Talk:What Are Little Boys Made Of?/Archive 1

Anonymous?
Is this another one of Anonymous's works? I love him. He makes so many good poems and short stories 129.21.109.54 04:01, 12 September 2006 (UTC)

Powerpuff Girls
Nuff said. RocketMaster 12:17, 30 November 2006 (UTC)

Snips
I know what snails and puppy dog tails are, but to what does the word 'snips' refer in this context? Seven of Nine 03:53, 23 October 2007 (UTC)

Sexist?

 * Unless we find a surviving interview with the 19th century author it's difficult to tell, but I'd say it was most likely written with specific children in mind, including a young boy with a sense of humour who would have delighted in being compared to dirty, slimy things like snails. Treating it as social commentary is, I think, a mistake (although it could be used to lighten the mood of an otherwise serious discussion of that topic). 125.168.127.32 (talk) 04:48, 26 March 2010 (UTC)


 * I added a reference on April 11, 2010 to, which says that the original wording may have been "snips of snails", being little cuttings from snails, etc. However, that reference was removed less than 3 hours later, because 'rhymes.org.uk' was considered to be very unreliable. This removal may have been appropriate, but at least the reference provides one possible answer to the question, even if it is not definitive.

DavidMCEddy (talk) 03:04, 18 April 2010 (UTC)


 * Unfortunately www.rhymes.org.uk is not a reliable source. If you can find a reliable and verifiable source for the explanation it is likely to be fine to include it.--''' SabreBD  (talk ) 12:00, 18 April 2010 (UTC)

Glen or Glenda
I think the film Glen or Glenda should be added to the list of references. In the film, Bela Lugosi's character says "Beware of the big green dragon that sits on your doorstep. He eats little boys... Puppy dog tails, and BIG FAT SNAILS..." Hbomberman (talk) 21:19, 5 October 2010 (UTC)

Labyrinth
I think "Labyrinth" should be added to the list of references, I remember David Bowie's character singing along with the gremlins parts of this song —Preceding unsigned comment added by 1.153.153.3 (talk) 12:36, 2 April 2011 (UTC)

Garbage - List of References
Garbage appears to be referencing this as well in their song "What are Girls Made Of":

"Tell me, please, what little girls are made of Sugar and spice and all things nice" — Preceding unsigned comment added by Kongmingtwo (talk • contribs) 17:52, 30 October 2015 (UTC)

Modern American Versions
The version I remember from childhood, and that my mother prized, was printed in several sets of books for children dating at least as early as the 1930s. These books were the sort adults read to children at bed time. Each of about a dozen volumes contained a different genre of short readable stuff. My mother (an elementary school teacher with an MS whose mother was also a teacher) had at least 2 sets of these books: one set from her childhood was bound in silver-grey fabric with a different vividly colored picture on each front cover; a set bought in Cleveland Ohio in the 1960s had orange cloth covers and was published either in the 1950s or 1960s. One of these sets was published under the name Childcraft. Each had the 2 stanza poem. Neither used the word snips. In its place the word was either toads or frogs. These book sets were quite popular in the US in the middle of the 20th century. My mother and her mother were both very fond of this particular "American" version. May be this poem was used as a bone thrown to the rising feminists, and at least in my own experience, it had a very salutary effect for them. John5Russell3Finley (talk) 13:58, 12 March 2017 (UTC)