Heavy, Heavy Hangover

Clint from Dallas, Texas, recalls a peculiar family tradition for giving birthday presents to a child. A giver would hold a gift over the child’s head and recite: Heavy heavy hangover / Thy poor head / What do you wish this donor? The child was then supposed to name some sort of fanciful present for the giver, such as a unicorn or a bag of diamonds. At that point, the birthday child would be given the gift. This tradition seems to have originated in a kissing game from the 1850s. There are many versions of this rhyme, some of which appear in videos on YouTube. This is part of a complete episode.

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

More from this show

Boodle on Beaver Island

A resident of Michigan’s scenic Beaver Island shares the term, boodling, which the locals use to denote the social activity of leisurely wandering the island, often with cold fermented beverages. There have been various proposed etymologies...

Recent posts