Talk:As I Was Going to St Ives

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[edit] One hundred thousand

Why on earth would the answer be one hundred thousand? 84.68.215.10 (talk) 19:15, 10 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] In Media section?

Could a "In the Media" (or something like that) section for this article be added? I don't want to add it myself, in case there is something wrong with wikipedia quoting TV shows. Here's what I would end up adding:

In the anime show L/R, a variation of this riddle is used:
English Version:
On the way to Ivory,
I saw women, three times three.
Each woman fine, nine bags had she.
In each bag, six dogs and three.
Each dog, a dozen pups less three.
Pups, dogs, bags, and women free,
How many were trekking to Ivory?
Japanese version (translated):
On the way to Ivory,
I saw a man with nine women.
Each woman had nine bags,
In each bag, there were nine dogs,
and each dog had nine puppies.
Puppies, dogs, bags, and women.
How many were on the way to Ivory?

Thanks. ih8evilstuff 17:13, 6 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Muslims!

Whether or not which people were walking to or from the church is So Obviously Apparent if you were contemporary to this rhyme. Speaker is going on a pilgrimage. The man he meets, with seven wives, is not COMING FROM the church, he's having nothing to do with it at all. He's a Muslim! (Albeit a Muslim (Mohammadean?) from a misguided 1700s view of Muslims, but a Muslim nonetheless.) I'm on board with "Different Interpretation". This isn't a math problem.—The preceding unsigned comment was added by 143.44.107.217 (talk • contribs).


A muslim goin to pilgrimage to St Ives? Thats a strench --Armanalp (talk) 07:49, 8 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Manuscript?

Anyone know more about the manuscript from 1650BC, such as where it's from. ThereIsNoSteve 00:50, 13 Oct 2003 (UTC)

I think the St Ives they were referring to is the one in Cornwall. And sorry, I don't know any more about the manuscript. 210.54.196.132 10:14, 4 Mar 2005 (UTC)

[edit] wrong answer.

the actual question in this riddle is "kits, cats, sacks, and wives - how many are going to st. ives?" since the man is neither a kit, a cat, a sack, or a wife, he cannot be included in the answer. therefore, the answer is zero.—Preceding unsigned comment added by 64.247.82.108 (talk • contribs)

You assume the the narrator of the riddle is a man. He could well be a kit, cat, sack, or wife.--Greasysteve13 04:55, 19 May 2006 (UTC)

--

While that is true, it wouldn't matter. The way the last two lines are written
   Kits, cats, sacks, wives
   How many were going to St Ives?

It means how many of each were going to St Ives. Since the narrator met a man with seven wives, he could not be one of those kits, cats, sacks, or wives. Because of the way those sentences are worded, the narrator nor the man are included in the people going to St. Ives. In the end, the riddle has no answer, as we do not know the current position of the kits, cats, sacks or wives.

Have you ever tried to cram 56 live wriggling animals into a single sack? They tend to resist this procedure.
My theory is that all the cats and kittens were dead. The man and his seven wives had just finished exterminating felines from the town. --Rpresser 14:07, 5 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] different interpretation

The rhyme itself doesn't specify whether the entourage is going to or from St Ives, so the description of how many cats, wives, et al are going from St Ives is faulty. sheridan 14:44, September 10, 2005 (UTC)

Besides, polygamy is not recognised in the United Kingdom, therefore six of the so-called "wives" can't really be considered wives at all. --Bonalaw 08:11, 17 October 2005 (UTC)
It doesn't say they were all his wives, just that he was traveling with "seven wives". User:Zoe|(talk) 02:08, 17 August 2006 (UTC)
Thank you for your suggestion regarding [[: regarding [[:{{{1}}}]]]]! When you feel an article needs improvement, please feel free to make whatever changes you feel are needed. Wikipedia is a wiki, so anyone can edit almost any article by simply following the Edit this page link at the top. You don't even need to log in! (Although there are some reasons why you might like to…) The Wikipedia community encourages you to be bold. Don't worry too much about making honest mistakes—they're likely to be found and corrected quickly. If you're not sure how editing works, check out how to edit a page, or use the sandbox to try out your editing skills. New contributors are always welcome. -- ALoan (Talk) 22:14, 10 September 2005 (UTC)
The article should reflect the 'normal' answer to this riddle and then, as a secondary issue, discuss any flaws, ambiguities etc. so I've split the solution section into 2 to reflect this. Riddles are nearly always ambiguous as they use natural or poetic language rather than strict mathematical terminology. They assume a common social expectancy between the setter and the solver, and this changes through time. For example: "What does a man do standing up, a lady sitting down and a dog on three legs?" The answer is "shake hands" which is clearly placed in polite western society of a hundred or more years ago. Btljs 07:55, 15 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Parodies

Should we include parodies? If so I remember this from Mad Magazine:

As I was going to St. Ives,
I met a man with seven wives.
Of course, the seven wives weren't his,
but here in France, that's how it is.

The only "sources" I found for thise were [1] [2] [3] and we should also note that there is no place called St. Ives in France.--Greasysteve13 10:46, 27 June 2006 (UTC)


Just a comment, but perhaps the person headed to St. Ives is leaving from within France to go to Britain? I don't know, just thought. Feel free to blast whatever I've said :)

And although the link is tenous, here is my favorite parody:
As I was going to St Ives
I met a man with eight wives
Now you may think that's rather loony
but that man was Mickey Rooney

--Roisterer 16:09, 7 September 2006 (UTC)

Yeah well probably have to deduce that as we'll never be sure of the author's intention, I think can both of these to the article though...--Greasysteve13 08:31, 18 December 2006 (UTC)

Another possiblity includes condsidering the wives belong to the narrator, and not the man met.—The preceding unsigned comment was added by 75.45.220.112 (talk • contribs).

[edit] Thank You

I would like to give a big thank you to the author of the article in it's current state as I found it truly hilarious. Thank you oh so much :D Has brightened my day considerably. Weden 16:35, 14 October 2007 (UTC)