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In Mary Poppins (1964) Jane and Michael stipulate that their new nanny must:

Love us as a son and daughter, and never smell of barley water.

I've always wondered why they include this. If they mean actual barley water, which apparently is popular in various parts of the world (but not America), then it isn't really clear why the children hate it so much. It's not just that they don't want to drink it; they don't want to even smell it.

Part of me thinks they didn't mean literal barley water at all. They could also be referring (in a tongue-in-cheek way) to:

• Beer/ale. Usually made with barley, unpleasant to smell on someone, and of course means the person is drunk.




• Scotch. Made with barley (otherwise it's a different type of whiskey), not an unpleasant smell but also means the person is drunk.

Adults in the room would also recognize that, if the children specifically request that their nanny not show up stinking drunk, it would mean that it's happened before (further showcasing their parents' ineptitude at nanny-picking).

Is the "barley water" reference ever explained?

Assuming the original Mary Poppins book by P.L. Travers is anything to go by, their objection doesn't seem to be the smell of barley water per se, but more that their old unliked nanny (Katie Nanna) stank of the stuff and they've associated the smell with her.

Well, Mr Banks went off with his black bag, and Mrs Banks went into
the drawing room and sat there all day long writing letters to the
papers and begging them to send some Nannies to her at once as she was
waiting; and upstairs in the Nursery, Jane and Michael watched at the
window and wondered who would come. They were glad Katie Nanna had
gone, for they had never liked her. She was old and fat and smelt of
barley-water. Anything, they thought, would be better than Katie
Nanna – if not much better.

They're keen for the new nanny to be the polar opposite, to whit; young, skinny and not smelling of barley water.

Barley Water is not, in fact, beer or scotch, although those are good guesses in the absence of context. Water in which barley has been boiled was considered a health drink dating back centuries, in the same way that cod liver oil was a healthful supplement for American kids in the '50s. The British version is made by boiling barley, straining, and then pouring the hot water over lemon rind. It's disgusting, kids know it's disgusting, and the Banks children wanted no part of anyone who was going to make them drink it.