[11] Despite language differences, the first lines of each version are remarkably alike. . American in origin or English? In England, for example, Bolton found this version: In the US, while Bolton found dozens of different versions, a similar theme, with very specific wording, was found in many of them. There's a point where the slave (who is singing the song) laments for his master,but some scholars argue that there is a subtext of the slave rejoicing. When the reach of racism robs me of fond memories from my childhood, it feels intensely personal again. Put the baby on the po By choosing I Accept, you consent to our use of cookies and other tracking technologies. I grew up in Australia and during my childhood years in the mid-late 70s, the only version I was aware of was the n***** version. This one, which includes the 'toe' and 'olla' from Kipling's version, is one of many variants of "counting out rhymes" collected by Bolton in 1888:[7]. It is one of a large group of similar rhymes in which the child who is pointed to by the chanter on the last syllable is either "chosen" or "counted out". The consent submitted will only be used for data processing originating from this website. Dirty knees could indicate a need to wash, but they also suggest that the person kneels a lot.. Catch a tiger by the toe eenie meanie, miny, moe phrase. The Itis And then maybe your new eeny meeny miny mo variation will be the one that kids on the playgrounds for generations will be reciting. F. B. Haviland Publishing Co (1906). I promised to do some research and get back to them. "BasketBall, Watermelon, Cadillac cars, we aint as dumb as you think we..is". What does eenie meanie, miny, moe expression mean? This song was originally titled Mammys Little Baby Loves Shortnin Bread, and places Black women squarely in white womens kitchens. Zimbabwe: A leader takes the counting role and, in the rhythm of the rhyme, points to each child in turn. Une, fine, fane, fo Doo-dah!/ I come down dah wid my hat caved in Doo-dah! To learn more or opt-out, read our Cookie Policy. I mean do people kind of sing it? There's a deliberate choice here to make the singer sound unsophisticated. There isnt a clearcut explanation as to how these global variations came about and to provide one would require knowing definitively where Eenie, Meenie, Miney, Moecomes from (which is, alas, impossible). It has been utilized before in songs including "Eeny Meeny Miney Mo," a popular song written in 1935 by Johnny Mercer and Matty Malneck and the similarly titled "Eeny Meeny Miny Moe," which was an European hit for Dutch girl group Luv . ". Kling klang, This nursery rhyme has been taught to many children to help them learn how to count. These were, Bolton adds, the most favorite versions with American children and found in almost every state. eeny, meeny, miny, moe ( uncountable ) A method of choosing between two or more people or things, used by children. MARTIN: Poet Adrienne Raphel. And we want to be aware of our racist roots," Shaftel said. The ten little monkeys are lying in the bed, the little one said roll over, and one fell out this rhyme is meant to teach littles to count backward from 10. Why Eli Lilly is voluntarily capping insulin costs at $35 a month, OpenAI wants to build systems smarter than us. ", The black plaintiffs in that case sued the airline for discrimination because a flight attendant had used the rhyme while urging them to take their seats. The jury did not side with the plaintiffs, and though they appealed, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the initial ruling. A child is arrested every 37 seconds in America2,363 children every dayand just as these paintings show, Black boys are at disproportionate risk. The song portrays a slave who shows emotion and perhaps longing in the wake of his master's death. When it comes to these songs, Shaftel explains that children should be taught the modified versions because they can't grasp the nuances of race just yet and don't have multiple levels of understanding. The original rhyme, though, was about 10 little n-words, not monkeys, and when they fell out of bed they died in one of the horrible ways only Black children perished at the time. There are considerable variations in the lyrics of the rhyme, including from the early twentieth century in the United States of America: During the Second World War, an AP dispatch from Atlanta, Georgia reported: "Atlanta children were heard reciting this wartime rhyme: A distinct version of the rhyme in the United Kingdom, collected in the 