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CHOOSING IT AND COUNTING OUT RHYMES
This page contains selected examples, information, and comments about choosing it &
counting out rhymes {elimination rhymes}.
You'll notice that this page contains multiple versions of the same rhyme. I'm
interested in posting multiple versions of rhymes as a way of documenting the
way that the words of a particular rhyme may be the same or different in various
cities, towns, and/or nations. Posting multiple examples of the same rhyme also
documents the way that the words of a rhyme may change over time.
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click here to send in examples of Choosing It And Counting Out Rhymes.
Although it is not required, please include information about how this
rhyme is performed. Also, for the sake of folkloric research, please include the
following demographical information: where you learned the rhyme {please
include the city & state if within the USA, and the nation, if outside the USA};
when you learned this rhyme {year or decade such as 2008, the 1990s, or
the mid 1970s}; and who performed this rhyme {age, gender,
race/ethnicity}. Thanks!
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Examples of rhymes & cheers are
almost always posted the way that readers send them to this website. Some of
these examples have typos and other accidental spelling errors or have text
messaging, slang, or otherwise purposely misspelled words & phrases. Many of
these examples are written without any capitalization at the beginning of a line
or punctuation mark at the end of line. This free flowing writing style appears
to be the prevailing way that many youth and young adults informally write on
the Internet. Posting examples written this way may result in difficulty
understanding the examples. However, I believe that it is important to keep the
examples' original form for authenticity's sake and as a means of showcasing the
examples' "flavor".
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I reserve the right not to post examples of rhymes on this page that are
exactly the same as a previously posted example. I also reserve
the right not to post examples of rhymes that I feel don't meet the standards of
this website.
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Thanks to all who submit children's
rhymes to Cocojams!
Special thanks to
http://www.mudcat.org/threads.cfm;
and
http://blog.oftheoctopuses.com/000518.php10/1/2003
for permission to repost
selected examples from their websites.
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Examples of Choosing It And Counting Out Rhymes:
A, B
Ackabacka {Example #1}
Jump Rope Rhyme/ Counting Out Rhyme}
My mother, your mother lived across the way,
Eighteen, nineteen East Broadway.
Every night, they'd have a fight
And this is what they'd say:
Acka-backa soda cracker
Acka-backa boo.
Acka-backa soda cracker
Out goes you!
-Source material;
http://www.mudcat.org/@displaysong.cfm?SongID=122
Editor:
See entries for "Ickabacka" on this page. Also, see entries for "My Mother Your
Mother" On Cocojams' Handclap Rhyme Page. In addition, see entries for "My
Mother Your Mother-What Color Was The Blood" on this page.
C, D
Doogie Doggie
Doggie Doggie Doggie
Step. Right. OUT.
Shadeena K. {African American girl, 9; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 2000}
E, F
Eenie Meenie {Version #1}
Eenie meenie
Minie mo
Catch a tiger
By the toe.
If he hollers
Let him go.
Eenie meenie
Minie Mo
-various sources, including Azizi Powell's childhood {Atlantic City, New Jersey,
1950s}
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Engine Engine Number Nine {Example #2}
As kid on the Chicago streets our favorite games were Buck, Buck and Engine,
Engine Number Nine.
Engine, Engine Number Nine……
Everyone sits in a circle with hands folded into a fist. The leader (Engine)
would say a rime as he tapped each fist….
Engine, Engine number nine,
Coming down the Chicago line
Please tell me the correct time, the correct time is what?
[The person who would call out the number is the person the leader stopped at
during the rime]*.
...the leader would count out the number by tapping the fists. If the leader
landed on one of your fists, you had to take it out of the game by putting it
behind your back. The leader would then start over again.
Engine, Engine number nine,
Coming down the Chicago line
Please tell me the correct time, the correct time is what?
This would continue until only one fist was left this became the new Engine.
Thanks for bringing this to mind.
