“Don’t Let the Bedbugs Bite” Origin

Hello, welcome to A Way with Words.

Hi, this is Claire McCullough.

Hi, Claire, where are you calling from?

Wilmington, North Carolina.

Welcome to the show.

Thank you.

What can we help you with?

I’m looking for the origin of the saying, sleep tight, don’t let the bed bugs bite. And I’ve heard that it’s a Shakespearean reference connected to the rope beds people use during that time. But then I’ve also heard that that’s not true. So I’m wondering what the real origin is.

Oh, your skepticism is well placed. So the story that you heard about Shakespearean times was what?

That the beds used, the rope beds that they used, people at night would have to pull the ropes really tight to have support to sleep on. And then that would keep them off the floor so that the bugs wouldn’t get them.

Mm—

And so you’re thinking that that sounds a little too neat, a little too good to be true, right?

It does.

Yeah, yeah.

Well, you’re right about that. For a long time, sleep tight has just meant sleep soundly, sleep really, really well. The bedbug saying has lots of different forms that involve sometimes mosquitoes or fleas. It’s not just bedbugs.

I grew up with the phrase, good night, sleep tight, wake up in the morning bright, do what’s right with all your might, and don’t let the bedbugs bite.

No, the whole thing.

Yeah.

That works a lot.

Wow.

And that one goes all the way back to the 1860s. And so there are just lots of different versions of this, just wishing somebody that they’ll have a good night’s sleep.

Especially children, right?

Yeah.

Just the kind of thing you say. It’s kind of like the final thing I’m going to say to you before you need to shut your eyes and we’re not going to talk about this anymore.

Yeah.

And no more getting up for water.

Yeah.

And so pretty much the sleep tight is a good rhyme with all those other terms like bedbugs bite and night and right and light. The sleep tight, don’t let the bed bugs bite is firmly a kind of set rhyming phrase by what, Martha?

1880s?

Yep. And then as early as the 1900s, it starts to pop up in exterminator ads. So it’s so set that you can just throw it into a small classified ad and everyone kind of gets the reference. It’s not really a mystery anymore.

Yeah.

Did you grow up hearing it or you say it to other people?

I did.

Yeah.

Yeah, I grew up hearing it, and then I’m a third grade teacher, and I told my students this morning that I was going to talk to you. So they were curious as well because they have also heard the saying. And they’ve heard the version that you told us, which is what again?

Sleep tight, don’t let the bed bugs bite.

That’s all.

Yeah, just a sweet little rhyme. It doesn’t have to do with bedding. I mean, people did sleep on beds that the ropes were held, strapped around the frame, and they held the mattresses in place.

Yes.

And possibly the ropes sometimes became slack.

Yes.

But the phrase does not come from tightening those ropes. The bed bugs, by the way, don’t need the ropes. They climb up the post on each corner of the bed in order to get in the bedding.

That’s true.

Yeah.

Okay.

All right. Thank you very much for your call, Claire. We really appreciate it.

Yeah, and thanks for your work with the third graders.

Yeah, we like teachers. You’re our people.

Well, thank you.

Take care.

Okay.

Thanks for calling.

Bye-bye.

Bye.

Bye. Is there a saying you’re curious about? You can always call us and talk with us about it, 877-929-9673, or send those emails to words@waywordradio.org.