These are some of the ones I remember. Do you know variations on these? Do you know others? Put them up here and include a note about where on the globe you spent your childhood so we can get a sense of regional variations.
Choosing who is "It" in Tag--each person is pointed to in turn and the one pointed to at the end of the rhyme is eliminated:
My mother told me to pick the very best one and you are not it.
Horses in the stable, one jumped out.
Bubblegum, bubblegum in a dish, how many pieces do you wish? (Person who is being pointed to at "wish" gives a number of pieces, say "3") one two three and you are not it.
My mother and your mother were hanging up clothes. My mother punched your mother right in the nose. What color was the blood? (same process as above, example: "red") R-E-D spells red and you are not it.
Eeny meeny miny mo, catch a tiger by his toe, if he hollers let him go, eeny meeny miny mo.
Eeny meeny miny mo, catch a tiger by his toe, if he hollers make him pay fifty dollars every day.
Well... My childhood rhymes weren't really in English, you know... ;-P
But then the "sound" element is there alright. Things like:
(when choosing a player for a game)
"uni duni te, salame mingue, um sorvete colore, o escolhido foi voce"
An exact translation would be a tricky thing here, but then "uni duni tre" are childish versions of "one two three". I have no idea what "salame mingue" means, "sorvete" is ice cream (always a favorite of kids everywhere) and "o escolhido foi voce" finally means "you were the chosen one".
Hehehehehehe...
Posted by: Lucilla at September 9, 2002 12:28 PMCinderella, dressed in yella, went upstairs to kiss a fella. Made a mistake, kissed a snake; how many doctors did it take?
(How do these things get passed down through the generations, anyway? It's not like the 4th graders have a seminar where they teach the Miss Lucy rhymes to the kindergarteners. It's like they're built into our genetic code or something.)
Posted by: Jimski at September 9, 2002 12:41 PMIf memory serves, "my mother told me to pick the very best one" would be used as an addendum to other rhymes, like "bubblegum, bubblegum." Sometimes there's be an addendum to the addendum: "..and you are not it you dirty dirty dishrag you." The idea behind these rhymes was to have an impartial way of choosing "it," but by adding and subtracting them you could make the result anything you wanted--though I doubt anyone ever bothered to count up the beats to know exactly who would be chosen at the end of a rhyme. Also, I think everyone took a turn at conducting the "elimination" process, which probably helped restore some fairness.
Posted by: eshtine at September 9, 2002 07:43 PMThis one has no sense at all, in no language, but it's my favourite:
An
Tan
Tirimogodan
Cara cara se
Principala morengo
I can't remember any Romanian one right now :(.
Posted by: Anca at September 10, 2002 07:33 AMI remember in first grade just staring and watching the girls play their handclapping games. First grade boys were supposed to play kickball, but I couldn't stand kickball. I think I knew more of those rhymes than my sister did. "Say Say O Playmate" was one, along with the "Miss Lucy" rhymes. I even remember one that was complete nonsense... something like "Bo-Bo See Ah-tin Tah-tin..." (I'm probably butchering that one, but it was a long time ago.
Posted by: Pollux at September 11, 2002 03:19 PMI read your post on children's rhymes and am hoping you know the ones my grandmother used to play with us. My sister and I can't remember them all.
One starts: (hold your fists out as in counting potatoes)
William, William Trembletoes
Was a good fisherman
Catches hens, puts them in a pen
Wire, briar, ????????????
Out goes you dirty dish rag , you!
The other one starts: (put fist on table with thumb sticking up. Each person holds thumb of last person in their fist and sticks up their thumb for the next person)
It seems like we called this one Club Fist.
"It" ask the person with top fist,
IT: "What you got there"
Reply: "Bread and cheese:
IT: "Take it off or knock it off"
Reply: (chooses one)
And so one until the last fist,
IT: "What you got there"
Reply: "Bread and cheese"
IT: Where's my share?"
Reply: "Rat got it"
IT: "Where's the rat?"
Reply: "Cat ate it"
IT: "Where's the cat?"
Reply:"Dog chased it"
IT:"Where's the dog?"
