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Humpty Dumpty is a famous character from an English nursery rhyme. While many assume he is an egg, the term “humpty dumpty” was originally slang for someone short and fat. He has appeared in literature and media, and is even used as a symbol for an organization focused on brain injury prevention.
Humpty Dumpty is a character from a famous English nursery rhyme. The rhyme reads: “Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall/Humpty Dumpty took a big fall/All the king’s horses and all the king’s men/Couldn’t get Humpty back together.” Many English speakers are familiar with this nursery rhyme, as it is often included in collections of rhymes, especially the Mother Goose collection.
Most modern English speakers assume that Humpty Dumpty is an anthropomorphized egg, not least because many children’s picture books depict Humpty as an egg. However, at the time the rhyme was coined, “humpty dumpty” was a slang term for someone short, fat, and awkward, as evidenced in numerous other rhymes and poems dating from the same period.
Some people have even suggested that Humpty Dumpty could be a stand-in for a real historical figure, like the disgraced Cardinal Wolsey or the English king Richard III. Originally, the rhyme was posed as a riddle, but as the rhyme has become so well known, it is rarely presented as a riddle. In the riddle, the answer was “an egg” and the “humpty dumpty” was included as a reference to distract people.
Humpty Dumpty became so famous that he appeared on his own. Through the Looking Glass, an 1871 book by Lewis Carroll, features an odd interaction with him, and he’s even been referenced in court cases and court decisions. The “all the king’s horses and all the king’s men” line has also spawned a number of cultural references, with numerous books, songs and films including the line.
He also sometimes appears in children’s book illustrations as an instantly recognizable background figure, as eggs are unusual characters, even in nursery rhymes. In many depictions, Humpty Dumpty is shown in a clean suit with a bow tie, giving him a rather annoying look.
This literary figure is also borrowed as an illustrative figure for the Humpty Dumpty Association, an organization that focuses on the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of traumatic brain injury. Brain injuries are often more problematic than other physical injuries because the brain cannot be put back together after a catastrophic injury.
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