Humpty Dumpty didn’t fall over

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall.
Humpty dumpty had a great fall.
All the king’s horses and all the king’s men
Couldn’t put Humpty together again.

So Humpty Dumpty had a fall. Was he an old egg? Several times recently people in Britain have mentioned to me the curious fact that young people fall over but older people have a fall. I am not aware of this myself but it seems to be a popular understanding in Britain.

Google Ngram viewer (click to enlarge) shows that had a fall is less common than fell over, as one would expect, but also that its use is decreasing, which might mean that the expression is more used by older people. The dip in fell over between about 1950 and 1990 has no explanation that I am aware of.

Humpty Dumpty makes an appearance in Through the Looking Glass when he discusses semantics and pragmatics with Alice:

“I don’t know what you mean by ‘glory,’” Alice said.

Humpty Dumpty smiled contemptuously. “Of course you don’t—till I tell you. I meant ‘there’s a nice knock-down argument for you!’ ”

”But ‘glory’ doesn’t mean ‘a nice knock-down argument’,” Alice objected.

”When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less.”

”The question is,” said Alice, “whether you can make words mean so many different things.”

”The question is,” said Humpty Dumpty, “which is to be master—that’s all.”

Alice was too much puzzled to say anything, so after a minute Humpty Dumpty began again. “They’ve a temper, some of them—particularly verbs, they’re the proudest—adjectives you can do anything with, but not verbs—however, I can manage the whole lot! Impenetrability! That’s what I say!”

Humpty Dumpty also appears in Mots D'Heures: Gousses, Rames*

Un petit d'un petit
S'étonne aux Halles
Un petit d'un petit
Ah! degrés te fallent
Indolent qui ne sort cesse
Indolent qui ne se mène
Qu'importe un petit d'un petit
Tout Gai de Reguennes.

*A homophonic translation of English nursery rhymes into French. The title itself is such a translation of Mother Goose Rhymes.

(Images of Humpty Dumpty, Wikipedia)

Comments

[El Organillero]

Maybe a decline in mentions of people having a fall is a correlate of a general decrease in icy conditions caused by rising global temperatures.

You can use "fell over" for numerous situations where "had a fall" wouldn't work, eg "fall over oneself", "fall over backwards". More research is required!

[Peter Harvey]

I agree that the Ngram is not precise but I can't see how to improve it. At least, I don't have the resources for the research. The decline in had a fall is interesting and unexpected.