There's even some ditties in both German and Norwegian that are almost exclusively nonsense, interspersed with a couple of 'real' lines. The same with the most popular Norwegian one, which begins "Elle melle, deg fortelle" ('elle melle, telling you') and ends "snipp, snapp, snute, du er ute" ('snip-snap snout, you are out') - which, incidentally, is how you end fairy tales in Norwegian, only with 'the fairy tale' substituted for 'you'. The most popular German ditty begins "Ene mene miste, es rappelt in der Kiste" - the first three words are nonsense, but set a rhythm and conveniently rhyme with the next line ('there's commotion in the chest/box'). I'd just like to say that nonsense syllables at the beginning of counting-out games isn't restricted to English, but actually fairly common in German and Norwegian. I'd also be curious to hear how common each iteration is and what the origin is? In addition to the now better known substitution of 'tiger' for 'nigger' I can tell you as a small child I definitely heard both iterations which is fascinating to me because I'm only in my 20's - so I'm curious about how the split began. Why would anyone ever catch another human being by the toe? Or is this also to create a silly rhyme? When the rhyme states "But when you get money, your little bride will surely find out where you hide," What is this in reference to? " is this implying a slave should be murdered, if deemed unproductive? Released to hunt the slave? Is there historical significance here? When the rhyme states "If he won't work then let him go". How did the eeny, meeny, miny, moe rhyme begin? Was it a quick rhyme to tell small children, not unlike old pirate songs (ex sing a song of sixpence, etc.)? The 'olla' and 'toe' are found as nonsense words in some nineteenth century versions of the rhyme, and it could possibly be that the original 'Where do all the Frenchmen Go?' (probably originating during one of the periods of Anglo-French warfare) was later on replaced by the earlier version in the United States, using some of the nonsense wordsĪre words like "Eeny" "Miny" "Skidum" and "Skidoo" complete nonsense for the sake of creating a memorable delivery? What is the purpose of their usage? This, combined with evidence of various other versions of the rhyme in the British Isles pre-dating this version, would seem to suggest that it originated in North America, although the apparently American word 'holler' was first recorded in written form in England in the fourteenth century, whereas according to the Oxford English Dictionary the words 'Niger' or 'nigger' were first recorded in England in the sixteenth century with their current disparaging meaning. Iona and Peter Opie pointed out in The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes that the word "nigger" was common in American folk-lore, but unknown in any English traditional rhyme or proverb. This may have helped popularise this version in the United Kingdom where it seems to have replaced all earlier versions until the late twentieth century. It was also used by Rudyard Kipling in his "A Counting-Out Song", from Land and Sea Tales for Scouts and Guides, published in 1935. So there's the door and when I count four, It was used in the chorus of Bert Fitzgibbon's 1906 song "Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Mo":īut when you get money, your little bride This version was similar to that reported as the most common version among American schoolchildren in 1888. Some older versions of this rhyme had the word nigger instead of tiger: Previous AMAs | Previous Roundtables Featuresįeature posts are posted weekly. Please Subscribe to our Google Calendar for Upcoming AMAs and Events To nominate someone else as a Quality Contributor, message the mods. Our flaired users have detailed knowledge of their historical specialty and a proven record of excellent contributions to /r/AskHistorians. Please Read and Understand the Rules Before Contributing.
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