Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Wednesday's Child -- say what?

I was born on a Wednesday. According to a certain nursery rhyme, this makes me full of woe:

Monday's child is fair of face,
Tuesday's child is full of grace,
Wednesday's child is full of woe,
Thursday's child has far to go.
Friday's child works hard for a living,
Saturday's child is loving and giving,
But a child born on the Sabbath day
Is fair and wise and good and gay.


Frankly, this poem has bugged the shit out of me ever since I was little girl and looked up "woe" in the dictionary. I mean, WTF? Just because I was born on a Wednesday, I'm doomed to "deep distress," "grief," and "misery"? Or even "misfortune," "calamity," and "grievous affliction"?

Thanks a lot, Mother Goose. Way to make somebody feel lousy. BTW, those feathers? They make your tail look fat. How's that for some woe? Huh? How do you like it?

It didn't help matters any that I was displaced as the baby of the family when my little brother was born...on the Sabbath day. Not only the Sabbath day, but Easter Sunday! Sheesh. How Sabbath-y can you get?

Okay, so maybe I was a little full of woe that day. I already had two brothers, and I wanted a sister. Sue me.

(Yes, I got over it. I love my little brother dearly. He's a gem. In fact, you might even say he's good and wise and fair. Pretty sure he's not gay, though.)

The point is, I don't want to be full of woe! I reject woe-ness! No woe-ity for me, please. I prefer to live a woe-free life, thank you very much.

So, to this effect, I propose a slight edit to the poem, one I will substitute in my head whenever I happen to hear or read it. I've narrowed it down to two choices:

"Wednesday's child is full of flow." (As in, serenely flowing through life.)

Or

"Wednesday's child is full of glow." (As in happy. Not radioactive.)

Which do you like? Or maybe you have another suggestion? Please share in the comments.

WARNING: Rude suggestions will be deleted. Unless, of course, I find them particularly hilarious.

Also, which day of the week are you? Does it suit you? Are you happy with it? Inquiring minds want to know.


*Don't worry. It's out of copyright.

28 comments:

Jessica Bell said...

LOL. Gosh I've never read this poem. It would have pissed me off to no end too! I was a monday child. What the bollocks does fair of face mean?

Anyway, "Wednesday's child shall never wallow?" :o)

Candyland said...

Full of glow? Full of somethin'....
LOL.
:)

Patty Blount said...

Ok, full of flow had me going in a whole other direction and it wasn't pretty. I vote for "glow"!

Adriana said...

i like "full of glow." "full of hope" sort of rhymes too! i am thursday. i knew i shd've packed 2 more books!

abby mumford said...

i actually had a crocheted picture of this very poem hanging over my childhood bed. i remember reading it over and over and still being confused.

i was a thursday baby, and considering i was born 3 months prematurely, i did have a long way to go!

and as for the wednesday babies, i like "glow". both radioactively and happily. it makes you even harder to resist!

Elizabeth Flora Ross said...

Full of glow is perfect for you! You shine on, honey! ;) And don't worry about what that Goose had to say, I think she was on something.

Unknown said...

hehehe full of flow hehehe...yeah, I wasn't thinking what you were saying when I read that heheheh...how about "Wednesday's child inspires others to follow"? or if you want to go the 'head in the gutter' route "Wednesday's child is full of Joe" (and I don't mean coffee) hehehehe Wait. That's not TG's name? oh well, never mind.

Me? I'm a Thursday brat. So the question is: Where am I going and how long before I actually get there? It's already been a long, hard road :(

Kelly Breakey said...

I too was born on a Wednesday and I had never heard or read this poem before today, so thanks a lot Linda.

I think we should rewrite the whole poem.

Monday's child has a hairy face
Tuesday's child ain't got no grace
Wednesday's child is full of woe
Thursday's child is dumb and has far to go
Friday's child does not work for a living
Saturday's child is lazy and so far from giving
But a child born on the Sabbath day should be spanked because don't you know that is a day of rest?

I can live with woe now. How about you?

Trisha Leigh said...

I like glow - especially if you sweat alot.

I was born on a Friday. If it means I have to work hard at my dayjob for ever and ever it sucks.

Working hard at writing I can do :)

Unknown said...

Full of glow! I like that one. I'm a Friday child, but I'm far from working hard for my living. Evidenced by the fact that I'm reading blogs instead of actually doing my work.

charles frenzel said...

I'm a Tuesday child. I didn't know this until you laid this stereotype on me. How can I ever forgive you...LOL I don't really know what grace means when it comes to labeling a life. Full of grace could mean wiping the jam off one's face while leaving the peanut butter. Grace could mean not slipping off the end of a diving board and doing a belly flop. Grace could mean not forgetting the blessing at the Thanksgiving table. Stubborn. Do I detect a bit of stubborn in you? One thing definite, you can't be a Wednesday's Child unless Woe Nelly was misspelled. Okay, I was really reaching for that pun.

Anonymous said...

Glow most defintely over flow. I am a Saturday child. Stop laughing.

Kreek

Susan Adrian said...

Yeah, I know this poem well, and I also thought it wasn't very fair.

Though I was a Saturday child, so I'm loving and giving. HA. TAKE THAT.

Er....

