"John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt"

While in class on Wednesday, something was mentioned about how we're always "forgetting our names". Upon hearing that, the first thing that came to mind was the old nursery rhyme that my grandpa used to always sing to me when I was little. The song is titled "John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt". I realized that I had always sung this song without actually knowing the true meaning behind it, which also brought back memories about the song "Ring around the Rosie" which I'll get to later. My curiosity led to me to research about the song itself and it's origin. "John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt" is an American song meant to demonstrate the enormous number of German immigrants that came over here. Apparently "Jingleheimer" is meant to mock the stereotypical German last names which tend to be that lengthy.

For those of you who do not know the meaning behind the song "Ring Around the Rosie", I feel that by telling you this, you may not want to sing the song ever again. The song is based upon the Black plague which killed over twenty-five million people in the fourteenth century.

"Ring around the rosie"- this line describes the first symptom of the disease which is a circular red rash

"Pockets full of poise"- This refers to the flowers that were placed around the victim of disease in hopes that they would offer protection from death and the inevitable worsening

"Ashes, ashes, we all fall down"- Ashes here is meant to depict the sound made when the infected person would sneeze. We all fall down obviously refers to the millions killed.

It blows my mind how a song about death and a song meant for ridiculing immigrants have ended up being sung by the youth in this country. This leads me to think of jewelry crosses. Has it ever occurred to anyone besides me that when we wear cross earrings or necklaces that we are showcasing a torture device? Although the meaning behind it is invaluable, it doesn't seem much different than if I were to wear a necklace with an electric chair or a noose on it.