humpty_dumpty_sat_on_the_wall Sol humpty dumpy had a great fall, all the kings horses and all the kings men couldnt put humpty together again well what do you expect, hes an egg for gods sake, they break. *sheesh* and since when are horses great structural engineers/surgeons/general fixer uppers? 010607 ... Dafremen Actually the horses are a little better at it than the king's men are. How exactly does keeling over and being irreparably shattered into a million pieces constitute having "a GREAT fall"? 010607 ... Sol original meaning, great being large, huge, etc. not in the sense of suberb (it is a fairly old little tale) 010607 ... Dafremen Ok so let's say that's true. How the hell did an egg get on top of that wall in the first place...this GREEEEEAT wall? If it's not AT LEAST 40 feet tall don't even bother explaining. 010607 ... Sol its only an egg, any wall is pretty big for an egg, more to the point, why does he/she/it have a name? why would the entire armed forces and court engineers, etc. be attempting to repair an egg?? 010607 ... florescent light where does it say humpty dumpty was an egg? 010607 ... Sol general folklore states that its o. Hey Daff, youve got kids, got any fairy tale books hanging around the place? hes always drawn as an egg with face, arms and legs, and ofter a little cap as well. as if it was a person hes not going to smash up, just kind of squelch in which case its not really a case of putting him back together is it? more if washing the bits away 010607 ... florescent light he's drawn as an egg because it fits the rhyme. he's not really an egg- nursery rhymes didn't originally have pictures attached. they were oral. rhymed so kids could remember and learn. the message is obviously telling little kids not to sit on walls cause they might fall and break their neck. 010607 ... Sol so, it has evolved so as to show him as an egg, to the 'modern' mind, and since victoian ages (due to widely availablke printing services) humpty is seen as an egg. why does a story have to stay the same from its genesis? some people can see it as an egg, some not, your choice, and an egg being smashed into lots of bits is a less unpleseant image than that of a person obliterating themselves with a nosedive into the ground. 010607 ... Dafremen I'm afraid I'm going to have to rule in favor of Florescent on this one. It seems that contrary to all evidence, the illustrators of these children's books at one point or another made a leap of faith and drew Humpty as an egg. One might argue that the circumSTANTIAL evidence points towards Humpty's being an egg, however when we look at the rhyme carefully, we can see that in fact a normal NON-egg-shaped human being could just as easily fit the storyline. In fact, by closing our eyes to the illustrations as Florescent has suggested, we can more readily make sense of the huge outlay of royally sponsored manpower that followed Humpty's "great" fall. Yes, the popular imagination has been tainted by the whims of some long dead and forgotten illustrator. Let us not propagate this lie by continuing the "egg" debate. Thank you florescent for providing that inspiring moment of clarity about this oft misrepresented character. 010607 ... Aimee I don't think all the kings horses and all the kings men tried hard enough to fix humpty. He probably needed a really good therapist cause if you think about it. Humpty may have just fallen apart emotionally beyond the point where his friends and those who cared about them just couldn't help him and therefore perhaps humpty didn't fall, maybe he committed suicide. I could be wrong, but I'm probably just reading way too much into this. 010608 ... florescent light very insightful- though I have to disagree the name Humpty Dumpty has a lot of imagery in it- it shows us a person who is uncoordinated, someone who is physically unfit, and lazy- who plops or 'dumps' himself down almost anywhere. 010608 ... florescent light his laziness caused him to sit on the wall and his lack of coordination caused him to fall the fact that he is physically unfit attributed to the fall and inhibited any preventive measures. 010608 ... Dafremen The measure of your brilliance is exceeded only by the number of letters in your name dear florescent. 010608 what's it to you? who go blather from