Choosing It Rhymes

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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Please send examples of choosing it/counting out rhymes to cocojams17@yahoo.com

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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Visit http://www.myspace.com/cocojams to view selected videos and other information about children's playground rhymes and songs. Join Cocojams' Myspace page while you're there!

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Examples of Choosing It (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

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ACKABACKA (Example #2)
Ackabacka Soda Cracka.
Ackabacka boo.
In comes out.
and out goes YOU!
-various sources, including 7 year old African American boy, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 5/10/2003

Editor:
Note that this rhyme might have been originally used as a jump rope (skipping) rhyme. The "in comes out and out goes you" phrase may have been a signal for the person or persons jumping inside the rope to jump out of the rope.

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.

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ALL HID
Click http://www.cocojams.com/content/childrens-rhymes-cheers to read this chant that is spoken/sung by the person designated as "It" during the game of "Hide & Go Seek"

C, D
COCONUT CRACK
My sister knows another version of a 'choosing It' game, which goes "Coconut coconut coconut CRACK." Everyone starts with two clasped hands; when these are 'cracked' they split into two seperate fists. Again, both fists must be out before the person is 'out'.
-Viracocha {Portlethen, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, in the early 90s}; 8/3/2007; http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=18352; Lyr Req: Playground songs

Editor:
Thanks, Viracocha, for permission to post this and other examples. In another post to that discussion, Viracocha noted that her youngest sister "just left Primary 7 (she's 12, in other words)". Presumably, that is the sister who she is referring to in this post.

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DOOGIE DOGGIE
Doggie Doggie Doggie
Step. Right. OUT.
Shadeena K. (African American girl, age 9; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 2000); April 2004

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}

Editor:
See examples of "Eenie Meenie Oop Pah Leenie" and similarly worded rhymes on Cocojams' Handclap & Jump Rope Rhyme Page.

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EENIE MEENIE (Version #2)
Gloucestershire, UK, in the early 1990s...

A couple of 'choosing' rhymes that haven't been mentioned here. We'd use them to work out who was going to be 'on' in another game.

eeny meeny miny mo,
catch a tigger by its toe
if it squeals, let him go,
eeny meeny miny mo.
-Guest Jess; 9/23/2007; http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=18352; Lyr Req: Playground songs

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EEENIE MEENIE MYNIE MO (Version #3)
Eenie Meenie Mynie Mo
Catch a tigger by the toe
If it/he squeals, let it/him go
Eenie Meenie Mynie Mo
You
Are
Not
It.

Yes, TIGGER, not tiger. I have since been told this came from "N****r" - thankfully, that one was never used at my school.
-Viracocha {Portlethen, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, in the early 90s}; 8/3/2007; http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=18352; Lyr Req: Playground songs

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EENIE, MEENIE, MINIE, MO (Version #4)
Eenie, Meenie, Minie, Moe,
Catch a tiger by the toe,
If he hollers, make him pay,
Fifty dollars every day.
-Karl's wife (central Indiana; from the 1970's and early 1980's); 5/10/2010

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ENGINE ENGINE NUMBER NINE (Version #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

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ENGINE ENGINE NUMBER NINE (Version #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.

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
IBBLE OBBIE
ibble obble black bobble
ibble obble out
turn the dirty dishcloth inside out
O-U-T spells out!
-Guest Jess; 9/23/2008; {Gloucestershire, UK, in the early 1990s}; Playground Rhymes

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ICKABAKA SODA CRACKER (Version #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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ICKABACKA (Version #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; Mudcat Discussion Forum: " Please help 'Hucka Chucka soda cracka"

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ICKY ACKIE (Version # 3 of Ickabaca)

A 'Choosing' Rhyme:
Icky-Ackie, Hores Cackie, Icky Ackie-OUT!

Om Pompeii
Cally-ey
Cally oski
Om Pompeii
Cally-ey
Mr Turnip
Apple Turnip
Mr Turnip
Boom boom.

This is the way the teacher stands, she folds her arms & claps her hand, this is the way the teacher stands, WHOOPS yer auntie mary-o
-Dave (Forsh) [Australia?]; Lyr Req: Playground songs; http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=18352&messages=68&page=2; February 05, 2008

Note that the words to this rhyme are exactly the same as the words "Om Pompeii" which is described as a handclap rhyme from England. Visit http://www.cocojams.com/content/handclap-jump-rope-and-elastics-rhymes to find that rhyme.

