Is this it?
THE THINNEST MAN
(earliest known printed version, dated 1881, credited to Frank Dumont -
found by Joe Hickerson)
Oh, the thinnest man I ever saw lived over in Hoboken
If I ever told you how thin he was you'd say that I was jokin'
He was as thin as a postage stamp, or the skin of a new potater
For exercise he's take a ride through the holes of a nutmeg grater
Oh me, oh my, he was the thinnest man.
Thin as soup in a boarding house, or the skin of a soft-shelled clam.
Through a keyhole he'd go slipping, through a mousehole he'd go sliding
And when the landlord came for rent, in the gas pipe he'd be hiding
He was as thin, as thin as grass, as thin as porous plaster
He was as thin as thin can be, he couldn't grow thin any faster
Oh me, oh my, he was the thinnest man.
Thin as soup in a boarding house, or the skin of a soft-shelled clam.
He'd never go out on a stormy night, he'd never go out alone
For fear that some poor hungry dog would take him for a bone.
While sitting by the fire one night, the lamp was burning dimly
A bedbug grabbed him by the hair and yanked him up the chimney
Oh me, oh my, he almost lost his breath
Fell through a hole in the seat of his pants, and choked himself to death.
Toni Koontz
Librarian
St. Charles Preparatory School
Columbus, Ohio
akoontz@cdeducation.org
Carpe Diem
----- Original Message -----
From: "Kay Goss" <goss.kay@GMAIL.COM>
To: <LM_NET@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU>
Sent: Thursday, April 30, 2009 2:35 PM
Subject: REF: Poem--Thinnest Man I Ever Saw
> Dear Great Wise and Wonderful Ones:
>
> I am posting a poem a day in each bathroom stall for National Poetry
> Month.
> I want to post The Thinnest Man I Ever Saw for tomorrow. Last Day.
>
> My mother recited this poem to me all her life. I remember most of it but
> I
> think I am leaving out a line or two.
>
> He was afraid to go out alone at night. For fear some lean and hungry dog
> would take him for a bone. ???
>
> Does anyone know this poem and can help me out?
>
> --
> Kay Goss
> Mansfield Secondary Library
> 316 West Ohio Ave.
> Mansfield, Mo. 65704
> 417-924-3236 Ext. 311
> goss.kay@gmail.com
>
> "The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good
> novel,
> must be intolerably stupid."
> Jane Austen
>
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