Reply: (This is where we forget what comes next)
At the end, IT says something like "Behind the old church door cracking hickory nuts. Next one to smile gets their face slapped and their hair pulled"
We used to say this one when I was growing up in Philadelphia, PA
We would stand in a circle and put out one hand or one foot. The rhyme has a syncopated rythym but you would have to tap
the other child's hand on the downbeat. When you landed on someone's foot at the last word, that one was "out".
Eenie, Meenie, Disaleenie
Ooh aah Gotchaleenie
hotchy totchy
Liberace
I Love You!
also:
Made you look, you dirty crook
you stole your mothers pocketook
you turned it in you, turned it out
you turned it into sauerkraut.
we used this one:
Eenie meenie miney moe,
Catch a monkey by the toe.
If he hollers, make him pay
50 dollars every day.
My mother told me to pick the very best one.
Pick-a, pick-a, soda cracker i.o.u.
and you are not it!
Here's another:
Engine, Engine No. 9
Going down Chicago Line
If the train should jump the track
do you want your money back
yes, no, or maybe so
(Person chooses and answer is spelled out)
i.e. Y-E-S spells yes and you are the one not to be IT in this game of Tag!
WILLIAM TRIMBLETOES
Was a good fisherman
Catches hens, puts them in pens
Wire, briar, limberlock
Three geese in a flock
One flew east, one flew west,
One flew over the cookoo's nest
O-U-T spells out.
I'm looking for someone who remembers the rest of this nonsense rhyme:
Mumbo Jumbo Christopher Columbo
Sitting on the sidewalk chewing bubble gumbo
Thanks for posting your collection; if someone doesn't try to preserve these things, they will be lost!
Posted by: Dawn at September 1, 2003 10:24 AMThe nonsense rhyme goes: Mumbo Gumbo Christopher Columbo Sitting on the sidewalk chewing bubble gumbo, I think I'll catch a whale I think I'll catch a snail I think I'll just sit awhile twiddling my thumbo
I just thought you might like to know these fantabulous lyrics, you can thank US later - No wait you can thank us now...DO IT!
(one)
One potato, two potato, three potato, four.
Five potato, six potato, seven potato, more.
(We did this one with our fists instead of our feet).
(two)
Johnny lit the match and the match went out.
(This was a fast one if you had a lot of people playing tag!)
(three)
My mother and your mother were hanging up clothes
My mother socked your mother right in the nose
What color of blood did she shed?
B-L-U-E spells blue and you are not it
With a dirty dirty dishrag on your foot
I'm not sure why we added the "with a dirty dirty dishrag on your foot" part. We did that with everything.
Posted by: SusieQ at November 6, 2003 01:35 PMwilliam trembletoes was a good fisherman
catches hens, puts em in a pens
some lay eggs, some don't
wire brier limber lock
clock fell down, mouse ran around
O-U-T spells out at old jacks house!!!
This was somthing I learned as a child in southwest georga in the early 1950's from from my stepfather....
Donald Duck
picked his butt
all the way to pizza hut!! ( we used this one all the time!!)
One day when I was walking, walking to the fair, I met a senorita with a flower in her hair oh shake it senorita, shake it all you can, shake it like a milkshake and do the best you can, oh she wobbled to the bottom, she wobbled to the top, she turned around and turned around until she made an S-T-O-P stop. (this one usually works after the person who was chosen to be it has worn out their time. The rest of the contestents stand in a circle surrounding the person that is it. The person that is soon to no longer be it then dances to the song and when you get to "turned around and turned around" they close their eyes and spin and when stop is said they open their eyes and whoever is in front of them is then it)
Posted by: Lydia at March 24, 2004 08:01 AMOne day when I was walking, walking to the fair, I met a senorita with a flower in her hair oh shake it senorita, shake it all you can, shake it like a milkshake and do the best you can, oh she wobbled to the bottom, she wobbled to the top, she turned around and turned around until she made an S-T-O-P stop. (this one usually works after the person who was chosen to be it has worn out their time. The rest of the contestents stand in a circle surrounding the person that is it. The person that is soon to no longer be it then dances to the song and when you get to "turned around and turned around" they close their eyes and spin and when stop is said they open their eyes and whoever is in front of them is then it)
Posted by: Lydia at March 24, 2004 08:01 AM
WILLIAM TRIMBLETOES
Was a good fisherman
Catches hens, puts them in pens
William, William, Trimbletoes,
He's a great fisherman, Catches hens,
Put them in a pen.
