Twinkle, Twinkle helps prevent flu!

Subject: Twinkle, Twinkle helps prevent flu!
From: katlaughing
Date: 11 Jan 00 - 03:22 PM

This thread could be perceived to be bordering on BS, BUT it does contain reference to a song. Don't read any further if that might offend you, please!

In today's paper is an article on handwashing and how important it is to properly wash one's hands, esp. with the prevelance of e.coli, influenza, and other bacterial and viral diseases. Not suprisingly, it also pointed out that most people do not wash their hands near often enough nor long enough. They also said that handwashing is second only to penicillin in preventing such illnesses.

To illustrate how long a person should wash their hands, completely, top and bottom, in the crevasse between the thumb and first finger, back and palm, under the fingernails, the article advised one to sing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star all the way through, thus ensuring a good clean scrub, washing away literally millions of germs.

Let's hear it for the simple little children's song!

Subject: RE: Twinkle, Twinkle helps prevent flu!
From: jeffp
Date: 11 Jan 00 - 03:39 PM

Kat --

Does that timing apply to the whole washing process (wetting, soaping up, rinsing) or just the soaping up part of the ritual?

Of course, if you are doing this in the bathroom at work and somebody hears you, they'll keep far away from you, thus lessening the chances that they'll infect you with anything. :-)

Subject: RE: Twinkle, Twinkle helps prevent flu!
From: Little dorritt
Date: 11 Jan 00 - 05:36 PM

I one read an article which said that you should never eat bar snacks (peanuts pretzels etc left for general consumption on a bar) because they were likely to contain large traces of urine from people (mainly men) dipping into them after using the lavatory. Perhaps K.P. could use it an advertising campaign.

I am aghast at the number of people who do not wash their hands, but more worried about attitudes to public health in general. We are in the midst of a flu epidemic, but people are under pressure to return to work when they are still likely to spread the disease to others, and it is positively frowned upon to take time off to visit the doctor's - world's gone mad.

Subject: RE: Twinkle, Twinkle helps prevent flu!
From: Peter T.
Date: 11 Jan 00 - 05:46 PM

I read the article too (New York Times) and ended up slightly unconvinced by some of the implications. It is obvious that for surgeons and people mucking about inside the human body, intensive washing is absolutely obligatory. It is also important to recognize how much of the flu and colds are transmitted by handcontact. And it is always important for food preparers to wash their hands. It is also just pretty nice all around. But you could come away from that article with the usual North American paranoia about dirt, and become obsessed with cleaning your fingernails all day. We are crawling with millions of bacteria on our hands, hair, clothes, and I think it is great. Nature is alive and dirty. Long may it flourish.
yours, Peter T.

Subject: RE: Twinkle, Twinkle helps prevent flu!
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 11 Jan 00 - 06:10 PM

I could have lost an eye because I was accidentally poked in it by a guy who hadn't washed his hands after going to the lavatory. Luckily I have such active tear ducts, it flushed the majority of the bacteria out, but I did have a green and gungy eye for a week, and had to wear a patch over it for 2.

And there are more bacteria spread around hospitals by people who chew pens or carry them in their mouths and then lend the pens on to others.

I'm undergoing an industrial tribunal for taking too much time off sick, I have asthma, and am considered a high risk case for things like 'flu', which could quite literally kill me. Yet my former boss insisted on coming in to work with all the symptoms of the illness, last year, which gave me the cold that turned into a chest infection that gave me my last period of illness that she later sacked me for....... If you take your 'flu' to work and "struggle on", you could kill someone. Last weekend a healthy rugby player DIED of 'flu', who will be next??

LTS

Subject: RE: Twinkle, Twinkle helps prevent flu!
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 11 Jan 00 - 06:12 PM

And do you mean just the first verse of 'Twinkle Twinkle', (written by Jane Taylor, 1804) or all 5 verses??

