Piping Hot, Smoking Hot Lyrics
A street seller calls out about a hot snack, with a cheeky boast: what I've got, you have not.
Piping Hot, Smoking Hot
Piping hot, smoking hot.
What I've got
You have not.
Hot gray pease, hot, hot, hot;
Hot gray pease, hot.
Printed from https://nurseryrhymes.co/piping-hot-smoking-hot/
- Type
- Mother Goose
- Tune
- Spoken street cry
- Best for ages
- 2 to 6 years
What Does Piping Hot, Smoking Hot Mean?
Before shops were everywhere, sellers walked the streets calling out what they had. Pease is the old word for peas, and gray pease were dried field peas, boiled until soft and sold hot on cold days. The seller's teasing line, "what I've got, you have not", was a way to make people hungry enough to buy.
History and Origin
The rhyme is printed as "A Seasonable Song" in The Real Mother Goose (1916). Seasonable means suited to the time of year: hot peas for a cold season. It sits alongside other food cries such as Hot Cross Buns and Pease Porridge Hot.
Learning Activities
- Market stall: set up a pretend stall and call out what you are selling.
- Hot and cold: sort pictures of foods into hot ones and cold ones.
- Pea count: count dried peas or beans into cups.