Steve - You're certainly right about Ring-around-the-rosie, but Posies were also thought to have medicianl value to fight the plague.

Barbarian did indeed originally mean anyone who didn't speak Greek. I'm relieved to say that I can't be counted as a barbarian anymore, having now studied that lovely tongue...

As for burning witches, yes, Scotland did burn them and anyone else 'bad' alive. We have several sites here in St Andrews where the initials of the burned gentleman (this was in the case of Protestants during the Reformation) are in the pavement or the street, marking the place of execution. One for the obscure rituals book, natasha... Outside the University Chapel on North Street, Patrick Hamilton's initials are in the pavement. If you stand and watch, you'll notice that no student (no, not even me) ever steps on them, as a very long help University tradition holds that if you step on his initials, you'll fail your exams. On the other hand, I've seen several students leaping on them emphatically after graduation...

-Jessica