paper of/and pins

[Alison Murie]

The contemporary pins were individually forged, costly & highly
prized, acc. some teacher of mine in grade school. This would also
account for: "See a pin & pick it up, All the day you'll have good
luck.  See a pin & let it lie, Bad luck will follow you till you
die."  Our lives are so full of ingenious artifacts that  we take
their existence for granted, hardly realizing what want of any  of
them might feel like. You never miss the water....&c.
AM
~~~~~~~~~~~~

On Mar 2, 2009, at 11:02 AM, Barbara Need wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Barbara Need <bhneed at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: paper of/and pins
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Arnold,
>
> I don't know this particular song, but I am familiar with a paper of
> pins. It is a sheet of paper with pins stuck through it. I don't know
> if they come that way anymore, but I certainly remember using pins
> stuck through a piece of paper. The paper had been folded so that the
> pins had little ridges to go through, and I remember being very
> careful to put the pins back through the holes.
>
> Barbara
>
> Barbara Need
> Chicago
>
> On 2 Mar 2009, at 9:47 AM, Arnold Zwicky wrote:
>
>> there's a folksong that occurs in several variants, including a
>> variation between "a paper of pins" and "paper and pins".  a man is
>> wooing a woman, and promises her:
>>
>> I'll give  thee/you/to you  X ... if  you'll/you'll but/you will
>> marry me
>>
>> the "a paper of pins" version is sometimes called "the Bus Stop
>> song",
>> because the recording of it by the Four Lads was featured in the
>> movie
>> Bus Stop (though the song is much older than that).  the "paper and
>> pins" version has been recorded several times by the Clancy Brothers
>> and Tommy Makem.
>>
>> both versions are somewhat opaque to me.  anyone know anything about
>> the interpretation, or the history, of the song?
>>
>> arnold
>
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