Sally Slick Slack and Sally No Nose


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Does anyone recall rhymes or indeed the real names or stories behind these two. My sister thinks Sally Slick Slack lived in St Anns and here is a rhyme our mother told us as children..

'Sally Slick Sack sells fish, 3 aypence a dish, dont buy it, dont buy it, it stinks when you fry it' !!

Anyone know any more esp about Sally No Nose ( we think thaty was another rhyme)

Love to hear some more about this.....even if they are fictional characters!

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There's a thread on here somewhere about kids playground rhymes and I'm pretty sure I put that one in there, my Mum told it to me and said the boys sang it to her (Think it was Sally mop rag, in her version)

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It was Johnny Allcock round our way who was the bad fishmonger, and the name of any kid who had upset you that day was substituted. The rhyme was also used as a skipping song by the girls in the street.

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Thanks for the replies and esp thanks to Commo - confirmed what I thought,that it was a skipping rhyme. Now a quick update. My sister has discovered there really was a Sally Slick Slack who sold rags ( ie clothes) on Sneinton Market. She found the info in an article about Sneinton Market which I will link to below. Given the proximity to St Anns it wouldnt seem unreasonable to assume Sally came from there. Both my parents were raised in Sneinton and could well have seen Sally in action selling her "rags". I strongly suspect Sally No Nose is the same character........here is the link, scroll way down this page to read the article about Sneinton Market...

http://nottinghamviews.wordpress.com/2008/10/10/the-sneinton-dragon/http://nottinghamviews.wordpress.com/2008/10/10/the-sneinton-dragon/

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There was a woman lived down Queens Grove in the 'Medders', where my Granny lived. She didn't have a nose and I did wonder as I got older and more worldly wise whether she'd got/had some sort of STD which caused it? Must admit that the sight of her frightened me as a little girl

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It would have been in the 50's, I went down there visiting my Gran throughout that decade and this woman always seemed to be around, with just two holes where her nose should be!

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I SURPOSE THAT A LOT OF AREAS HAD THERE OWN VERSION OF THIS RYME AND OF COURSE THERE WERE AN ALFULL LOT OF OF SARAHS OR SALLY AS IT WAS A VERY POPULAR NAME IN THE 20S AND 30S.

SALLY NO NOSE THERE WAS A LADY OF SIMILAR APPERANCE WHO LIVED IN LENTON IN THE 70S EIGHTIES MY MOTHER IN LAW TOLD ME THAT SHE HAD LOST HER NOSE BECAUSE OF A SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED DESEASE.

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I remember a woman probably from mid-late 60s but where I saw her I don't remember, tho I lived or went to school in the Meadows 63-68,

then lived there from around 1970-1975.

I remember her as a little woman also had weird eyes. She looked quite old at that time.

Could be the same one Lizzie?

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Yes Mick, it could've been the same woman but I don't know how old or how tall she was when I was little. I continued to go down the Grove until my Granny died in 1963 so really it was the same period that you remember seeing her. Did she scare you? Haha!

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She was not scary but not someone you could bare to look at.

There was also an old tramp guy that used to knock around town and Sneinton market.

He had a huge orange peel like growth on his nose. I assume a similar untreated disease?

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Used to see a woman without a nose sometimes on Arkwright St. My wifes aunty lived on Glapton Rd. and we used to visit her quite a lot and I used to frequent Arkwright St. a lot when I worked on Station St. When we married in 53 we went to live with the wives aunt and we were there for a year before we bought our first house at Hallam Rd. Porchester. The wife worked at the Co-Op on Arkwright St. while we were down the Meadows.

Dennis

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The lady I knew with no nose lived on Arundel St. near Canning Circus. She would have been about 60ish in the mid 70s. I bought a bed from her. Never knew her name though.

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THE ONE THAT LIVED IN LENTON CERTAINLY WAS A SMALL SLIM WOMAN WITH FUNNY EYES BUT I THINK WE WOULD ALL LOOK LIKE WE GOT FUNNY EYES IF WE HAD NO NOSE TO DEFINE OUR EYES.

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Hey Compo, did you get the bed at a good price or did you pay through the nose for it?

Christ nose!

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  • 2 weeks later...

I have found this which is attributed to W J MELVIN

They called her Sally Slick Slack

a character girl was she

She tramped around Sneinton Market place

to see what she could see.

Her goal was was getting bits of sticks

to put in her old black pram

and she'd often beg a fish box

off a market man.

and the market men would tease her

as she went about her way

they would shout and ask her

'Hows your sticks?'

and you would hear her say....

"Mind your bish nish

mind your bish nish

in her funny sort of way

"it'chs nowt cla blummin do wi' yo;

it'chs mine tae gi' away."

She'd totter off up Carlton road

in a shuffle sort of way

with her long black dress

and sugar sack apron

and to herself she'd say

"it'chs nowt cla blummin do wi' yo;

it'chs mine tae gi' away".

She would keep on talking to herself

in her clacky Victorian way

wearing a small Victorian hat

and a long pin so they say.

Her gait was old and shuffled

a character girl she may

and as she trundled with her pram

You wished her 'a good day.'

She'd look at you and in her funny kind of way

Would tell you

"Mind yer bish nish,

It'ch's mine ter gi' away."

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