LTS

Subject: RE: Twinkle, Twinkle helps prevent flu!
From: katlaughing
Date: 11 Jan 00 - 06:17 PM

Ah, of course, PeterT, BUT a little soap and water never hurt. Wasn't it here that I read the old story about the new minister in town who went to dinner at an old woman's farm house? Had a pleasant dinner and when done offered to help wash up. She told him that was alright, nothing a little soap and water couldn't take of, not to worry. Just as he was saying good night, on the doorstep, she cupped her hands to her mouth and hollered "Soap! Water!" Along came her two dogs ready to wash up!

katlaughing

Subject: RE: Twinkle, Twinkle helps prevent flu!
From: Roger in Baltimore
Date: 11 Jan 00 - 06:22 PM

Help!

LTS says there are five verses to Twinkle, twinkle. Could anyone post the lyrics. I checked the DT. Came up empty. What self-respecting folk music site wouldn't have this song. Perhaps the copyright police prevented posting.

Roger in Baltimore

Subject: RE: Twinkle, Twinkle helps prevent flu!
From: Peter T.
Date: 11 Jan 00 - 06:44 PM

Twinkle, twinkle little bat
How I wonder what you're at,
Up above the world so high,
Like a tea-tray in the sky.

Subject: RE: Twinkle, Twinkle helps prevent flu!
From: catspaw49
Date: 11 Jan 00 - 10:23 PM

Twinkle Twinkle, Nails so clean.
Though your eye's full of crud that's green.
Pissed on pretzels aren't too nice,
My fever's up, Please get the ice.

Spaw

Subject: RE: Twinkle, Twinkle helps prevent flu!
From: Cap't Bob
Date: 11 Jan 00 - 10:39 PM

Interesting new verse's Peter & Spaw ~~~~

I could never really get into Twinkle Twinkle Little Star ~ do you suppose it would be O.K. to sing ~ Don't You Remember Grandma's Lye Soap??

Cap't Bob

Subject: RE: Twinkle, Twinkle helps prevent flu!
From: catspaw49
Date: 11 Jan 00 - 10:55 PM

Actually Cap'n, its a tune all hammered dulcimer players know because Twinkle to Twinkle is a fifth which matches the treble strings across the rail. If you lick your hammers you may get the flu. If your hammers are made of Cocobola, it could be worse.

Spaw

Subject: RE: Twinkle, Twinkle helps prevent flu!
From: InOBU
Date: 11 Jan 00 - 11:38 PM

I am never going to a salad bar again, I know I will hear twinkle twinkle through the entire meal...and all it stands for.... oooohhhhhhh and I used to be so hearty... oooooohhhhhhhhh green eye gunk! oooooohhhhhhh I think I will take to finding a nice tree after that story....
Larry

Subject: RE: Twinkle, Twinkle helps prevent flu!
From: InOBU
Date: 11 Jan 00 - 11:39 PM

I know - I know, use the river after the tree... ooooohhhhh

Subject: RE: Twinkle, Twinkle helps prevent flu!
From: catspaw49
Date: 11 Jan 00 - 11:45 PM

Oh gawd Larry, NOT the river!!!!! Just skip it altogether!!!

Spaw

Subject: RE: Twinkle, Twinkle helps prevent flu!
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 12 Jan 00 - 05:46 AM

OK will create whole of Twinkle (pub. 1804, see no copyright anywhere) when I get the chance. It can be seen with the works of her sister Anne, father, the painter and engraver Isaac Taylor and other members of the family, in the Taylor Collection, Guildhall, Lavenham.

My copy was published by the National Trust but as I say, no copyright mark anywhere.

LTS

Subject: RE: Twinkle, Twinkle helps prevent flu!
From: Little Neophyte
Date: 12 Jan 00 - 08:06 AM

I can see the scene Larry. You are washing your hands in the river while I am around the corner down stream collecting water for my water bottle.

My Dad taught me when in public areas, act as if you are a surgeon heading off to the operating table. God forbid you should touch a door handle without using a kleenex. I am amazed I did not need psychoanalysis to get over my father's obsession with sanitation. Well, actually I did need therapy, but not for the hand washing thing.

