The Grandiloquent Goat Lyrics
A goat with grand, fancy speech sits down to a dinner and eats the corks, the knives and the forks, saying he dotes on them. Then he reads the menu and asks for corn, tomatoes and peas, served in the can.
The Grandiloquent Goat
A very grandiloquent Goat
Sat down to a gay table d'hote;
He ate all the corks,
The knives and the forks,
Remarking: "On these things I dote."
Then, before his repast he began,
While pausing the menu to scan,
He said: "Corn, if you please,
And tomatoes and pease,
I'd like to have served in the can."
Printed from https://nurseryrhymes.co/the-grandiloquent-goat/
- Type
- Poems for Children, Animal Rhymes
- Written by
- Carolyn Wells
- Tune
- A very grand, pompous voice, with a wink on the last line
- Best for ages
- 4 to 9 years
Hand Motions and Actions
| When you sing | Do this |
|---|---|
| He ate all the corks, | Chomp the air with a big pretend munch, three times. |
| Remarking: "On these things I dote." | Lift your chin, tuck a hand on your chest and speak very grandly. |
What Does The Grandiloquent Goat Mean?
The humour sits in the clash between how the goat speaks and what he does. Grandiloquent means using big, fancy words, and the goat does that: he dotes on his dinner, which means he loves it dearly, and he remarks on it like a very important person. But what he eats is corks, knives and forks, not dinner at all.
The joke lands in the second verse. He looks at the menu, a list of the meals on offer, and asks politely for corn, tomatoes and pease, an old spelling of peas, served in the can. Goats have a name for eating anything, tins included, so the last line makes sense. He sits down at a table d'hôte, a French phrase for a meal with a set menu at a restaurant or hotel. The rhymes are all clean: goat with d'hôte and dote, corks with forks, began with scan and can, and please with pease.
History and Origin
The goat's verse is in Carolyn Wells's collection of light rhymes, The Jingle Book, copyrighted in 1899 and reprinted in November 1899 and June 1901. Each of the two verses has five lines in the rhyme pattern aabba.
Learning Activities
- Posh voices: read the lines in the grandest voice you can and let the child do the same.
- Silly menu: make a menu of ridiculous dishes and let the child order from it in a fancy voice.
- Fancy word of the day: choose one grand word, such as magnificent, and use it all day.
- Real or not? sort pictures of food from things nobody would eat, and laugh at the goat's choices.