@jespah,
I remember it from Get Smart. Agent 99 said it when she was pregnant and retaining water
@westonbird,
The one I know is:
Fat and skinny had a race
Fat fell down upon his face
Skinny fell and broke a bone
Fat got up and went on home..... alone
@pjnbarb,
It should go
Fat Fat The Water Rat
Fifty Bullets Killed The Cat
@Noddy24,
Its fat pat the water rat and it was a childrens book
My dad used to say this...it was from the streets of NYC, from around the turn of the century to somewhere in the 20s. I have no idea of the meaning, but it was used somewhat as a taunt.
Fat Fat the water rat, 50 bullets in your hat....there were and probably are plenty of water rats in the city.
Beaver Cleaver also called one of his friends a fat fat water rat.
I remember this from the 1950s - it wasn’t original on Family Affair. Anyway, I found this on Library of Congress:
Title
Fat, fat, the water rat
Contributor Names
Halpert, Herbert (recordist)
Rosenthal, Rosalind (singer)
Halpert, Herbert (singer)
Created / Published
New York, New York.
Subject Headings
- United States of America -- New York -- New York
Notes
- Sung by Rosalind Rosenthal and Herbert Halpert. (statement of responsibility)
- AFC 1938/002 (AFC Number)
- AFS 03646 B01 (AFS Number)
- 3646 (afsNum)
Form
sound recording
Repository
American Folklife Center, Library of Congress
Online Format
image
Description
sound recording | Sung by Rosalind Rosenthal and Herbert Halpert. (Statement Of Responsibility). Sound Recording (Form).
Additional Metadata Formats
METSXML Record
Part of
American Folklife Center (33,143)
Performing Arts Encyclopedia (130,171)
Format
Audio Recording
Contributors
Halpert, Herbert
Rosenthal, Rosalind
Dates
1939
Location
New York
United States
Language
English
@sozobe,
Just came across this thread which has been bumped up recently.
sozobe wrote:
A "water rat" would have to be a muskrat,
Not necessarily, over here there are water rats, although I think they're endangered.
Kenneth Graeme gave us Ratty in
The Wind in the Willows
Here he is in the Disney version.
@dlowan,
I remember we used to sing
It’s raining it’s pouring
The old man is snoring
He went to bed and bumped his head
And couldn’t get up in the morning
But as a child my sister and I used to lay in bed w my mom and we would laugh and be silly and my mom would always joke around saying “fat fat the water rat, fat fat the water rat!” And we’d giggle...
my mom was born in 1950 so I figured it was something from her childhood
@pjnbarb,
Sounds like two separate ones combined. I saw the fat fat water rat saying on an episode of The Golden Girls, but the second half I know as
it’s raining it’s pouring
The old man is snoring
He went to bed
And bumped his head
And couldn’t get up in the morning
@dlowan,
Old man snoring reminded people if they had hit their head not to go to bed... Or you might not wake up in the morning. (Concussion)
It's raining, it's pouring,
The old man is snoring.
Bumped his head and went to bed.
And didn't wake up in the morning.
@ttrocco,
My grandpa, also born in 1917, would say it too.
What is the origin of this? Definitely something my grandpa would say, born in Philadelphia in 1917 - moved to New York early childhood.
@Noddy24,
Fat, fat, the water rat way antedates TV shows and even Mad Magazine. My father, now gone, was born in NYC in 1908. I was born here in1942. I heard fat fat from him around 1950 or so, when I was around 8. By today’s standards it was very derogatory towards people who were morbidly obese. At that time no one non obese seemed to care. Other than to make fun of someone, I have no idea what it meant.
@rskurtzmd,
I don't see it ass derogatory towards anyone.
@roger,
I'm ropeable that I almost skipped over this.
@Noddy24,
We used to chant this as kids. I am 65 years old. We kids believed it came from the gangster era and was about snitches. Someone who snitched was a rat as in ratted someone out. Rats/ tattletales/snitches were taken care of (shutting them up) hence 50 bullets in his hat. Tommy guns were rapid fire. As for water rat - perhaps long shoremen when they were forming the union? I don't know. Just my thoughts.
@Lady Lingiton,
Thank you for pointing out my spelling error.
Anyhow, it's good to see you around. This time, try not to disappear on us again.
