Eenie, Meenie, Miney, Moe
Eenie, meenie, miney, moe,
Catch a tiger by the toe.
If he hollers, let him go.
My mother said to pick
The very best one And you are noooot (not) it
Choosing or counting – out rhymes are an important part of childhood. If a game is being set up and nobody wants to volunteer for a particular part or position, then a selection rhyme is used to choose one from the group.
All rhymes begin with the players in a circle. Then one of them, the singer, begins the rhyme and points around to the left or to the right, until they get to the end of the song. Whoever is being pointed at during the last word is either chosen or eliminated depending on the version or how the children choose to play.
When you sing this as a choosing game, you break it down by word. It's said like this below. On each line you're choosing a different one.
Eenie,
meenie
miney,
moe,
catch a
tiger
by the
toe.
If he
hollers,
Let him
go.
My
mother
said
to
pick
the
very
best
one
and
you
are
noooot (not)
it.
Sometimes people are counted and sometimes each person’s hands, so that you are only safe once both hands have been removed from the circle.
"Eenie, meenie, miney, moe," is the most popular selection rhyme. It was first used in the 18th Century and there exists multiple versions differing from region to region.
Some of these variations of the chants are also used to choose who would be “it” for games of tag or hide and seek.
Below there are some versions.
Eenie meenie miney moe,
Catch a tiger by the toe,
If he squeals, let him go,
Eenie meenie miney moe,
Eeny, meeny, miny moe,
Catch a tiger by the toe.
If he hollers make him pay,
Fifty dollars every day.
Eeeny, meeny, miney, mo.
Put the baby on the po.
When he's done,
Wipe his bum.
And tell his mother what he's done
Eenie meenie sicileeny,
Ooh ah zambalini,
Achi cachi Liberache,
I love you,
Take a peach,
Take a plum,
Take a stick of bubble gum,
Not a peach,
Not a plumb,
Not a stick of bubble gum.
Eeny, meany, tortellini
Beep, bop, bopellini
Etchy-sketchy, liver-etchy
I like you.
Take a peach,
take a plum
Take a stick of chewing gum
Stick it here,
stick it there
Stick it in your teacher's hair
No more school,
no more books
No more teachers' dirty looks
Yeah.
Eeny meeny desimeeny,
Ooh lah ooh lah a meeny,
Atchy atchy boomeratchy,
Bo-di-ac doh.
Take a peach,
take a plum,
Take a stick o' bubble gum.
No more schoolwork,
No more books,
No more teacher's Dirty looks.
Yeah!
There is even a controversial version when “politically correct” did not exist and children sang this rhyme using “nigger” instead of “tiger” (no offence intended!)
But it is not clear its origin if it refers when slaves were captured in Africa or when they ran away from plantations. In any case children sang the rhyme that way.
Eenea, meenea, mina, mo,
Catch a nigger by the toe;
If he hollers let him go,
Eenee, Meenee. Mainee, Mo.
Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Mo,
Catch a nigger by his toe,
If he won't work then let him go;
Skidum, skidee, skidoo.
But when you get money, your little bride
Will surely find out where you hide,
So there's the door and when I count four,
Then out goes you
Maybe some other time I would write about other counting rhymes. I find them very interesting.
He was a near - contemporary of Sam Loyd, America's greatest puzzle expert and the two men frequently exchanged puzzles and ideas. Many of Loyd's and Dudeney's published puzzles show strong similarities, demonstrating how close their collaboration sometimes was.
Six months later a brother of Lady Littlewood's, who had returned from his regiment in India, noticed that his sister was wearing the ruby brooch one night at a county ball, and on their return home asked to look at it more closely. He immediately detected the fact that four of the stones were gone.