I would definitely not go with flow, for reasons others intimated. Glow is good.

Elizabeth Ryann said...

See, and I heard full of flow and immediately thought "rapper." As in "check my flow, yo." And I was all, is Linda attempting to claim being a badass again?

But I am a Thursday child, like Abby, and I was also premature, also like Abby. But only by a month, though I did make a solid attempt at being a two months preemie. But I've always chosen to interpret "far to go" as getting as many trips to whatever faraway places I want. But then again, I was born in Florida, moved to New York, and then settled in California, so I clearly don't like going particularly short distances.

Jessica Bell said...

Oh my gosh, Kelly Breakey's poem is the best!!! hahaha

Linda G. said...

Jessica -- It means "pretty," so in your case the poem is accurate. :)

Candyland -- Ha! You got that right. ;)

Patty -- LOL! Oops. Hadn't really thought that one through.

Adriana -- Oh, I like full of hope, too--thanks! Books always help on the long trips.

Abby -- Aw, thanks. :) And you've come a long way, baby! (Hey, somebody had to say it.)

Elizabeth -- Thanks! :) I think the Goose was definitely on something when she wrote this one. ;)

Karla -- LOL! Well, the gutter IS a fun place to visit from time to time. According to my mind, anyway. ;)

Kelly -- ROF,L! I love it! Because, as we all know, misery loves company. ;)

Trisha -- Unfortunately, sweating is so not my thing. But I can get behind a good writing workout. :)

Peyton -- Ha! Well, "hard" is such a relative term, isn't it? ;)

Charles -- Woe Nelly works for me! And, yeah, I may be a bit...er, strong-minded. ;)

Kreek(!!!) -- Hi! Good to see you here. And I am NOT laughing. Much. ;)

Suze -- Okay, I'm not laughing (much) at you, either. ;)

Elizabeth -- That's me, baby. The totally badass, middle-aged-white-woman rapper. Get a load of my bling. ;)

Jessica (again) -- I KNOW! It's great.

Sierra Godfrey said...

This is kind of outrageous. Thursday's (my day)child has "Far to go"?? I'll give you far to go, anonymous poem writer born in like 1860 or whatever or whenever that dumb poem was written....that rude poem can go far right up my ass that's what.

Yeah, let's rewrite it! Let me get my torch and pitchfork!

Kari Lynn Dell said...

I'm Saturday. Loving and giving. Uh, yeah. Sure. I'm all over that.

And either of your edits are probably better than mine. I could only come up with 'blow'. Go ahead and try to give THAT a positive twist.

Kristina said...

I'm a Thursday's child & have known this MG rhyme since I was little. I think it means I'm going to be lost for a long-ass time. :)

I think Wednesday's child is full of "know" because all of them I know are smart!!!

Patty Blount said...

Um, just so you know... my birthday is November 12th.

There are 51 shopping days left so start your chocolate and/or book-buying TODAY!

That is all.

(laughs)

Steph Schmidt said...

Monday lies too. Fair of face, yeah no, high school had few if no fair of face days unless makeup was involved.

Full of flow works really nice, flowing works from thy mind through the keyboard and into the wip.

Talei said...

Oh yes, I remember this one. I would just pick the day that you feel suits you now. ;)

Or how about 'Whoa!' or 'Wow!'?

Linda G. said...

Sierra -- LOL! No, don't hold back. Tell us how you REALLY feel. :)

Kari -- Blow? Well, I've heard it said it's a good job if you can get it... ;)

Kristina -- Oooh, full of "know" -- I like it! :)

Patty -- LOL! Smart woman, getting the word out early.

SM -- See, that's what I thought. But apparently *cough* it brings something else to mind for some people. ;)

Talei -- Full of Whoa? "Whoa! Dude." Yeah, I like it. :)

Thanks for all your fun comments, guys! :)

Unknown said...

"Wed's child is full of a tasty nougat center." ;)

demery said...

Linda, I love to laugh. Thank you for making that possible for me so often!!

So I'm a Sunday's child - and I strive to be everything but the gay (no offense intended, it's just not who I am).

Of my three boys I have a Sunday's child, a Friday's child and a Wednesday's child. I have to confess that I'd heard this poem and really, really hoped I wouldn't have a Wednesday baby. Isn't that silly? So when my littlest was born on Wed. (the 13th no less) I just had to tell myself to LET. IT. GO. He's the happiest boy. And he loves, loves to take sips of his daddy's coffee in the mornings. So I'm going to go with "Wednesday's child is full of joe"

:)

demery said...

p.s. I should say that I *strive* to be all those wonderful Sunday things but pretty much most of the time I might as well have been born any other old day of the week.

Linda G. said...

Pseudosu -- Mmmm. Nougat. Yeah, being full of that would make being a Wednesday's child easier to bear. ;)

Demery -- I love to laugh, too (but then, you knew that), so I'll forgive you for being a Sabbath golden child. ;) I like "full of joe," too. :)

D.I.M. Incorporated said...

I LOVE that you wrote this!My "Wednesday child" heard this poem at school and was crushed! She googled just to make sure her teacher was right about the woe and was crushed again. BUT, then she saw your link and it made her feel so much better! Thank you! Thank you!