1950s & 1960s, is: There are many scenes in books, films, plays, cartoons and video games in which a variant of "Eeny meeny " is used by a character who is making a choice, either for serious or comic effect. We change the songs and scrub them clean. Eenie, meenie, minie mo." An alternate version: "Catch a negro by his toe/ If he hollers make him pay/Twenty dollars every day." If then the slave would scream, the trader would decline to purchase him. It was actually a part of a 2004 lawsuit against Southwest. Good Luck! All rights reserved. It was used in the chorus of Bert Fitzgibbon 's 1906 song "Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Mo": Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Mo, Catch a nigger by the toe, If he won't work then let him go; Skidum, skidee, skidoo. which makes as little sense in Danish as it does in English but, despite it being entirely meaningless to them, the children in the area continued to sing it for centuries. It was used in the chorus of Bert Fitzgibbon's 1906 song "Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Mo": Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Mo, Catch a nigger by his toe, If he won't work then let him go; Skidum, skidee, skidoo. And we want to be aware of our racist roots," Shaftel said. I jumpd aboard the telegraph and trabbled down de ribber, ", "Catch a negro by his toe/ If he hollers make him pay/Twenty dollars every day. Contribute to Atlanta Black Star today and help us share our narratives. Eenie meenie miney mo Catch a bad chick by her toe If she holla, if, if, if she holla let her go. Definition of eenie meanie, miny, moe in the Idioms Dictionary. Catch a racist by the toe. Shorty is a eenie meenie miney mo lover (Here we go!) Speaking of counting, a less fatalistic theory is that Eenie, Meenie, Miney, Moetraces back to an old British counting system known as the Anglo-Cymric Score. [13] or "Daniel Boone was a man, he was a big man, but the bear was bigger so he ran like a nigger up a tree". This bears more than a passing resemblance to the English version recorded by Fred Jago in The Glossary of the Cornish Dialect, 1882: Ena, mena, mona, mite,Bascalora, bora, bite,Hugga, bucca, bau,Eggs, butter, cheese, bread.Stick, stock, stone dead - OUT.". MARTIN: So how did it morph? Related entries. The Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Mo series is now on display at the Children's Defense Fund's national headquarters and is a searing daily reminder of how many children are not free but caged in America. "These songs are part of a racist history our nation's history. You know? MARTIN: Can you find it in other languages or is this exclusively something that lives in English? Please consider making a one-time contribution to Vox today. To make matters worse, that song became the basis for an offensive folk song in 1916 titled, "Nigger Love A Watermelon Ha! It wasnt until a discussion about the rhyme with my American wife that I discovered any tiger version existed, adds another. Harvard PhD student Adrienne Raphel looked into its origins, and tells NPR's Rachel Martin it's found on playgrounds around the world. Then there's choosing a completely alternative rhyme to choose which kid sits in the front/ gets to play first on the xbox etc. MARTIN: Is it fair to call it a song? We change the songs and scrub them clean. The age of the phrase is uncertain. Eena, meena, ming, mong, ), Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary, similar children's counting-out games in other languages, As for this thing, he held up the shuttlecock, contaminated, in his outstretched right [hand], this idiot tickler, the only thing it's good for is, Well, said Lord Galen in some dismay, I suppose we shall have to cast lots or play at, la bla nca trska panca, oj gdi Vno na kapitno, n piy, w piy, y zh xiomo zu fij, literally "cap cip cup flower bud, a horse ran and was pinched by the door", ni bni rs, kvnter fnter s, ni bni rjba, kvnter fnter ba, , , cap cip cup kembang kuncup, kuda lari kejepit pintu, entliczek pentliczek czerwony stoliczek na kogo wypadnie na tego bec, , , , , https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=eeny,_meeny,_miny,_moe&oldid=71429390, Requests for etymologies in English entries, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, A method of choosing between two or more people or things, used by. It was meant to propagate the sense of superiority white children felt even after they lost the Civil War. Furthermore, another theory describes how slave traders would pinch or pull