People are just learning the sinister side to Incy Wincy Spider and it’s making their childhood seem much gloomier
INCY Wincy Spider is a popular nursery rhyme about a determined critter who wants to climb a pipe but keeps getting flushed away by the rain.
But people are starting to realise that the cute song has a darker meaning.
The lyrics are: “Incy Wincy spider climbed up the water spout.
“Down came the rain and washed poor Incy out.
“Out came the sunshine and dried up all the rain.
“And Incy Wincy spider climbed up the spout again.”
According to the Collins Dictionary, a water spout is a tornado “that forms a column of water and mist” between a cloud and the sea.
Modern depictions of the nursery rhyme have an outdoor pipe as the water spout.
And while it seems plausible that a spider would be trying to make his way up a pipe, that isn’t the true meaning of the song.
One content creator, who goes by @my_man_jackie on Tik Tok, revealed the nursery rhyme is actually a metaphor for being drunk.
The part of the rhyme about climbing up the water spout symbolises someone drinking alcohol.
The rain coming down is then a metaphor for drinking too much booze.
The next morning when the sun comes out symbolises getting sober.
The drinker being symbolised – who is an alcoholic – forgets their issues from the day before and starts drinking again.
That is illustrated by Incy Wincy trying to climb the water spout again despite being “washed out” the night before.
According to Jackie, Incy Wincy Spider is an alternative version of the song Tipsy Dipsy Hobo.
This less-PG rhyme was originally about drunkards train hopping – with many losing their lives to the dangerous practice in the 1860s.
To stop kids from doing it, parents taught the Tipsy Dipsy Hobo rhyme to their little ones to show them how reckless behaviour while drunk could cost your life.
The lyrics to Tipsy Dipsy Hobo are: “The Tipsy Dipsy Hobo drinks from the lager spout.
“Here comes the train, it knocks the hobo out.
“Out comes a man to pick up all the brains.
“But a Tipsy Dipsy Hobo drinks from the spout again.”
People are losing their minds over the revelation, with many feeling it has ruined their favourite nursery rhyme.
One penned: “Help, I sing this to my baby cousin.”
Another simply said: “Oh my God.”