I
Went To A Chinese Restaurant
Category:
Hand
clap rhyme
Source: Tonoya & Breeana Walker, Philadelphia, PA. 2001
Collected by: Azizi Powell;
© Azizi Powell 2001
I went to a Chinese restaurant
to get a loaf of bread bread bread.
The waiter asked me what’s my name
and this is what I said said said.
I know karate.
Punch you in the body.
Don’t tell your mommy.
You’ll be sorry.
Chinese, Japanese.
Chinese, Japanese.
Chinese, Japanese.
Freeze!
Comments:
I collected
this rhyme in 2001 from my Philadelphia cousins, Tonoya, then age 10
years, and Breeana, then age 6 years.
Thank you cousins for performing for your (much older) relative!. This was
a new rhyme for me. I don't remember it from my childhood, and I haven't
heard it in Pittsburgh, PA., which doesn't necessarily mean it's not
know here.
“I
Went To A Chinese Restaurant” has the same tune as “A Sailor Went To
Sea, Sea, Sea”, although the tempo increases once you get to the phrase "I
know karate". Players
can do any number of simple or intricate handclap patterns to this
rhyme. Upon saying “Freeze!”, players make all sorts of dramatic
poses and then can start the thyme all over again.
“I
Went To A Chinese Restaurant” also reminds me of “Down, Down, Baby,
I Know Karate”. Both rhymes
talk about knowing karate and punching someone in the body, although
unlike "Down, Down, Baby,
I Know Karate", in performing this rhyme, no one was actually punched.
In both of those rhymes performers also talk about calling their mommy.
The beginning section in this rhyme that ends with "and this is
what I said, said, said" may just be an add on to the basic " I know
karate" verse.
I don’t think that any ethnic slur is intended by
the phrase “Chinese, Japanese”. For
most Americans "karate" is associated with Asians. Furthermore, "Chinese,
Japanese" was probably just used for its rhyming effect and
as a means of linking the ending of the rhyme with
the beginning sentence and the title.
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