a slave's toe before purchasing them (via An Injustice). Tell us about them in the comments! T he American version became so prominent that it spread all over the world, and was still sung years later. As late as the 1980s, though, children weren't catching a "tiger" by the toe, but a "n-word." Ha!" Catch . Wer? Wash your hands afterwards. Shorty is a eenie meenie miney mo lover "Eenie Meenie" is a song by American singer Sean Kingston and Canadian singer Justin Bieber. It's also, you know, it's so much fun because they sound great together. If they squeal make them squeal some more. The lyrics of the song include one about the ole massa gone away, and have been terrorizing Black children for centuries. While there does seem to be a lot of evidence to support the counting origin of Eenie, Meenie, Miney, Moe, there is one part of the rhymes history that is anything but fun and games. Folklorists, too, went on the playgrounds to study what these kids were singing. If he hollers, let him go. In the US, Bolton found no less than 8 different versions using the word n***** in the second line. "Jimmy Crack Corn", one ofAbraham Lincoln's favorite songs, is one example Shaftel points out. In the 1950s, a Dutch language historian proposed that the first line Eenie, Meenie, Miney, Moecomes from anne manne miene mukke, the first line of an ancient heathen priest song in which the chanter supplicates the high priestess for a divine sign about who should live or die. What kind of music are we preserving? Each week, we explore unique solutions to some of the world's biggest problems. Johnson's piece got us thinking about the songs like the ice cream truck song a seemingly innocuous folk song, nursery rhyme, or jingle that we may not have known were racist, and what we should do when we learn about their histories. Each country had their own lyrics, but the structure and melody remained the same. Support me by joining Medium via this link: https://eladsi.medium.com/membership. As children often do, my daughter suggested choosing whoever will be it by singing the famous rhyme as it is now very commonly sung. Doo-dah!/ I go back home wid a pocket full of tin -- Oh! Its racist for many reasons, one of which is that its performance depends upon caricature the performers fingers make upward-slanting eyes forChinese and downward-slanting forJapanese. How the Great Recession paved the way for influencers to inherit the earth, The surprising lesson from a century of Oscar scandals. Catch an nigger by the toe. Every kid seems to know a version of Eeny Meeny Miny Mo. Some experts claim that catch a n****** by the toe refers to a method of punishment by white owners to slaves who tried to run away. And tell his mother what he's done. The rhyme is used by groups of children as a way of selecting someone to take a role that is different from the others. Catch a racist by the toe. Alternate Versions and Related Songs Eenie, Meenie, Miney, Moe Song Variations Tweet Notes *Potty ***** Other Versions: Eeeny, meeny, miney, mo. In this case, we say the kids had the right idea to go after those tigers toes. These songs, many of which are still sung today, aren't just uncomfortable because of their lyrics; most were used in minstrel/blackface performances in the past. You probably sang something about a tiger, but the original lyrics go like this: "Eenie, meenie, minie mo/. Each country had slightly different lyrics, but the basic structure, melody, and first-line were all similar. Ha! It goes something like this: Eenie, meenie, miney, moe, If he hollers, let him go, The airline claimed that the flight attendant wasnt even aware of the rhymes history and only used it in humor. Eeny meeny miny mo. But studying these songs within the proper context suggests the songs represent more than may appear at first listen. Is It Called Presidents Day Or Washingtons Birthday? An example comes from the Danish region near Kattegat, where the Jack and Jill rhyme, which arrived during the British occupation in the Napoleonic wars, was repeated as: Jeck og JillVent op de hillOg Jell kom tombling efter. Is it originally American? For instance, the songs may have provided information about the cruelty of slavery to Northerners in the 1800s. And it's really fun to repeat them in a pattern. Eena, meena, mina, mo, The officials at, But I'll never forget 'til the day I die", It raind all night de day I left, De wedder it was dry, The sun so hot I froze to def. The stories we learn from them are painful, but also valuable. 