie in The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes (1951).
In real life, the term ‘Georgie Porgie’ refers to Geoge IV, who was often ridiculed because of his weight and unpopular lifestyle. He was known for his cowardly behavior, and the phrase ‘ran away’ was inspired by one such incident (where he fled from the scene to save himself after an illegal bare-knuckle boxing match went wrong).
Since then, the rhyme has been used to taunt fat or plump boys or to ridicule boys for their cowardly nature. In many contexts, it also depicts an angle of homosexuality. The verse was also included in National Nursery Rhymes, London, in 1870.
FAQs
Georgie Porgie kissed the girls who were playing and made them cry. But when other boys came to their help, Georgie Porgie ran away.
'Georgie Porgie' in this rhyme refers to Prince Regent, who later became George IV. He weighed more than 17½ stone with a waist of 50 inches. This made him a source of ridicule among his contemporaries. His controversial lifestyle also added to his rather bad unpopular reputation.
“Georgie Porgie” is a traditional English nursery rhyme that became very popular in the 19th century. It was first published in James Orchard Halliwell's collection in 1840, but with different lyrics.
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