Summary
First published in 1959, Iona and Peter Opie'sThe Lore and Language of Schoolchildrenis a pathbreaking work of scholarship that is also a splendid and enduring work of literature. Going outside the nursery, with its assortment of parent-approved entertainments, to observe and investigate the day-to-day creative intelligence and activities of children, the Opies bring to life the rites and rhymes, jokes and jeers, laws, games, and secret spells of what has been called "the greatest of savage tribes, and the only one which shows no signs of dying out."
Author Biography
Iona (1923-2017) and Peter Opie (1918-1982) began their research together in 1944. Fifteen years later, they published The Lore and Language of Schoolchildren and took their places as, to quote The Guardian, “the supreme archivists of the folklore movement.” Since that time, they have jointly published The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes, The Classic Fairy Tales, and Children’s Game in Street and Playground. After Peter Opie’s death in 1982, Iona Opie carried on with their work under his name as well as her own.
Marina Warner’s studies of religion, mythology, and fairy tales include Alone of All Her Sex: The Myth and the Cult of the Virgin Mary, From the Beast to the Blonde, and Stranger Magic (National Book Critics Circle Award for Literary Criticism; Truman Capote Prize). A Fellow of the British Academy, Warner is also a professor of English and creative writing at Birkbeck College, London. In 2015 she was given the Holberg Prize.
Table of Contents
| Introduction |
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ix | |
| Preface |
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xxi | |
| Acknowledgments |
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List of Distribution Maps |
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1 | (16) |
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Speed of Oral Transmission |
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Wear and Repair during Transmission |
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17 | (24) |
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Rhymes and Songs in Scotland |
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Puns, Tongue Twisters, and Tales which Never End |
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41 | (16) |
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Stake Jokes and Stale News |
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57 | (16) |
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Trick Spelling and Arithmetic |
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73 | (14) |
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87 | (11) |
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98 | (23) |
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Shirley Temple and Deanna Durbin |
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121 | (33) |
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154 | (21) |
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Characteristics of Schoolchild Language |
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Unpopular Children: Jeers and Torments |
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175 | (31) |
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Spoil-sports, Sourpusses, Spitfires |
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Copy-cats, Cribbers, Cheats |
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206 | (26) |
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Juvenile Attitude to Folklore |
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Omens on the Way to School |
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232 | (61) |
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Mischief Night (30 April) |
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Mischief Night (4 November) |
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293 | (13) |
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New Boys and Initiation Rites |
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306 | (17) |
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Saying the Same Thing at Once |
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323 | (20) |
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Making and Breaking Friends |
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Attitudes to Opposites Sex |
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Conveying, Ensuring, and Testing Affection |
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Finding Sweetheart's Name or Identity |
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343 | (18) |
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Boys' Brigade and Boy Scouts |
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361 | (16) |
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377 | (16) |
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Door Knocking and Bell Ringing |
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Door Tied to Movable Object |
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Door Tied to Immovable Object |
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| Geographical Index |
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393 | (8) |
| First Line Index |
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401 | (8) |
| General Index |
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409 | |
Other versions by this Author