ning nang nong

[Vivien Sewell]

Last night I hunted down a copy of the nonsense rhyme by Spike Milligan "On the Ning Nang Nong", in a poetry book belonging to Caitlin. In the introduction to Spike Milligan, he talks about nonsense poetry - taking an absurdity to the point where the reader laughs - but doesn't know why. It wreaks havoc with the English language and in the end puzzles the reader. Now put that into the context of how some of us may be feeling after today's PD. Out of all this playing havoc with our mind, puzzling etc, we might actually have laughed, and faced our fears and be excited and ready to embrace what our kids already have and are continually doing - using the tools, only we need to ensure they are being used effectively. Here is a link to the nonsense rhyme - just in case you are curious. My daughter had to learn this for a RSDA presentation many years ago, which is why since I heard the expression "ning" I had to revisit this rhyme.

[Julie Lindsay]

Vivian, wow! thanks for sharing this poem with us. You know this brings back memories of my childhood in Australia, and then my 'second childhood' when Violet was a baby and I watched Play School, the ABC children's show and there was a song they created from this poem. It is nonsense but on some level it all makes sense!