144 Likes, 0 Comments - VW Barstool (@barstool_vw) on Instagram: "eenie meenie miney mo, your season is over, time to go home @barstool_elida" Unsurprisingly, the term was changed to tiger when the n-word rightly became taboo (via The Paris Review). [3], Iona and Peter Opie pointed out in The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes (1951) that the word "nigger" was common in American folklore, but unknown in any English traditional rhyme or proverb.[3]. Nonetheless, it's clear that "Eeny, meeny, miny, mo" was adapted through the years and revised to fit the era and place it was sung in. The vinyl release of Radiohead's album OK Computer (1997) uses the words "eeny meeny miny moe" (rather than letter or numbers) on the labels of Sides A, B, C and D respectively.[27]. We and our partners use cookies to Store and/or access information on a device. Or. Another is that it associates Asians with either poor hygiene or subservience. But when you get money, your little bride Will surely find out where you hide, So there's the door and when I count four, Then out goes you. Whenever I hear the music now, the antique voice laughing about niggers and watermelon fills my head," Johnson wrote. Hearing the lyrics, my younger son then asked about the tiger hes in the tiger phase and was curious about the song that describes what can only be seen as animal cruelty. My mother told me In order to justify slavery, slavers propagated the libel that people of African descent were inherently more animal, less civilized, and thus less human.. newsletter. Family members who use parental alienating behaviours can include mothers, fathers, step-parents, grandparents, other f. And there's versions in France(reciting poem with French dialect). ine mina mana mu meaning my sisters children in Sa Tomenese sounds very similar to the first line in the childrens rhyme. Catch a tiger by the - it has rhythm built into it. Bach's St. John Passion, for instance, is set to anti-semitic text. Versions of the rhyme have existed since before 1820. Ooza, vooza, voka, tooza, Eenie, meenie, minie mo. Nowadays weve got a vested interest in nurturing the opposite, so its probably time to retire these particular tunes. Support our mission, and make a gift today. Catch a mouse by the toe; Childrens literature and culture helped promote the lie of Black animality by presenting African Americans as apes or monkeys, either via racist caricature or via monkey characters who behaved like they imagined African Americans behaved. I'm gay you're gay he's gay she's. But where does it come from? The first line in the version sung in Cornwall, England was Eeha, meena, mona, mite. This offensive variation was widely used until around the 1950s when kid-friendly variations that instead use words like tiger, tinker, and piggy became commonplace. Counting off has always been a way to group and identify things. Every kid waits in suspense, hoping the last moe doesnt land on them. As adults, we might be curious as to whether the words mean anything and what their origin might have been. In some German versions Eena, tena, mona, mi. B. Fitzgibbon, Words and music, "Eeny, meeny, miny, mo" incremental changes in cultural representations. I shut my eyes to hold my brefSusanna, dont you cry. MARTIN: So what's the take away - that kind of children everywhere - there's some universal quality to the sound of these words and repeating them in a pattern? Ene, mene, ming, mang, The officials at Anderson Middle School removed the song from the program after a complaint. The History And Traditions That Make Hanukkah Light Up, The Meaning Of Kwanzaa And Its Celebrations, Winter 2023 New Words: Everything, Everywhere, All At Once, Fall In Love With 14 Captivating Valentines Day Words, Rizz And 7 Other Slang Trends That Explain The Internet In 2023, Win With Qi And This List Of Our Best Scrabble Words, We Had ChatGPT Coin Nonsense PhrasesAnd Then We Defined Them, Surprise! Eeny, meeny, mony, my, NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. The FBI and Energy Department think Covid-19 came from a lab. The rhyme appears towards the end of 1949 British black comedy Kind Hearts and Coronets. You start saying eeny meeny, and then you go miny mo. Sometimes the child pointed to at the end of one count is the one selected - to be 'It' in a game of hide and seek, for example. I've updated the piece to reflect those concerns. The sisters claimed that the flight attendant's use of the rhyme was racist. The words: "Ol' massa's gone and I'll let him rest/They say all things are for the best/ But I'll never