Snips and Snails and Puppy Dog's Tails

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Okay... I get that little boys are made of nasty things. Snips are leftovers of something. Can't be good. Snails, I get that too. Slimy and nasty. But puppy dog's tails?!? I mean, I was out and about today and I saw several dogs from puppies to adults. All of them had either lush, full beautiful tails, or narrow, near-prehensile pointed tails, but none of these tails was nasty, dirty, ugly, or slimy. Granted, none of them were puppies, but the tails of puppies could only be cuter, right????

So what's with the puppy dog's tails I ask you? I mean, I should be Snips and Snails and Squid Guts or something, right? What is the origin of this phrase-ology?

I always remembered that rhyme as "frogs" and snails a puppy dogs' tails

Modern versions of the lyrics include:

What are little boys made of?
What are little boys made of?
Frogs and snails
And puppy-dogs' tails,
That's what little boys are made of.
What are little girls made of?
What are little girls made of?
Sugar and spice
And all things nice,
That's what little girls are made of

Haha. Puppydog tails are aways wagging. Boys are hyperactive.

I thought it was snakes and snails.

Maybe it means a severed tail? I would find that gross...

By the way, what does "a stitch in time saves nine" mean?

I think it means the qualities of puppy dogs (not just their tails).

Hyperactive as duke666 said,
Dirty/messy
playful etc..


BTW: I just finished Reading Dean Koontz "The Face" which is about this rhyme.

Has anything else read it?

The clues were a box of snails and a book of dog stories (tales) .... remember what the snips were ... yuck.

Maybe said tail is metaphorical.

I remember a little boy who took six puppy dog tails to school for show and tell. They were tails a vet docked off a litter of corgi puppies. Tail docking was a standard procedure then. Since the vet had no use for them a little boy would gladly souveneer them as I would have back then. Maybe they would be like a kind of like a good luck charm lke a rabbit's foot.
These days puppy dogs' tails would be much harder for little boys to get their hands on, because that have banned tail docking in Australia and I have seen plenty of corgies with their long tails in tact. I am happy they put a stop to that along with ear cropping. Ear cropping was banned much earlier and I have never seen a doberman with cropped ears in my life. But I think in the US they still do it.

Last edited by paulsinnerchild on 09 Sep 2009, 10:49 pm, edited 2 times in total.

Sadly ... it's boring.

It means: A timely effort will prevent more work later.

It's origin is: The stitch in time is simply the sewing up of a small hole in a piece of material and so saving the need for more stitching at a later date, when the hole has become larger, Clearly, the first users of this expression were referring to saving nine stitches.

From: http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/a-stitch-in-time.html

yawn...

Personally, I think those trite phrases sound better when misquoted.

For example; Sylvester McCoy's rather cool
"Time and Tide Melt the Snowman".

I didn't -- sounds interesting. This particular phrase is haunting me because there is a thread here about a movie called Labyrinth and the song Dance Magic Dance came up in the thread. This coupled with the fact that one of the posters has the movie images as his avatar "spun up" the song in my mind and amidst all the lyrics about voodoo and babe power is a line about snips, snails and puppy dog tails. It's very brief and near the beginning before Bowie gets going in all his big-haired Robin-Hood-is-jealous green tights glory. There is nothing about the "girl's side" of the story which got me to thinking in detail about the boy's side which led me to this rather odd post.

See? My illogic is very logical and can be mapped out!

And that song is still going on in my head. Fortunately it was posted to YouTube so I'm on my 53rd playthrough now. I'm hoping it leaves me alone soon since I heard it before numerous times. Usually "repeat visitations" like this don't take as many "listens" as a fresh song before they get the heck out of my head. Does that make sense to anyone? Anyway, I'm digressing bad. Mainly I just wanted to explain where this weird post came from.

Ah... that explains a lot.

Labyrinth is awesome.... and it stars Jennifer Connelly, who is one of my favourite underrated actresses.

I've read it.

Hey, me too! Good taste

Puppy dogs tails could well be an afterthought just for the simple reason it rhymes with snails. Just as nice rhymes with spice when the rhyme go what are little girls made of? sugar and spice and everything nice. You write another verse to the rhyme and it would go like this
What are little boys made of?
What are little boys made of?
Snakes and Lizards
And smelly skunks' gizzards

I thought it was 'slime and snails'

Totally in love with David Bowie in this movie - big hair, tight trousers, generally gorgeous as Jareth especially on my DVD replacement blu ray

Sugar, spice, everything nice.

Is the possibly of Chemical X being added taken into account?