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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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Why does the nursery song have it that, "here we go gathering nuts in May?" Most trees don't fruit until September or October.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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uh, what nursery song would that be?
formerly known as etaoin...
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old hand
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old hand
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old hand
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old hand
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From the Facts on File Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins, by Robert Hendrickson:
“Since there are no nuts to be gathered in May, the old children’s song with the words, ‘Here we go gathering nuts in May’ seems to make no sense – and indeed, it may have been intended as a nonsense song. But ‘the nuts’ in the phrase has been explained as being ‘knots’ of May, that is, bunches of flowers. In Elizabethan England, Queen Elizabeth herself gathered knots of May in the meadows, one author tells us, and this is a plausible explanation even though there are no recorded quotations supporting the use of knots for ‘flowers,’ except possibly the English knot garden of herbs.”
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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Queen Elizabeth herself gathered knots of May in the meadows, one author tells us
The May tree is the white (or pink) blossomed hawthorn tree and since its thorns are long, plentiful and painful and its twigs are tough to break off, Good Queen Bess displayed great fortitude in gathering her 'knots'. I reckon she had someone do it for her with a good pair of secateurs.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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had to look that one up, dixbey. I thought it was a bit of a non-secateur... 
formerly known as etaoin...
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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TEd
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old hand
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old hand
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Oh! More cutting remarks on this thread! Shear delight!
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Carpal Tunnel
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Bingley
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Carpal Tunnel
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TEd
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