Wire, briar, limberlock
Three geese in a flock
One flew east, one flew west,
One flew over the cookoo's nest.
O -U-T spells out, you old dirty dish rag you.
My mother use to play this game, in the house-at night-with us. I do not remember how the game was played.
Would be interested in knowing the whole thing.
Ip, skip, sky, blue.
Who's it?
Not you.
That's the only one that I ever used while growing up in England.
Posted by: Robert Mandara at September 6, 2004 02:09 AMhi my name is amanda and i was wondering if neone new the rest of this one: the water fountain brok down...... please e-mail it to me if you no it and title the letter rhyme plzz thx
Posted by: Amanda at September 16, 2004 06:19 PMeenie meenie miny moe catch a tiger by its toe if he hollars let him go eenie meenie miny moe
Posted by: matt at January 16, 2005 12:14 PMYou know, I'd been wondering about these sorts of things lately - and like someone mentioned above, how DO they get passed on? Do kids still do this?
The kids I grew up with (in the Keweenaw, in Michigan's Upper Peninsula) used variations of many of the above, crouched in a circle, each with a foot in (or two, if there were just a few playing) - such as:
My moth-er and your mo-ther were out hang-ing clothes/My moth-er punched your moth-er right in the nose./What col-or blood came out?/B-L-U-E spells blue, and you are not the one to be it, you dirty dirty dishrag, out you go!
Etc, until only one person was left, who was "it."
To get be the person reciting the ryhme, they always said that it was the first person to call "King's sire, no higher, no lower!" (0r at least that's what it sounded like.)
Where does this stuff come from??
Posted by: Jeremiah at February 2, 2005 08:20 PMAnother one from England here. I taught my nephew this after learning it as a kid as our way of getting someone to be "it":
- Someone (doubtless the most assertive or highest in the pecking order) would line you all up against the wall and count you of saying the following -
"Dip dip tation
Corporation
How many buses are in the station?"
Whoever that came to would say a number, and the counting would continue until the number was finished, and that lad/lassie would leave.
The process would be repeated until one was left who was "it" or "on".
If my memory serves me correct there's mention of this and "one potato ... " in the classic film Jabberwocky.
Posted by: Peter Ward at February 7, 2005 03:39 PMHi...
just to give some german examples:
Eene Meene Miste (_ee_ like in _e_mpire)[no translation]
es rappelt in der Kiste [there's something in the box]
Eene Meene Meck
und Du bist weg [and you are out]
or:
Eine Kleine Mickymaus [one little mickey mouse]
zog sich mal die Hose aus [once took off his pants]
zog sie wieder an [took 'em on again]
und du bist dran [and you are it]
another:
Eins, zwei, drei, [one, two, three]
auf der Strasse liegt ein Ei. [on the road there lies an egg]
Wer drauf tritt, [who steps on it]
spielt nicht mehr mit! [won't play along]
whilst my american nephew seems to use this:
slapped by trout,
you are out
did a sin
can't be in
now you sit
until you're it
From my childhood:
William Tremble toes
He's a good fisherman
We all know
Catches Hens
Puts them in Pens
Wire, briar, limber lock
Three geese in a flock
One flew east
One flew west
One flew over the cuckoo's nest
You get out of my clean kitchen
You dirty dish rag you!
On long driving trips or at other time my mother wanted (needed) to quiet my sisters and I we would hold our hands out with fingers extended and mother would touch each finger, one at a time, with each spoken syllable of the rhyme. Whichever finger was touched with the last syllable ("...you!") was tucked under (as in making a fist) and the process continued until all fingers had been 'removed'. With three children, six hands, thirty fingers... That is a lot of times to repeat the verse. The exercise had no real purpose except to keep us quite. It seemed to work.
I was so happy to see the post by Sandra on December 14, 2002. I've never heard of anyone who knew this game but my family. My grandmother and grandfather taught my brothers and me this game when we were children. (About 45 years ago). I believe they had played it when they were children, which would have been the late 1800's.
