I'm just wondering who I can taunt by singing a round at them ...it's a rather more pleasant and subtle form of taunting than most childhood insults! (And you'd have to have three friends with you at least to make it work). Do you think the taunters stood one side of the border and sang to those on the other side? Or did they turn up at dinner parties, uninvited?

I'm sorry - I'm on a roll now. I just can't quite see it. Especially as it seems it's mostly those with Scottish ancestry who remember it that way - wouldn't you think someone would have changed the words, if it was upsetting, instead of passing it on down the generations?

IMHO, I suspect the words were fairly irrelevant, as they are to most rounds. I've only ever come across London as the location for the fire and I've never seen it as any kind of triumphal taunt.