BB

Subject: RE: Twinkle, Twinkle helps prevent flu!
From: Bert
Date: 12 Jan 00 - 09:50 AM

Perhaps we should now be singing "Tinkle, Tinkle"!

And Spaw's hammers are made of CocaCola!

Subject: RE: Twinkle, Twinkle helps prevent flu!
From: katlaughing
Date: 12 Jan 00 - 10:41 AM

Sung by a male member (tic)

Tinkle, tinkle, in my hand
Watch it all go down the can
Rinse those germs off with the soap
Shake it off just like a dope
Tinkle, tinkle, in my hand
Down go germs off "little man".

And, by a female (tic)

Tinkle, tinkle, here I sit
I'm as happy as a git
Done my business, number one
Wash my hands and have some fun
Tinkle, tinkle, here I sit
Germs go bye-bye bit by bit!

Subject: RE: Twinkle, Twinkle helps prevent flu!
From: catspaw49
Date: 12 Jan 00 - 10:50 AM

On the other hand, so to speak...........I try not to whizz on my hands and if I wash in a public restroom, I'm probably turning on a faucet by some jerk who DID whizz on his hands.

Just a thought.

Spaw

Subject: RE: Twinkle, Twinkle helps prevent flu!
From: Little Neophyte
Date: 12 Jan 00 - 01:56 PM

Catspaw it is the exit door on the way out you must be careful of. You got to watch the door. Use a paper towel to open it, or your coat jacket or your sleeve. I have even lowered myself to allow someone else to open it for me so I don't have to touch it.

Kat, the lyrics are great! It will be my new mantra.

BB

Subject: RE: Twinkle, Twinkle helps prevent flu!
From: MMario
Date: 12 Jan 00 - 02:05 PM

'spaw - your point is one of the reasons a lot of new public restrooms have motion activated spigots on their sinks.

Subject: RE: Twinkle, Twinkle helps prevent flu!
From: Peter T.
Date: 12 Jan 00 - 07:46 PM

Just to set the record straight (have you ever tried to straighten a record, but I digress...) I was quoting Lewis Carroll's parody from Alice in Wonderland (who is doing a lot of duty around here these days, I wonder why).
yours, Peter T.

Subject: RE: Twinkle, Twinkle helps prevent flu!
From: catspaw49
Date: 12 Jan 00 - 10:07 PM

And I was quoting Cletus. He's surprisingly good with a rhyme....Might have something to do with in-breeding.

Spaw

Subject: RE: Twinkle, Twinkle helps prevent flu!
From: katlaughing
Date: 12 Jan 00 - 10:12 PM

Oh, Bonnie, will you really?? Blushing red to the roots of my hair. T'anks!

Subject: RE: Twinkle, Twinkle helps prevent flu!
From: Pelrad
Date: 13 Jan 00 - 11:29 AM

Okay, so what other forms of hygiene do we accompany with songs? Personally, I have always brushed my teeth to the Lone Ranger Theme Song (I would say the Overture of 1812, but if I used the whole thing I'd have little white stubs left at the gumline by the time I finished, to say nothing of the holes in my cheeks). I know you people are as crazy as I am, so let's hear your "personal" tunes! (But I don't really want to know to what tunes Spaw whizzes.)

Incidentally, the Twinkle Twinkle thing has been touted in parenting magazines for the past several years as a way to teach your children to wash their hands thoroughly. It's probably got something to do with all those stupid potty seats that play the song while the child is "in process."

Subject: RE: Twinkle, Twinkle helps prevent flu!
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 13 Jan 00 - 06:02 PM

I've always been told that if I sit on the loo for longer than two choruses of 'Onward Christian Soldiers', I'm straining too hard and will get piles. Mind you, my mother always told me that if I sat on the cold stone floor I'd get the pip, but never did explain just what the pip was......

No idea what the significance of 'Onward Christian Soldiers' is, I suppose it is better than 'Dear Lord and Father of mankind - esp. the verse 'drop thy still dews'........

