Every Lady in This Land (Fingers and Toes) Lyrics
Twenty nails on each hand? That cannot be right. This four-line rhyme is a puzzle, and the answer depends on where you pause.
Every Lady in This Land (Fingers and Toes)
Every lady in this land
Has twenty nails, upon each hand
Five, and twenty on hands and feet:
All this is true, without deceit.
Printed from https://nurseryrhymes.co/every-lady-in-this-land/
- Type
- Mother Goose, Counting Rhymes
- Tune
- Spoken puzzle rhyme
- Best for ages
- 6 to 11 years
What Does Every Lady in This Land (Fingers and Toes) Mean?
Read straight through, it seems to say each hand has twenty nails. Move the pause and it makes sense: "Every lady in this land has twenty nails. Upon each hand, five, and twenty on hands and feet." Five on each hand, twenty in total on fingers and toes. Without deceit means honestly, without a trick, which is a joke, because the rhyme is all trick.
History and Origin
The rhyme is printed in The Real Mother Goose (1916) under the title "Fingers and Toes". Punctuation puzzles like this were popular in old schoolrooms, where children were challenged to read a confusing verse aloud so that it made sense.
Learning Activities
- Count them: count your fingernails and toenails to check the answer.
- Move the comma: write the rhyme out and let your child add punctuation so it makes sense.
- Two readings: read it aloud twice, once straight through and once pausing after nails, and hear the difference.