See Saw Margery Daw

"See Saw Margery Daw" is a traditional English folksong and playground game with a history tracing back to the 18th century, with its modern form first appearing around 1765 in "Mother Goose's Melody" and cataloged under Roud Folk Song Index number 13028. The most common modern lyrics portray a lazy apprentice boy named Jackie (or Johnny/Jack) who is reassigned to a new master for minimal wages—just a penny a day—because he "can't work any faster," which has been interpreted as a reflection of the realities faced by poorly paid apprentices and child laborers in earlier centuries. An earlier, more vulgar variant focused on a character named Margery Daw, described as selling her bed to sleep on straw and being labeled a "dirty slut" for her slovenly habits, with some theories suggesting Scottish origins since "daw" in Scots dialect can refer to an untidy woman. The precise origin is debated, with scholars suggesting the rhyme may have originated as a rhythmic work chant used by sawyers operating a two-person saw (with references connecting sawyers to phrases like "see saw sacke a downe" appearing in Richard Brome's 1640 play "The Antipodes"), or alternatively from children's games where the incantation helped synchronize swinging movements on a see-saw. The name "Margery Daw" is generally believed to be a fictional creation primarily used for its rhyme with "seesaw," with "daw" itself possibly meaning a lazy or foolish person, while the melody commonly associated with it was either composed by Samuel Arnold in the late 18th century or first recorded by James William Elliott in his 1870 collection "National Nursery Rhymes and Nursery Songs."