We set up the game the same way building a stalk of fists. We called the game "Fist Stalk". Our version went this way:
It: What you got there?
Reply(the person whose fist was on top of the stalk): Fist stalk
It: Take it off, or knock it off?
The person would chose which one, and if "knock it off" was chosen, tried to hold onto the next person's thumb when "It" knocked it off. Sometimes it took more than one whack to knock it off. :)
When you got to the last fist . . .
It: What you got there?
Reply: Bread and cheese.
It: Where's my share?
Reply: Black dog got it.
It: Where's the black dog?
Reply: In the woods.
It: Where's the woods?
Reply: Fire burned it.
It: Where's the fire?
Reply: Water quenched it.
It: Where's the water?
Reply: Ox drank it.
It: Where's the ox?
Reply: Butcher killed it.
It: Where's the butcher?
Reply: Rope hung him.
It: Where's the rope?
Reply: Rat gnawed it.
It: Where's the rat?
Reply: Cat caught it.
It: Where's the cat?
Reply: Hammer killed it.
It: Where's the hammer?
Reply: Behind the church house door cracking nuts. "A" is for apple, "P" is for pear, the first one who speaks or shows his teeth gets a box and ten nails.
I don't know what the apple and pear had to do with anything, but the "box" meant you would be hit in the shoulder by "It's" fist and the "ten nails" meant you would get your ribs tickled by "It".
In reply to Sandra's post of December, 2002. My grandparents taught my brothers and me this game when we were children, about 45 years ago. I believe they played it when they were children, which would have been in the late 1800's.
We set up the game by building a stalk of fists. We called the game "Fist Stalk". Our version went this way:
It: What you got there?
Reply(the person whose fist was on top of the stalk): Fist stalk
It: Take it off, or knock it off?
The person would chose which one, and if "knock it off" was chosen, tried to hold onto the next person's thumb when "It" knocked it off. Sometimes it took more than one whack to knock it off. :)
When you got to the last fist . . .
It: What you got there?
Reply: Bread and cheese.
It: Where's my share?
Reply: Black dog got it.
It: Where's the black dog?
Reply: In the woods.
It: Where's the woods?
Reply: Fire burned it.
It: Where's the fire?
Reply: Water quenched it.
It: Where's the water?
Reply: Ox drank it.
It: Where's the ox?
Reply: Butcher killed it.
It: Where's the butcher?
Reply: Rope hung him.
It: Where's the rope?
Reply: Rat gnawed it.
It: Where's the rat?
Reply: Cat caught it.
It: Where's the cat?
Reply: Hammer killed it.
It: Where's the hammer?
Reply: Behind the church house door cracking nuts. "A" is for apple, "P" is for pear, the first one who speaks or shows his teeth gets a box and ten nails.
I don't know what the apple and pear had to do with anything, but the "box" meant you would be hit in the shoulder by "It's" fist and the "ten nails" meant you would get your ribs tickled by "It".
as far as the "potato game"
"One potato, two potato, three potato four. Five potato, six potato, seven potato more!"
choosing games...after I learned this one it stuck as a favorite:
"Skunk in the barnyard, pee you, somebody ate it, thats you!" (that person would be out)
The water fountain one... all i remember is "7-up got the flu, now we're drinking mountain dew. Mountain dew fell off the mountain now we're drinking water fountain. Water fountain broke. Now we're drinking coke.(then we basically made stuff up...) coke flew a kite, and now we're drinking sprite"
A song we would like to sing... I can't exactly remember it and was hoping to get help with that problem because its really buggin me...
All i remember is:
"Behind the frigerator there was a piece of glass. Miss Susie sat upon it and broke her little ASK me no more questions and tell me no more lies..."
This is how we always sang that Miss Susie rhyme in Maine:
Miss Susie had a steamboat
The Steamboat had a bell
Miss Susie went to heaven
The Steamboat went to
HELLo operator
Please get me number nine
and if you disconnect me
I'll cut off your
BEHIND the 'friderator
there was a piece of glass
Miss Susie sat upon it
and cut her big fat
ASK me no more questions
please tell me no more lies
the boys are in the bathroom
zipping up their
FLIES are in the kitchen
eating apple pies.