Pease Porridge Hot

"Pease Porridge Hot" or "Pease Pudding Hot" is an English children's singing game and nursery rhyme. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 19631.

Lyrics

The lyrics to the rhyme are:

:Pease porridge hot, pease porridge cold,

:Pease porridge in the pot, nine days old;

:Some like it hot, some like it cold,

:Some like it in the pot, nine days old.

Origin

The origins of this rhyme are unknown. The name refers to a type of porridge made from peas. Today it is known as pease pudding, and was also known in Middle English as pease pottage. ("Pease" was treated as a mass noun, similar to "oatmeal", and the singular "pea" and plural "peas" arose by back-formation.)

The earliest recorded version of "Pease Porridge Hot" is a riddle found in John Newbery's Mother Goose's Melody (c. 1760):

Where the terms "pease pudding" and "pease pottage" are used, the lyrics of the rhyme are altered accordingly.

Game

thumb|150px|Children playing Pease Porridge Hot.

Schoolchildren often play Pease Porridge Hot by pairing off and clapping their hands together to the rhyme as follows:

:Pease (clap both hands to thighs) porridge (clap own hands together) hot (clap partner's hands),

::pease (clap both hands to thighs) porridge (clap own hands together) cold (clap partner's hands),

:Pease (clap thighs) porridge (clap own hands) in the (clap right hands only) pot (clap own hands),

::nine (clap left hands only) days (clap own hands) old (clap partner's hands).

:(Repeat actions for second stanza)