-lloyd64; 4/30/2000;
http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=20909 "Children's rhymes and
playground songs"
Editor:
The sentence in brackets was posted on the same thread by lloyd64 after he
posted this rhyme.
Thanks to Mudcat Discussion Forum's moderator for permission to post examples on
Cocojams from guest posters, as well as members who are no longer active.
Selected examples of rhymes from active members of that online website are only
posted with their prior permission.
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Engine Engine Number Nine {Example #1}
Engine Engine Number Nine
Goin down the street car line
If that train rolls off the track
Do you want your money back.
[Yes]
Y.E.S. spells yes and you are not it
{or the child reciting this could say "You are it}.
-various sources, including Azizi Powell's childhood memories, Atlantic City,
New Jersey; 1950s
G, H
Hot Potato
Hot potato
Hot potato
Hot potato two
Here goes Uncle Sam
And out goes
Y-O-U
Shonquilla {African American girl, 9 years old, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 2000}
I, J
Ickabacka {Example #2}
My mother, your mother live across the way.
Every night they have a fight and this is what they say:
'Icka backa soda cracker, icka backa boo.
Icka backa soda cracker, out goes you!'
(Jumprope/counting out game.) I don't know of any recordings of it; always
thought it was strictly children's oral tradition.
-rumgumption; 11/21/2005; " Please help 'Hucka Chucka soda cracka"
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Ickabaka Soda Cracker {Example #1}
Icka backa soda cracker
Icka backa boo.
In comes out.
And out goes YOU!
-2nd grade student; Pittsburgh, PA.; 2002
Editor:
In 2002 my daughter, a 2nd grade teacher in Pittsburgh, Penn, gave an assignment
to her students to recite "choosing it" ["counting out"] rhymes. She taped their
oral presentations and later played the tape so that the students could hear
themselves. Knowing my interest in children's rhymes, my daughter played the
tape for me, and I transcribed that tape. A number of examples on this page are
from that transcription. All of these students are African Americans."Icka" is
pronounced "EYE-kah". "Backa" is pronounced "BAH-kah". "Cracker" is pronounced
to rhyme with "Icka" and "backa."
In 2004, I observed another boy from the same school using this rhyme to choose
two team captains. The boy was selected by a supervising adult because he was
the first child to raise his hand.
The girls & boys huddled around the boy and stretched out their right foot. The
other children remained silent as the boy recited the rhyme.
With each word of the rhyme he tapped a different child's foot.
The child whose foot was tapped on the word "you" was out. This process
continued from the beginning until one child was left. This child was a captain
of a team. The process started again to select the 2nd team captain. Once
the captains were picked, they took turns selecting a member of their team. Team
members were selected by calling out the name of a child. Of course, in races,
the fastest children get picked first. And in tug of wars the strongest children
get picked first.
If the game is played a second time, one way to boost the self-esteem of the two
children who are picked last, is to have them serve as the new team captains.
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Ink Stink
Ink Stick
Ah bottle of ink
Somebody let out
An awful stick.
It was y.o. U!
-various sources, including Azizi Powell's childhood memories {Atlantic City,
New Jersey, 1950s
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K, L
M, N
My Mother, Your Mother-What Color Was The Blood;
{Example #8}
...We rarely used eenie-meanie for choosing who was "it".
We did this rhyme:
My mother and your mother hanging out the clothes,
My mother punched your mother in the nose,
What color blood came out,
Red,
R E D spells red.
The speaker could change the color of the blood to try to manipulate the
results.
-Guest, Pitheris; 3/25/2007;
http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=81350 I'm Rubber . You're Glue:
Children's Rhymes
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My Mother, Your Mother-What Color Was The Blood;
{Example #7}
My mother and your mother were hanging out clothes
My mother gave your mother a hit on the nose
What color blood did she bleed?
