The Noxsoma Chronicles [0093]
12-22-2025 … Day 23673 (Good Moonday Lunatics)
Today we give thanks for another day above ground. We woke up strong before the sun rose and got down on the mat and hit some core exercises. The darkness was pleasant while it lasted. A little bit of AM candle light was right on time. We set to generating abundance in all benefits. But not all at once. We are not seeking an abundance avalanche. Perfectly ripened avocado to break the fast and our daily protein shake. Get the dailies done and then hit the playground. The ankle continues to heal. We are feeding it well. Speaking of which—it is time to fuel the vessel after an awesome playground session.
Peace
Ask The Bot – Today’s episode ...
The Secret Life of Humpty-Dumpty
[Note – it’s not critical that we dis-cover a, or “thee” verifiable origin of the rhyme. So anything goes. Research assistance from schizophrenic, hallucinating AI.]
Stop me if you’ve heard this before. Prior to nursery rhyme status Humpty-Dumpty was a riddle. Perhaps it was a Final Jeopardy answer: “Humpty-dumpty sat on a wall. Humpty-Dumpty had a great fall. All the King’s horses and all the King’s men couldn’t put Humpty Dumpty together again.”
The music plays.
We all know the question.
“What is an egg?”
But why is that the question?
Let’s go with Mr. Peabody and Sherman into the Wayback Machine.
The year is 1640. According to folklore a “humpty-dumpty” was a canon.
One of the most popular theories about the rhyme's origin is that "Humpty Dumpty" was a large, clumsy siege cannon used during the English Civil War (1642-1651). According to local legend in Colchester, a Royalist cannon nicknamed "Humpty Dumpty" was mounted on a church tower (the "wall"), was knocked down ("had a great fall"), and despite the efforts of "all the king's men," could not be remounted. [I suppose it is not insignificant that a canon was mounted on “holy ground.”]
The timeline fits: The slang term "humpty-dumpty" for something bulky existed in the late 1600s, shortly after the Civil War.
The cannon would have been a large, heavy, clumsy object—a perfect "humpty-dumpty."
Often terminology exists before – way before someone uses it in a song or a rhyme.
Let’s step back in the Wayback machine and go ahead to the end of the 17th Century.
"Humpty-dumpty" was a slang term for a drink in the late 17th century, specifically in the 1690s. This predates the first known written version of the nursery rhyme by about a century.
The Drink: "Humpty-Dumpty"
It was an ale or beer boiled with brandy. This would have been a strong, potent, and warming drink, similar to a "hot toddy" or "flip" of the period.
The term appears in the 1698 slang dictionary "A New Dictionary of the Terms Ancient and Modern of the Canting Crew" by "B. E. Gent." (author unknown). The entry states:"Humpty-dumpty, Ale boil'd with Brandy."
Your humble explorer is impressed to know that there was indeed a dictionary of slang from 1698. Was there enough slanguage of the day to justify a dictionary? How were all the cool kids rapping at the turn of the 18th century.
Speaking of “slang” – I know this style of speak as “Cockney Rhyming Slang” or something like that. My favorite and the only line a remember or recognize is “You must be having a giraffe.” You must be joking – having a laugh.”
However, if you called it “reduplicative slang” – as the AI spit out, the average bloke might choke.
In the 17th and 18th centuries, "humpty-dumpty" was used to describe things that were short, clumsy, or bulky—the kind of thing that might easily topple over. This perfectly describes a short, stout person or, by metaphorical extension, a large, clumsy object.
Now we’re getting somewhere. A short “dumpy” guy – who’s been drinking a humpty-dumpty trying to keep his balance on a bar stool perhaps. “Dumpty” I think is the key word. “Humpty” we are told is short for Humphrey. Well it doesn’t matter whether dude’s name is Humphrey or Alistair. He is “dumpy” drunk and about to have a great fall – so you are “Humpty-Dumpty” pal.
At this point still no egg. At least it’s not overt and it’s not in print.
Back to the Wayback machine.
“Where to now Mr. Peabody?”
“The year 1810, Sherman. We are going to look at the earliest known written version of this “riddle.””
