I Love Little Pussy

[Garson O'Toole]

The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes (1997) contains a section for
the poem "Pussy" with a first line of "I love little pussy". The
reference work traces the poem back to 1829.

Cite: 1997, The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes by Iona Opie and
Peter Opie, Second edition, Section: Pussy: 427, Oxford University
Press. (Amazon look inside)


There is an entry for "I Love Little Pussy" in Wikipedia which gives a
date of 1830 for the poem.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Love_Little_Pussy


Below is a citation dated 1825 for an instance of the poem with a
slightly different beginning: "I like little pussy, her coat is so
warm".

Cite: 1825, "A Manual of the System of Instruction Pursued at the
Infant School, Meadow Street, Bristol" by D. G. Goyder [David George
Goyder], Fourth edition, Section: "Poems, &c", "The Cat", Page 150,
Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, Brown, and Green, London. (Google Books
full view)

http://books.google.com/books?id=f9oGAAAAQAAJ&q=pussy#v=snippet&

The Cat

I like little pussy, her coat is so warm,
And if I don't hurt her she ll do me no harm;
So I'll not pull her tail, nor drive her away,
But pussy and I very gently will play:
She shall sit by my side, and I'll give her some food,
And she'll love me because I am gentle and good.

Garson

On Fri, Mar 9, 2012 at 10:30 PM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      I Love Little Pussy
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> I love little Pussy
> Her coat is so warm,
> And if I don't hurt her
> She'll do me no harm
> So I'll not pull her tail
> Or drive her away
> But Pussy and I
> Very gently will play
> I'll sit by the fire
> and give her some food
> and Pussy will love me
> Because I am so good
>
>
> The bowdlerized version replaces _Pussy_ with _Kitty_, likewise WRT
> Pussy-Cat! Pussy-Cat! Where Have You Been?  Puss In Boots will no
> doubt follow. OTOH, a bit of dialogue from "House," spoken by Thirteen
> - woman, for those unfamiliar with the show:
>
> "This is the best thing that I've *ever* had in my mouth! And that
> includes what *you're" thinking about."
>
> "O tempora! O mores!"
>
> --
> -Wilson
> -----
> All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint
> to come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
> -Mark Twain
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org