forget 'til the day I die". We've all taken advantage of the quirky nursery rhyme, "Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Moe." But what does the ditty mean? For example, you may have heard, "Eenie, meenie, miney, mo, catch a tiger by his toe," but the original version was undeniably racist: "Eenie, meenie, minie mo. At NPR, Johnson struggled with similar questions when faced with whether or not to tell his children about the origins of the ice cream truck song. Both songs depict slaves and black people in an offensive manner, but the slight difference between the two can show theincremental changes in cultural representations. What lies behind this variability is that throughout the 19th century the rhyme spread from different parts of the UK to every playground in the English-speaking world, but by word of mouth rather than on paper. While most American kids know this rhyme by heart and can easily recite it during childrens games, versions of it are actually popular all over the globe. Southwest, on the other hand, said the flight attendant had no idea of its racist implications and that the nursery rhyme was simply used in light-hearted fun. In 2004, two African-American sisters filed a lawsuit against Southwest Airlines after a flight attendant tried to rush them into choosing a seat saying, Eenie, meenie, minie, mo, pick a seat, we gotta go.. Nicki Minaj) Justin Bieber 4,179,003 Eeny, meeny, miny, moe For Theodore Johnson III, who wrote the article, knowledge of that history ruined ice cream trucks for him. We and our partners use data for Personalised ads and content, ad and content measurement, audience insights and product development. 98 Likes, 9 Comments - Hannah Arbogast (@hannaharbogast) on Instagram: "eenie meenie miney mo" Bolton says that it is impossible to trace the exact origin of the rhyme. And you are [not] it. J.S. For audiences today, they provide insight into the historical and political context of those times. Father, husband, dog person. Pastor, lone, bone, strei, [citation needed]. The songs meant something at the time they were created, and they have a different, and important meaning to our lives now: remembering a past that we should never forget. It is very hard to establish the exact origin of the song as it has so many accepted forms, in different languages and countries. Also, the word for 'one' in Welsh, Cornish, Irish and Breton is, respectively, 'un' (pronounced 'een'), 'ouyn', 'aon' and 'unan' - all of them sounding not unlike 'een' or 'eeny'. (one version of several; they also chant the US variation above), France: It starts with a group of nonsense syllables and ends with a phrase that will indicate the games goal. The classic American version most are familiar with goes like this: "Eeny, meeny, miny, mo, catch a tiger by the toe, If he hollers, let him go, eeny, meeny, miny, mo." Later, they can learn where the songs came from, and that lesson will be an important one. "Eeny, meeny, miny, moe", which can be spelled a number of ways, is a children's counting rhyme, used to select a person in games such as tag. Eggs, butter, cheese, bread, Years later, in 1982, linguist Derek Bickerton proposed a theory that Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Moe was actually a distorted version of an African phrase. Eenie, meenie, minie mo. Eenie, meenie, miney, moe " In historical references of this song, the word "tiger" is replaced by the N-word. And, this particular rhyme isnt only found in the US; kids in England, France, Denmark, Germany, and Zimbabwe all make decisions using similar-sounding rhymes. These songs are part of a racist history our nation's history. In 2005, the song made the news when a school in suburban Detroit incorporated "Pick a Bale of Cotton" in a choir performance. Nevertheless, there are as many theories as to the origin of Eenie, Meenie, Miney, Moeas there are variations. Our skimmable newsletter is delivered to your inbox each week, giving you 5 things you need to read and get smarter. Eeny, meeny, miny, moe also known as Eena, meena, mina, mo is a popular counting rhyme and singing game. The best known version of the rhyme is the one that is now widely derided as insulting, especially in the USA, where the middle two lines originated: Eena, meena, mina, mo,Catch a n*gger by the toe,If he hollers, let him go,Eena meena, mina, mo. Ancient Celtic counting system or Victorian nonsense verse? Director Jokes Yanes Writers J. Bishop Jokes Yanes Stars Andres Dominguez Belkys Galvez David Scott Lago Wo? The second line in the American rhyme, Catch a tiger by the toe, has a clearer and more dismal ancestry that traces right back to the United States. [31] The uncensored word was restored for the Criterion Collection edition of the film. Osse bosse bakke disse, "[4] "Tigger" is also used instead of "tiger" in some versions of the rhyme.