There Was an Old Woman, and What Do You Think? Lyrics
"What do you think? She lived on nothing but food and drink!" The punchline takes a second to land, and then children realize everybody does.
There Was an Old Woman, and What Do You Think?
There was an old woman, and what do you think?
She lived upon nothing but victuals and drink;
Victuals and drink were the chief of her diet,
And yet this old woman could never be quiet.
Printed from https://nurseryrhymes.co/there-was-an-old-woman-and-what-do-you-think/
- Type
- Mother Goose
- Tune
- Spoken rhyme
- Best for ages
- 4 to 9 years
What Does There Was an Old Woman, and What Do You Think? Mean?
Victuals, said VIT-ls, is an old word for food. So the old woman lives on nothing but food and drink, which sounds like a big surprise until you think about it: that is what everyone lives on. The joke continues with her diet being mostly food and drink, and ends with the one thing that was unusual about her. She could never keep quiet.
History and Origin
James Orchard Halliwell printed a longer version in the 1840s and noted that its ending resembled a verse of Old Mother Hubbard. The four lines here, from The Real Mother Goose (1916), are the version most families know. It belongs to a big family of "old woman" rhymes, like the old woman who lived in a shoe.
Learning Activities
- Spot the joke: ask children what is strange about living on food and drink. Wait for the laugh.
- Old words: learn victuals and use it at dinner: "Please pass the victuals."
- Quiet game: see who can keep quiet the longest, unlike the old woman.