Red
R.E.D. spells red and that means
You are not the one to be it {or you are it}
Source: Hunter’s father, Caucasian; 1960s; State College, PA; collected by Azizi
Powell ; from interview with Azizi Powell, “The Saturday Light Brigade “radio
program; WRCT Pittsburgh 88.3 FM; The Children’s Museum, Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania; 7/16/05
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Mother And Your Mother Had A Big Fight (Example #6}
Choosing game (with gestures similar to "one-potato two-potato" game):
My mother and your mother had a big fight.
My mother knocked your mother clear out of sight.
What color came out, red or blue?
R-E-D spells red (or B-L-U-E spells blue)
And you are not go-ing to be "it".
-Sharon A; 6/9/2005;
http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=81350 ; “I'm Rubber You're
Glue: Children's Rhymes; remembrance of childhood in
Warrington, Pennsylvania, mid- to late 1960s}
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My Mother, Your Mother-What Color Was The Blood;
{Example #5}
I remember a rhyme to choose
who was "it" for "Hide and Seek"
My mother and your mother
Were hanging out clothes,
My mother gave your mother
A punch in the nose.
What color blood came out?
The caller then named a color, e.g.
Red. Then the caller spelled while
indicating each person:
"R E D" spells red and you are IT!"
-Guest, Puffenkinty; 5/24/2005;
http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=81350; “I'm Rubber. You're Glue:
Children's Rhymes
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My Mother, Your Mother-What Color Was The Blood;
{Example #4}
…my favorite counting out rhyme of all time was
(person 1) my mother punched your mother, what color was the blood?
(person 2, the person it lands on, states a color. for example, if they say
purple, the 6th person in the circle is out cause there are 6 letters in purple)
-beetle cat; 12/14/2004;
http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=4300 ; “Children's Street
Songs”
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My Mother, Your Mother-What Color Was The Blood;
{Example #3}
My momma, your momma, hanging out clothes
Your mom hit my momma right in the nose
What color was the blood?*
(Answers with a color)
(Caller spells color) and (optional: my momma says) you are not it!
The person landed on picks out a color and the caller spells it and proceeds as
usual, eliminating the last one landed on.
*The po-leace took your momma straight to jail
how many days to pay her bail?
Proceeds as above only using numbers in leu of letters. This last version showed
up as I was becoming too old for tag hide-and-seek, and seemed to start with
some kids from Fort Dodge. From time to time "momma" was replaced by "grannie".
- Neighmond [Chaz J.; Spencer, Iowa]; 2/3/2003 ;
http://www.mudcat.org/threads.cfm
; “Folklore: Skipping Rhymes &
Playground Games"
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My Mother Punched Your Mother {Example #2}
My mother punched your mother
in the face.
What color was the blood.
-8 year old African American boy; Fort Pitt Elementary School, Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania, 2001
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My Mother, Your Mother-What Color Was The Blood; {Version #1}
My mother and your mother
Were Hanging out the clothes.
My mother punched your mother
Right in the nose.
What color was the blood?
Red {or another color}
R-E-D spells red {spell the selected color}
and you are out.
-Azizi Powell’s memory of childhood in Atlantic City, New Jersey, 1950s
O, P, Q
R, S, T
Skunk In The Barnyard {Version #2}
Alright, we used a choosing rhyme/game called "Skunk in the Barnyard" The
leader stands in a circle of all the kids playing the game, he is the "Skunk",
the circle of kids around him is the "Barnyard" The game works such as this, the
skunk says (as he is spinning with his eyes closed) Im a little skunk I can fart
on you If i ever pass some gas You'll say Pee-Yew! and after the skunk says the
last line the person whom he "farts on" is the person thats it.
-Jessica ; 4/21/2008
Editor:
Jessica, thanks for sending in that example. Thanks also for remembering to
include performance information.
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Skunk In The Barnyard {Version #1}
Skunk in the barnyard.
Pee Yew!
When did it come from
From YOU!
-8 year old African American boy, Fort Pitt Elementary School, 2002
U, V, W
X, Y, Z
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