In article >, werewolf
> wrote:

> "I woke up about 4 days ago sayin, "Hey, where the hell did 'Pop Goes
> the Weasel' come from?"
>
> You're pulling my leg!

I'm not. But I frequently wake up in the morning with oddities. Twice I
woke up with a word plopped in my brain, assumed it was jibberish,
looked it up and found it WAS a word! Specifically, shibboleth and
avuncular.

> Something about it being a dialect song about people working in an
> old English sweatshop factory... The weasel is a slang word for the
> loom that makes a popping noise. I dunno. I still think it's about
> a weasel that eats a monkey, but I'm pretty naive.

I remember reading "Little Black Sambo" when I was a kid (and it had
yet to become a museum-piece) and wondering why, between that and "Pop
Goes the Weasel" there was so much "running around" a tree or bush
going on.

Now if you'll give me the etymology for cocktail and cockamamie, I'll
be on my way...

--
"A Dictionary of Japanese Food, Ingredients & Culture" by Richard Hosking
(Tuttle, '97). All the hints one might need for exploring Japanese food.

"The Sake Handbook" by John Gaunter (Tuttle, '02). An excellent intro and
reference to sake.