Hyder Iddle Diddle Dell Lyrics
Four lines of silly sense: a yard of pudding is not an ell, there is tweedle-dye, and a tailor's goose will never fly.
Hyder Iddle Diddle Dell
Hyder iddle diddle dell,
A yard of pudding's not an ell;
Not forgetting tweedle-dye,
A tailor's goose will never fly.
Printed from https://nurseryrhymes.co/hyder-iddle-diddle-dell/
- Type
- Mother Goose
- Tune
- Chanted in a quick sing-song
- Best for ages
- 3 to 7 years
Hand Motions and Actions
| When you sing | Do this |
|---|---|
| A yard of pudding's not an ell | Hold your hands wide apart, then a little wider. |
| Not forgetting tweedle-dye | Wiggle your fingers in the air. |
| A tailor's goose will never fly | Flap your arms like a goose, then shake your head. |
What Does Hyder Iddle Diddle Dell Mean?
This is a nonsense rhyme made of jokes that do not quite fit together. A yard and an ell are both old measures of cloth, and an ell is longer than a yard, so a yard of anything cannot be an ell. The words hyder iddle diddle dell and tweedle-dye are made-up sounds. A tailor's goose is a heavy pressing iron, not a bird, so of course it will never fly.
The joy of the rhyme is in the muddle. Children can make up their own wrong measurements and silly sentences to go with it.
History and Origin
James Orchard Halliwell prints the lines in The Nursery Rhymes of England with no author, date or place. He puts them among the nonsense verses, next to a different rhyme about a lost garter.
Many rhymes in the book mix real words, such as yard, ell and goose, with made-up ones, which is a common trick in nonsense verse.
Learning Activities
- Measure it: hold up a ruler or a long ribbon and talk about what a yard is.
- Wrong measures: make up your own funny statements, such as a mile of bread is not a metre.
- Goose iron: look for a picture of a tailor's goose and compare it with a real goose.
- Nonsense words: invent three new words like tweedle-dye and use them in a rhyme.