The precise phrase ‘Good-night, Sleep tight, Don’t let the bedbugs bite’ first appears in the 1896 book ‘What They Say in New England: A Book of Signs, Sayings, and Superstitions’, and it later appeared in a 1923 text by F. May you sleep tight, where the bugs don’t bite!’. In a novel called ‘Boscobel’ written in 1881 by Emma Mersereau Newton, a boy says to his parents, ‘Good night, sleep tight And don’t let the buggers bite.’ And in the 1884 book ‘Boating Trips’ by Henry Parker Fellows, a little girl says ‘Good-night. One version from the 1860s is ‘Good night, sleep tight, wake up bright in the morning light, to do what’s right, with all your might.’ Some historians refute these theories and point to the Oxford English Dictionary, which claims ‘sleep tight’ simply means to ‘sleep soundly’.Įtymologist Barry Popik claims the rhyme actually originated in the USA in the 1860s, and in some versions the biting referred to mosquitoes. If the ropes were not tight, the mattress could sag to the floor, making it easier for bed bugs on the ground to reach the mattress.Īn alternative theory suggests the phrase refers to tying sleepwear tightly to prevent the bugs from easily reaching the skin at night. It was necessary to tighten these ropes frequently to prevent sagging, hence the term ‘sleep tight’. The phrase ‘sleep tight’ is thought to refer to 16th and 17 th century beds, which were usually mattresses filled with feathers and straw tied to a frame using a lattice of ropes. There are various myths surrounding its origin. This familiar rhyme is frequently recited by parents to their children as they prepare for bed.
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