Sticks and Stones

For other uses, see Sticks and Stones (disambiguation).

"Sticks and Stones" is an English language children's rhyme. It persuades the child victim of name-calling to ignore the taunt, to refrain from physical retaliation, and to remain calm and good-natured.

First appearance

It is reported^[1] to have appeared in The Christian Recorder of March 1862, a publication of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, where it is presented as an "old adage" in this form:

Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.

The phrase also appeared in 1872, where it is presented as advice in Tappy's Chicks: and Other Links Between Nature and Human Nature, by Mrs. George Cupples.^[2] The version used in that work runs:

Sticks and stones may break my bones
But names will never hurt me.

It may be derived from a verse found in the Bible in Psalm 42:10.

Also throughout the web there are different essays about why each statement is true or false

Look up sticks and stones will break my bones, but words will never hurt me in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Sources

↑ Gary Martin. "The Phrase Finder". Retrieved September 22, 2012.
↑ Cupples, Mrs. George [Ann Jane Dunn Douglas] (1872). Tappy's Chicks: And Other Links Between Nature and Human Nature (1872). London: Strahan & Co. p. 78.

Nursery rhymes (list)

"A-Tisket, A-Tasket" "Baa, Baa, Black Sheep" "Did You Ever See a Lassie?" "Hey Diddle Diddle" "Hickory Dickory Dock" "Hot Cross Buns" "Humpty Dumpty" "I'm a Little Teapot" "It's Raining, It's Pouring" "Jack and Jill" "Little Bo Peep" "Little Boy Blue" "Little Miss Muffet" "Mary Had a Little Lamb" "Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary" "Old King Cole" "Old MacDonald Had a Farm" "Old Mother Hubbard" "Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe" "Peter Piper" "Polly Put the Kettle On" "Poor Mary" "Pop Goes the Weasel" "Pussy Cat Pussy Cat" "Rain Rain Go Away" "Roses Are Red" "Rub-a-dub-dub" "Simple Simon" "Sticks and Stones" "The Grand Old Duke of York" "The Queen of Hearts" "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" "Two Little Dickie Birds"

Clapping	"A Sailor Went to Sea" "Down Down Baby" "Mary Mack" "Miss Susie" "Miss Lucy" "Pat-a-cake" "Pretty Little Dutch Girl" "Pease Porridge Hot"

Counting	"Duck, duck, goose" "Eeny, meeny, miny, moe" "One, Two, Buckle My Shoe" "One, Two, Three, Four, Five" "This Old Man" "Tinker, Tailor"

Finger- plays	"Five Little Monkeys" "Itsy Bitsy Spider" "Little Robin Redbreast" "Round and round the garden" "This Little Piggy"

Games	"London Bridge" "The Muffin Man" "Mulberry Bush" "Oranges and Lemons" "Ring a Ring o' Roses" "The Farmer in the Dell"

Riddle	"As I was going to St Ives"

Lullabies	"Hush, Little Baby" "Rock-a-bye Baby"

Rounds	"Ding Dong Bell" "Frère Jacques" "Kookaburra" "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" "Scotland's Burning" "Three Blind Mice"

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