Counting out

[magid]

So, I read the book the library was giving out, a book full of rhymes and such that kids use to figure out who's it in tag, or for counting while jumping rope or keeping time with those complicated hand-slapping games I never could get the hang of. And the strange part was how few of the ones in the book I recognized, a mere half dozen or so*, out of well over 150, perhaps 200 rhymes. Obviously, some of it is that this was compiled from English sources, but still, I'd've thought there would've been more that were familiar (heck, if only from reading English kid books).

I started thinking about the rhymes that we used when I was young. And I'm sad to say that few have stuck with me. The ones I do remember were mostly about counting out to decide who was (or wasn't) it, so hands were put into a circle and someone would count off, each word for a hand.


There's
"One potato, two potato, three potato, four
Five potato, six potato, seven potato, more"

And
"Eeny meeny miney moe
Catch a tiger by the toe,
If he hollers, let him go,
Eeny meeny miney moe."

Also,
"My mother and your mother were hanging out the clothes.
My mother punched your mother in the nose.
What color blood came out?"
(And then the answer color was spelled out, continuing around everyone's hands.)

Oh, and
"It's raining, it's pouring,
The old man is snoring
He went to bed
And bumped his head
And couldn't get up in the morning."
(Though that wasn't for counting.)

I remember something about a girl dressed all in black black black, with her hair down her back back back, but I don't know that I ever knew that one completely. And there are others I seem to have lost.


* From memory, some of the ones in the book that were familiar:

• Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names (words) will never hurt me.
  
• Ladybug, ladybug, fly away home, your house is on fire, you children are gone. (I've never understood why this was so mean to ladybugs.)
  
• Moses supposes his toeses are roses,
  But Moses supposes erroneously;
  For nobody's toeses are posies of roses,
  As Moses supposes his toeses to be.
  
• Pease porridge hot, pease porridge cold, pease porridge in the pot, nine days old.
  
• Rain, rain go away, come again some other day.

Comments

[magid.livejournal.com]

Huh. I don't think I've heard the song. Or at least, if I have, I haven't been listening to the words very closely. 'Cause that does sound like a jump-rope line.

Do you remember any?

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

I remember "Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear" as a regular jump-rope song. I remember better the clapping games (like "Miss Mary Mac," mentioned below and "My Jolly Playmate/My Vicious Enemy"). beckyfeld and I used to play the clapping games a lot on longish trips.

[magid.livejournal.com]

I don't know either "Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear" or "My Jolly Playmate/My Vicious Enemy".


(Why do I always have a moment of reading "vicious" as "viscous"?)

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

"Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear" is a jump-rope rhyme. You mimicked, while jumping rope, what the Teddy Bear did:

Teddy bear, teddy bear, turn around
Teddy bear, teddy bear, touch the ground.
Teddy bear, teddy bear, show your shoe.
Teddy bear, teddy, bear, that will do.
Teddy bear, teddy bear, go upstairs
Teddy bear, teddy bear, say your prayers
Teddy bear, teddy bear, turn out the light
Teddy bear, teddy, bear, say goodnight.

"My Jolly Playmate/My Vicious Enemy" is a clapping game:

My Jolly Playmate
Come out and play with me
And bring your dollies three
Climb up my apple tree
Slide down my rainbow
Into my cellar door
And we'll be jolly friends
For ever more

My jolly playmate
I cannot play with you
My dolly has the flu
Boo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo (alternately, "She threw up in my shoe")
Don't have no rainbow
Don't have no cellar door
But we'll be jolly friends
For ever more

alternately...

My vicious enemy
Come out and fight with me
And bring your bumblebee
Climb up my poison tree
Slide down my razor blade
Into my dungeon door
And we'll be vicious enemies
For ever more

I'm not sure which is scarier -- that I remember the words or that I still remember all the hand movements.

[magid.livejournal.com]

Oh, wait, I think I've heard "My Jolly Playmate." Definitely hadn't heard "My Vicious Enemy" or "Teddy Bear". Though I rather like the unambiguousness of the enmity.

Not scary at all; how many hours did you spend playing these with Becky et al after all?