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INK-A-DINK
One of the rhymes we used to use all the time was as follows:

Ink-a-dink,
A bottle of ink,
Cork fell out and you stink,
Not because you're dirty,
Not because you're clean,
But just because you kissed a girl (boy),
Behind a magazine.

AND YOU ARE NOT IT!

This would have been back in the 1970's and early 1980's in Chicago. My wife states that they said this rhyme as well (substituting "girl" for "boy") during the same time period in central Indiana.
-Karl & Karl's wife; from the 1970's and early 1980's Chicago, Illinois and central Indiana; 5/10/2010

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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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IP DIP DO
We used to sing at school:

Ip dip dooo
The cat's got the flu
The dog's got measles
So out goes you
-Dee (Essex; Great Britain); http://www.ukskeptics.com/forum/showthread.php/2012-Playground-childhood... January 22, 2008

K, L

M, N
MICKEY MOUSE IN HIS HOUSE (Version #1)
As for games 'choosing it', I believe the Mickey Mouse one (that I mentioned earlier) went (in our various accents):

Mickey Mouse/Moose
In his house/hoose
Pulling up/on his trousers/troosers
They fall down
[something something]
What colour are his pants/is his bum?
[person landed on]-Blue[or other colour]
(and apparently there's no "B-L-U-E spells blue" stuff - the person who chants the rhyme has already picked a colour - if you said THEIR colour, you were it. I remembered it as being far more rude...perhaps that seemed shocking to me then?)
-Viracocha {Portlethen, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, in the early 90s}; 8/3/2007; http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=18352; Lyr Req: Playground songs

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MICKEY MOUSE IN THE HOUSE (Version #2)
Ok, This is one my mates sing at school and its slightly different to the others we hear..

Mickey Mouse is in the house
Pulling down his trousers
Quick comes mom to smack his bum
What colour will they be?
[person landed on]-Blue[or other colour]
B-L-U-E spells blue
O-U-T
O-U-T
O-U-T spells out!
-Guest Tasha; 12/5/2007; http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=18352 Lyr Req: Playground songs

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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 (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

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MY MOTHER PUNCHED YOUR MOTHER (Version #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 #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, YOUR MOTHER-WHAT COLOR WAS THE BLOOD;
(Version #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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MOTHER AND YOUR MOTHER HAD A BIG FIGHT (Version #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;
(Version #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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MY MOTHER, YOUR MOTHER -WHAT COLOR WAS THE BLOOD;
(Version #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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O, P, Q
ONE EYE OPEN
Click http://www.cocojams.com/content/childrens-rhymes-cheers to read this chant that is spoken/sung by the person designated as "It" during the game of "Hide & Go Seek"

ONE POTATO TWO POTATO
One potato, two potato, three potato, four
five potato, six potato, seven potato more!

(I think the person on 'more' would be out..)
-Guest Jess; 9/23/2008; {Gloucestershire, UK, in the early 1990s}; Playground Rhymes

R, S, T

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

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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

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TELL ME THE COLOURS OF THE UNION JACK
(some lines missing, about meeting someone and being asked:)
tell me the colours of the union jack
red, white or blue?
(person would choose one, and one of these rhymes would be used, then back to the chorus and another choice)
Red is the colour of danger, danger, danger,
Red is the colour of danger, so out go you!
White is the colour of marriage, marriage, marriage,
White is the colour of marriage, so out go you!
Blue is the colour of the sea, the sea, the sea,
Blue is the colour of the sea, so out go you!
-Guest Jess; 9/23/2008; {Gloucestershire, UK, in the early 1990s}; Playground Rhymes

Editor:
"The Union Jack" refers to the national flag of the United Kingdom. Many flags throughout the world feature the flag of the United Kingdom, often in the canton {upper left hand corner} position. Click http://www.enchantedlearning.com/geography/flags/uklike.shtml to see photos of those flags.

U, V, W

X, Y, Z

Send examples of "choosing it" and "counting out" rhymes to cocojams17@yahoo.com

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Thanks!