LTS

Subject: RE: Twinkle, Twinkle helps prevent flu!
From: sophocleese
Date: 13 Jan 00 - 06:39 PM

And if you tried God Save The Queen, O Canada or any other national anthem people would expect you to stand up instead of sit down...

Subject: RE: Twinkle, Twinkle helps prevent flu!
From: Little Dorritt
Date: 13 Jan 00 - 06:48 PM

Liz the Squeak, the image you created was so strong I found myself singing two verses of Onward Christian Soldiers just to test the theory -- i was always told that if I sat on a cold floor I would get chunkalumpus so this is obviously another name for the pip.

Subject: RE: Twinkle, Twinkle helps prevent flu!
From: catspaw49
Date: 13 Jan 00 - 07:27 PM

CHUNKALUMPUS?!?!??!?????????? What the fock is chunkalumpus...or the pip for that matter.......Geeziz, I love the word!!!

Spaw

Subject: RE: Twinkle, Twinkle helps prevent flu!
From: Peter T.
Date: 13 Jan 00 - 08:35 PM

When my mother had all her teeth pulled out and replaced by dentures during a few months in the 1960's (a Brit by birth), her dentist had one of those newfangled tape recorders with headphones that he had her wear to keep her mind off the pain. Unfortunately, the only tape he had was South Pacific. Since that time, whenever she hears anything from South Pacific, it gives her a sharp pain in the head. ("I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Out of My Hair" always gave me a sharp pain in the head, but anyway).
I am worried about the long term behavioural effects of associating Twinkle Twinkle Little Star with incessant handwashing. It is certainly better than intermission after a performance of Handel's Water Music.....still.
yours, Peter T.

Subject: RE: Twinkle, Twinkle helps prevent flu!
From: katlaughing
Date: 13 Jan 00 - 09:12 PM

Ah, worried about that compulsive behaviour, eh, Peter? Hehehe, come over here, my pet and we vill talk about zis need you haf, zis vurry you haf about songs and cleanliness; but vurst, I zink you should scrub my lavatory, yez, zat's right, now zing, zing! Yes, manaically laughing, the demented psychiatrix, brings out the whip and chains Zing, I said! Zing! "Twinkle, twinkle, little star!" All zee verses!!!

NOI!

Subject: RE: Twinkle, Twinkle helps prevent flu!
From: roopoo
Date: 14 Jan 00 - 01:55 AM

Oh I love it when you get lavatorial!

Liz, you should have also mentioned "Take from our souls the STRAIN and stress" whilst talking about piles! I'm not paranoid, but I do have antibacterial handwash by all my sinks. I am reminded of the first joke I can remember remembering. It was in Manchester Uni's rag-mag (the first I had ever seen) and it was 1963! I thought it was hilarious, but please bear in mind I was only 11 and they were more innocent times.

Mrs Up-To-Date was renowned for the newfangled gadgets in her home, the latest being a musical toilet seat. Whenever it was at upon it played a random tune. 3 (it's always 3) nosy neighbours went to visit her "for coffee" and one by one during the course of the visit excused themselves to make use of the "facilities". The first came back enthralled, saying the seat had played "Twinkle Twinkle". In due course the second went and returned saying it had played a traditional jazz number. The third went, and after she had been gone some 15 minutes they became concerned and went to find her. She was to be seen on her knees mopping the bathroom floor muttering:"Bloody thing! No sooner do I get on it than it damn well plays "God Save the Queen"!

Old and well-worn!

mouldy

Subject: RE: Twinkle, Twinkle helps prevent flu!
From: katlaughing
Date: 14 Jan 00 - 06:21 AM

LOL!

BTW, my neice and my pseudo daughter-in-law both are microbiologists. They convinced me we do more harm than good with the antibaterial soaps, as they kill off all germs, including the good, and like over-prescribed anitbiotics, can contribute to the growth of resistant bacteria.

Subject: RE: Twinkle, Twinkle helps prevent flu!
From: catspaw49
Date: 14 Jan 00 - 06:48 AM

You mean we might have a "Chunkalumpus" epidemic....whatever ta' hell that is?

