Dear Friends,
I have just finished reading a fascinating book called "Childs Play"
which documents the work of an American woman - Dorothy HOWARD when
she was researching childhood play here in Australia in
1954-1955. In the book are dozens of childhood chants and rhymes for
such games as Hoppy (hop-scotch), Skippy (jumping rope), ball games,
deciding who will be "He" etc. I thought it might be interesting to
type a few here for current international comparison. I certainly
knew other variants from my own days in the 50s.
One point of interest was that at that time in the rest of the
western English speaking world, the most popular counting out rhymne
was "Eeny meeny miney mo", but in Australia that came 2nd to "One
potato, two potato, three potato, four"
In all States she visited here, children used the line "catch a
nigger by the toe" in Eeny, meeny, but some said "If he hollers let
him go", while others said "If he squeals".
Here are some others to bring back memories:-
Firstly the one we've been talking about recently -
One, two, buckle my shoe
Three, four, open the door,
Five, six, pick up sticks,
Seven, eight, lay them straight,
Nine, ten, a good fat hen,
Eleven, twelve, dig and delve,
Thirteen, fourteen, maids a-courting,
Fifteen, sixteen, maids in the kitchen,
Seventeen, eighteen, Maids a-waiting,
Nineteen, twenty, my plate's empty.
Inky, pinky, ponky,
Daddy bought a donkey,
Donkey died, Daddy cried,
Inky, pinky, ponky.
Ink, pink, pen and ink,
I smell a great big stink,
And I think
It comes from YOUuuuuu - you're out!
Inky, pinky, pea,
Mummy caught a flea,
She put it in a teapot
And made a pot of tea.
The flea jumped out
And Mummy cried out
In came Daddy
With his shirt hanging O - U - T
As I went up to Silver Lake
I met a little rattle snake
He ate so much of jelly cake
It made his little belly ache.
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven,
All good children go to heaven
When you die, you will fly
Like an angel in the sky.
Little Miss Pink
Fell down the sink.
How many inches did she fall?
(then count around till someone's out)
there are heaps more, but that'll do for now.
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