Eenie meenie miney mo meaning
This version was similar to that reported by Henry Carrington Bolton as the most common version among American schoolchildren in 1888.
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Iona and Peter Opie (1951) quote the following version:Įena, meena, mina, mo, Catch a nigger by his toe If he squeals let him go, Eena, meena, mina, mo. Some versions of this rhyme used the racial slur " nigger" instead of " tiger". The rhyme was recorded in 1904 by Nynke van Hichtum in Goor in the eastern Netherlands.Īnne manne miene mukke, Ikke tikke takke tukke, Eere vrouwe grieze knech, Ikke wikke wakke weg.
![eenie meenie miney mo meaning eenie meenie miney mo meaning](https://miro.medium.com/max/600/1*n0HfucHnh8b4nFKBrHwRwA.png)
Ī possible origin is a centuries-old, possibly Old Saxon, divination rhyme, argued for in 1957 by the Dutch philologists Jan Naarding and Klaas Heeroma of the Nedersaksisch Instituut (Low Saxon Institute) at the University of Groningen. Īnother possible origin is from a Swahili poem brought to the Americas by enslaved Africans: Iino ya mmiini maiini mo. Īnother possibility is that British colonials returning from India introduced a doggerel version of an Indian children's rhyme used in the game of carom billiards:īaji neki baji thou, elim tilim latim gou. One theory about the origins of the rhyme is that it is descended from Old English or Welsh counting, similar to the old shepherd's count " Yan Tan Tethera" or the Cornish "Eena, mena, mona, mite". Ī Cornish version collected in 1882 runs:Įna, mena, mona, mite, Bascalora, bora, bite, Hugga, bucca, bau, Eggs, butter, cheese, bread. This was one of many variants of "counting out rhymes" collected by Bolton in 1888. Variations of this rhyme, with the nonsense/counting first line have been collected since the 1820s, such as this one, which includes the 'toe' and 'olla' from Kipling's version:Įenie, Meenie, Tipsy, toe Olla bolla Domino, Okka, Pokka dominocha, Hy! Pon! Tush! Bolton also found a similar rhyme in German:Įne, tene, mone, mei, Pastor, lone, bone, strei, Ene, fune, herke, berke, Wer? Wie? Wo? Was? Henry Carrington Bolton discovered this version to be in the US, Ireland and Scotland in the 1880s but was unknown in England until later in the century. Hana, man, mona, mike Barcelona, bona, strike Hare, ware, frown, vanac Harrico, warico, we wo, wac. The first record of a similar rhyme, called the "Hana, man," is from about 1815, when children in New York City are said to have repeated the rhyme: spells out, And out goes she, In the middle of the deep blue sea" or "My mother told me/says to pick the very best one, and that is Y-O-U/you are it" while another source cites "Out goes Y-O-U." " Tigger" is also used instead of "tiger" in some versions of the rhyme. The scholars Iona and Peter Opie noted that many variants have been recorded, some with additional words such as ". If he hollers, let him go, Eeny, meeny, miny, moe. If American discrimination law means the most sensitive of us get to decide what speech is permissible, then we have all lost important freedom.A common modern version is: Eeny, meeny, miny, moe, Catch a tiger by the toe. "There are a lot of people in this world who take themselves too seriously," Barrett said. She says her employees did nothing wrong, so she won't tell them to shut up. Southwest's president, Colleen Barrett, is fighting the suit. I think so too, but amazingly, a federal judge in Kansas City, Kan., said the lawsuit can go forward because "Eenie Meenie" could be viewed as racist. "It's a scam, if you ask me," said a woman.
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"I think some lawyer and some people are huntin' for some quick bucks," one man said. Lots of people had opinions about the lawsuit. Most older people we asked, white and black, didn't know anything about the racial connotation.
![eenie meenie miney mo meaning eenie meenie miney mo meaning](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/b8/95/29/b895290e6b11660cf6ad1bdcf634ac9c.jpg)
Kids we know told us it's just a way to pick someone. The 22-year-old flight attendant said she didn't know anything about "Eenie, Meenie's" racist past - she'd just heard other staff use the rhyme to get passengers to sit. It's true that the rhyme was once a hurtful part of America's racist past, but today few people even know about that. That's why the women say they deserve money - "punitive damages." They suffered "severe emotional distress," because they were "unable to escape the airplane, which was … poisoned with racism." Eenie, meenie, minie mo.Catch a tiger by the toe.If he hollers, let him go.Eenie, meenie, minie mo.īut years ago, some said not "catch a tiger by the toe," but "catch a nigger by the toe."