Spaw

Subject: RE: Twinkle, Twinkle helps prevent flu!
From: bassen
Date: 14 Jan 00 - 07:42 AM

Who was it inverted the rhyme to

Starkle, starkle little twink
Who the hell your are, I think?

In an article I once read on "Design Considerations for Urinals"(!), I found out there's such a thing as "mean urine trajectories...(he said threadcreepingly).

bassen

Subject: RE: Twinkle, Twinkle helps prevent flu!
From: Steve Parkes
Date: 14 Jan 00 - 08:02 AM

Liz, "onward Christiona Soldiers" is for boiling eggs: two verses for soft and three for hard (or is it three and four?). If you're hopping from one leg to the other while you sing it, it won't work properly, as you'll speed up.

How come the human race didn't die out years ago from unsanitised fingers? And how come all those animals, who never even wash their paws occasionally, and even wash their fur with their tongues never get ill? Is it all a scam by the soap manufacturers?

Subject: RE: Twinkle, Twinkle helps prevent flu!
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 14 Jan 00 - 11:29 AM

OK, so compulsive handwashing to 'Twinkle Twinkle' may be bad, but how do you think I manage when we sing 'Onward Christian Soldiers'.....?

Chunkalumpus is a perfect name for the bratling downstairs who has suddenly started to feel heavy - wonder what they feed her at school.....mmmmm!

Boiling eggs is 'Mayonnaise have seen the Glory' whilst doing the bread cutting..... two verses and one chorus for soft, two verses, three chorus' for hard.

Armitage Shanks, one of Britains' best known sanitary ware manufacturers allegedly test the suction on the flush by bunging half a newspaper down, 'Daily Mail' for half flush and 'The Times' for the full flush...

And there was (in the early 1980's), on the banks of the Four Counties Ring Canal (Shropshire, I think), a sanitary ware manufacturer called J W Shufflebottom.

LTS

Subject: RE: Twinkle, Twinkle helps prevent flu!
From: roopoo
Date: 15 Jan 00 - 01:51 AM

And we all know about the guy who invented the flushing WC in the first place: Thomas Crapper!

mouldy

Subject: RE: Twinkle, Twinkle helps prevent flu!
From: Sorcha
Date: 15 Jan 00 - 02:13 AM

Not a lot I can say about the above, except in all seriousness, E. coli comes from the back side, and urine is sterile when it leaves the body. Such is Truth.

Subject: RE: Twinkle, Twinkle helps prevent flu!
From: katlaughing
Date: 15 Jan 00 - 08:45 AM

And that is why one could theorectically survive on urine if stuck out in a desert!

Subject: RE: Twinkle, Twinkle helps prevent flu!
From: Little Dorritt
Date: 15 Jan 00 - 05:15 PM

Kat - the urine thing in the desert-it's not compulsory is it?????????

Little (I was off to Tunisia for my hols but now I'm not so sure) Dorritt

Subject: RE: Twinkle, Twinkle helps prevent flu!
From: katlaughing
Date: 15 Jan 00 - 06:05 PM

Lil'Dorrit, only if you run out of everything else! Hmmm,Tunisia..... sounds exotic and fascinating.

kat (with a lower case "k", please, as there is another Kat who was here before me. Thanks)

Subject: RE: Twinkle, Twinkle helps prevent flu!
From: Little Dorritt
Date: 15 Jan 00 - 06:24 PM

kat -apologies for the upper c.

Actually it sounds cheap and I can do a deal with my air miles - thus matching my top 2 criteria for holiday destinations.

Subject: RE: Twinkle, Twinkle helps prevent flu!
From: Little Dorritt
Date: 15 Jan 00 - 06:31 PM

apologies kat!

Actually, it sounded very cheap and I could use my air miles. this matches two of my top criteria for holiday destnations. My third is avoiding british holiday makers but that a bit more difficult!

Subject: RE: Twinkle, Twinkle helps prevent flu!
From: katlaughing
Date: 15 Jan 00 - 06:41 PM

It's okay, most people don't know. I've just started telling people. Thanks!