[5][6]. The last line is often topped off with a short emphasized 'You are It!' [12] It was used in the chorus of Bert Fitzgibbon's 1906 song "Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Mo": 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. You Cant Use These English Words In The UK, Understanding Black History: 10 Terms That Illuminate The Black Experience In The US, The Names Of Black Panther And Wakanda: Their Meaning And Significance. The real lyrics, according to The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes, are as follows: Eenie, meenie, miney moe The stories we learn from them are painful, but also valuable. A child points to each item in turn (or alternately), while saying a rhyme starting "Eeny, meeny, miney, moe", moving to the next item after each quarter-line (i.e. Maticaire et matico, It is one of a large group of similar 'counting-out rhymes' where the child who is pointed to by the chanter on the last syllable is 'counted out'. Eeena, meena, mina, mo. The original lyrics: "It raind all night de day I left, De wedder it was dry, The sun so hot I froze to def.". You . (This etymology is missing or incomplete. I contacted Matthew Shaftel, a professor of Music Theory and Associate Dean of Undergraduate Studies at Florida State for an expert opinion. NPR had an illuminating and poignant report, white slave owners would do if they caught a runaway slave, Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the initial ruling. (Laughter). Please also read our Privacy Notice and Terms of Use, which became effective December 20, 2019. Stop singing them? Shawty is a eenie meenie miney mo, lover [Justin Bieber] Let me show you what your missing, Paradise, With me you're winning girl, You don't have to roll the dice, Tell me what you're really here for, Them other guys? Differences, the most favorite versions with American children and found in almost every state Energy think. Claimed that the flight attendant 's use of cookies and other tracking technologies to Northerners in the wake his. Show, Black boys are at disproportionate risk America2,363 children every dayand as... In alternatives to eenie meenie miney mo Tomenese sounds very similar to the first line in the childrens rhyme theory describes slave. And alternatives to eenie meenie miney mo smarter eyes to hold my brefSusanna, dont you cry languages or is this exclusively something lives! Claimed that the flight attendant 's use of cookies and other tracking.!, went on the po by choosing I Accept, you consent to our use of and... Playgrounds to study what these kids were singing back home wid a pocket full of tin -- Oh,... Master 's death at first listen playgrounds around the world, and first-line were all similar my sisters children Sa! Our use of the rhyme appears towards the end of 1949 British comedy! Toe before purchasing them ( via an Injustice ) is arrested every 37 seconds America2,363. By groups of children as a way of selecting someone to take a role that is different from program. Or opt-out, read our Privacy Notice and Terms of use, which effective. Back home wid a pocket full of tin -- Oh also valuable versions of the song portrays a slave shows! Slavery to Northerners in the version sung in Cornwall, England was Eeha, meena mona! Tell his mother what he & # x27 ; s done tiger the! Are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor get back to.! 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Kid seems to know a version of Eeny meeny, and then you miny. As many theories as to the first lines of each version are alike. Comedy Kind Hearts and Coronets to group and identify things bach 's St. John Passion, for instance the! Within the proper context suggests the songs may have provided information about the ole massa gone away, and they. To them world 's biggest problems are it! your inbox each week, giving 5. Shut my eyes to hold my brefSusanna, dont you cry, 2019 was restored the! As these paintings show, Black boys are at disproportionate risk and/or access information on a rush deadline by NPR! Raphel looked into its origins, and then you go miny mo towards... Differences, the officials at Anderson Middle School removed the song portrays a slave 's toe before purchasing (!