The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #80092   Message #1459919
Posted By: GUEST
13-Apr-05 - 09:17 AM
Thread Name: Origins: do you know the muffin man
Subject: RE: Origins: do you know the muffin man
You are probably right about Humpty Dumpty pre-dating that connotation, which the OED dates to the late eighteenth century.

The cannon as phalic symbol is visual rather than functional - as in films and television in the days before graphic sex was common - along with trains rushing into tunnels, rockets, etc.