Here is the earliest known published version of the riddle, from 1810, in a book titled "Juvenile Amusements" by "Gammer Gurton":
Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall;
Threescore men and threescore more,
Cannot place Humpty Dumpty as he was before.
Hmmmm. Numbers Guy immediately wants to know about 60 and 60. [A score is 20 in case they stopped teaching counting in public school.] 60 seconds in a minute. 60 minutes in an hour. The “ideal” counting system [We have come to accept] is base 60. We did not pursue this angle … … this time.
“Place” is significant. It says 120 men could not “place” Humpty as “he” was before. I don’t know about you, but your humble time-traveling vagabond is having difficulties picturing 120 dudes trying to place an egg back upon a wall.
Why do we think it’s an egg?
Back to the Wayback machine.
The year is 1871 and Lewis Carroll is writing “Through the Looking Glass” followed by “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.” Alice has been eating magic mushrooms and is having an “interesting trip.”
But first – there were some pre”Looking Glass” illustrations of a “humpty-dumpty. He was sometimes depicted as a fat, clumsy man or a boy, in line with the "clumsy person" interpretation.
In "Through the Looking-Glass": When Alice meets Humpty Dumpty, he is explicitly described as a large, anthropomorphic egg sitting on a narrow wall. John Tenniel's iconic illustration for the book cemented this image forever. He is proud, vain, and engages in a famous conversation about the arbitrariness of language ("When I use a word, it means just what I choose it to mean...").
That line tells you all you need to know. Humpty-Dumpty is an egg, because Lewis Carroll says it’s an egg and John Tenniel drew him as an egg.
Why an Egg? “Carroll,” opines AI “was a master of nonsense and logic puzzles. The riddle-like nursery rhyme, with its description of a catastrophic, irreparable break, makes perfect sense if the subject is an egg. An egg that falls off a wall and breaks cannot be fixed by anyone, no matter how powerful.”
So why try? We return to the first-known writing. There was nothing about a lost cause. “Threescore and threescore more” gave it their best shot.
“Carroll and Tenniel provided the ‘most logical and visually memorable’ answer to the centuries-old riddle,” AI gushed.
But did they get it right? Was it ever really a riddle, or was it a record of an event, set in rhyme as to make it easily remembered?
The Egg Becomes Standard … so stop looking.
The success of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass was immense. Tenniel's illustrations became the definitive visual reference for countless characters. Later illustrators of nursery rhyme books, influenced by Carroll and Tenniel, overwhelmingly adopted the egg depiction. By the early 20th century, the "egg" interpretation had completely overshadowed all others in the popular mind.
Exactly the same way that the Coca-Cola Santa Claus [1931] obliterated the previous image of a century earlier, in the minds of early twentieth century kids and into this century. Unless I missed something.
Today, the idea that Humpty Dumpty is not an egg is surprising to most people. The egg has become the "official" answer to the riddle, thanks entirely to Carroll's creative intervention.
Humpty-dumpty was never an egg my friends. But it is now. And that’s okay – for you. My money is on folklore and war. Maybe it was that event where the canon [ole humpty-dumpty] got knocked down off of the church tower [the wall], you know those Europeans are always waging war. [The teachers made us sing war songs at assemblies.] It would literally take about a hundred men to “place him” back where he was before.
The clues to humpty’s true identity are not in the “sanitized” nursery rhyme of today. The conspiracy theorist within suspects a revisionist scheme to cover-up 17th century war crimes. Perhaps the Anglican Church is happy to obscure the “rumor” that there was a weapon of mass destruction – for the times – mounted in one of its church towers. Perhaps the royal family is still salty that the rebs took out their beast. In any case the dead must be vindicated and the guilty parties -- [rebels so it seems] -- must be brought to justice! Even posthumously!
What’s your call friends? Folklore or Fiction?
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Let’s do the numbers.
Today’s Score (12-22-2025)
BC … 56
Rum… 23
Ody….. 1
This Month So Far (12-22-25)
BC …… 2953
Rum …...533
Ody……. 256
Month to Date … 3662
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