Talk:Eeny, meeny, miny, moe

Nigger controversy

See also: Talk:Eenie Meenie

Originally the phrase was "catch the nigger by his toe." This predated black slavery and was a reference to the devil. The devil having cloven hooves wuold have no feeling in his toes, so the rhyme was a way of detecting Old Nick from an innocent.

I can't find any reference for the nigger=devil etymology. Can you point me to a reference? - DavidWBrooks 16:42, 7 Mar 2004 (UTC)

• The Devil has sometimes been described as a "black man" (black symbolical of evil - see Demons and colours) but without a definite reference, the "devil=nigger" connection looks like speculation based upon that knowledge. ~ FriedMilk 07:33, 10 Apr 2004 (UTC)

  Whoever wrote this nonsense was also unaware that blacks have been in America since ca. 1617. Since the Devil doesn't have a toe, this is all just sand in our eyes, to "show" that "nigger" isn't "nigger." I hate to delete this. Maybe someone else will... Wetman 06:02, 28 Aug 2004 (UTC)

  Doesn't seem to be anything but whitewashing (so to speak). I've removed it in the process of merging in Eenie Meenie; if anyone can verify it, they can add it back in. -Sean Curtin 05:31, Sep 7, 2004 (UTC)

  There does seem to be some evidence online for this - including the perhaps more convincing assertion that Inimicus Animo is Latin for 'Enemy of the spirit'. I would consider adding it back in if this is the case - but isn't animo 'my spirit'? (very basic Latin here). --taras 11:36, 10 February 2006 (UTC)

• For what it's worth, growing up in Australia in the 70's I had only ever heard of the "nigger" version. I didn't even know there were other versions! — Preceding unsigned comment added by 27.99.99.148 (talk) 02:43, 6 November 2012 (UTC)
• Funny, I'd been taught the "tiger" version like most people in the USA, and my older (white) relatives had never known any other version. I'd first heard the "nigger" version contained in the Parliament song "Loose Booty", and had always assumed George Clinton had made it up. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 209.179.217.117 (talk) 07:48, 18 December 2004 (UTC)
• If anyone's interested, growing up in Ireland I only ever heard the "nigger" version, so it's not just a US phenomenon. In fact, the first time I heard the "tiger" version was in the Simpsons episode Homer Defined. RMoloney 22:29, 7 August 2005 (UTC)

  I grew up in Scotland in the non-pc 1970's and 80's I didn't know there were other, non-racist, versions of the rhyme. Many of the kids I played with at school or in my street even updated the rhyme and used "Paki" instead of “nigger”. Appalling really. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 93.96.122.175 (talk) 03:42, 30 July 2008 (UTC)

• Without meaning to turn this into a page of reminiscences - I think it is quite interesting how widespread this rhyme is and the variations that exist. Growing up in NE Scotland in the late 80s/early 90s, we said "tigger" but were well aware of the origin. Though we substituted in the lines "If he squeals let him go" and added "You are not it" at the end. It might be worthwhile making this page a little less US-centric too IMHO. -taras 23:17, 11 November 2005 (UTC)
• I was born and raised in India, and I only heard of the "nigger" version. Ofcourse, that word is not used in a discriminatory way there, suffice to say I was shocked when I moved to the U.S. and learned about it's history. Godm0de 06:40, 11 December 2005 (UTC)
• Again, completely anecdotal but I remember hearing "catch a Paki by the toe" (ie Pakistani) growing up in England in the 90s. --Black Butterfly 12:58, 21 January 2006 (UTC)
• As far as I understand, the "nigger" version was used by slave owners in the Carribean when buying newly arrived slaves from Africa. When choosing a slave to buy (hence eenie meenie) they would pinch their toes. This was to test for gangrene after the crossing of the Atlantic. If he squealed, then gangrene had set in, and they let him go, and they continued on (eenie meenie miney mo). I was surprised that this explanation was not in Wikipedia. --Oinj 01:02, 18 March 2007

  Sounds like an urban legend. If you can find any reference to back it up, though, it would be an excellent addition to the article. - DavidWBrooks 02:01, 18 March 2007 (UTC)

• I can report the same as other non-US people here. I grew up in Australia and during my childhood years in the mid-late 70's the only version I was aware of was the nigger version. It wasn't until a discussion about the rhyme with my American wife that I discovered any "tiger" version existed. 70.189.213.149 00:55, 20 July 2007 (UTC)

• An Australian also here. I went through primary school more recently in the late 90's and the only version of the rhyme I had ever heard was the nigger version. Of course none of us at that time had any idea what a nigger was and did not know the term was offensive. I have yet to see any person of African-American descent outside of Perth in Western Australia (and I am in my 20's).--Cynicle (talk) 19:47, 1 June 2012 (UTC)

• USA, central Oklahoma, born in the mid-1970s... The only version I heard as a child was "catch a tiger" and "make him pay 50 dollars every day". (Or "catch a ___" where the blank is filled in with the listener's name. Playfully grab big toe at that moment.) I never knew there was any other way to say it until recently. Certainly I had never heard it said with the N-word or any other racist intent. Bouncey (talk) 22:36, 2 January 2008 (UTC)

From what I have been able to research on the "nigger" version of eenie, meenie, minie, moe, the child's picking poem was referrenced to slave trading. When buying slaves, owners were said to grab and twist a toe, skin or appendage and twist. If the slave verbalized loudly (hollers), it was thought to be an indication that the slave would be a trouble-maker. -- User NoahWard 04:12. 21 March 2008 (UTC)

That may well be true, and with references would make a great addition to the article. But nursery rhymes are magnets for faux history, so references are needed. - DavidWBrooks (talk) 21:18, 21 May 2008 (UTC)

• In the sixties growing up in England all I ever heard was the version which used the word 'nigger'. It was all pervasive and could be quoted by adults and children alike. There was no shock value when it was used. We knew the word could be used to refer to a black person but as used by us in the playground it was devoid of any racist tone and served only as a means of selecting children for games in the playground. The heavy promotion of other versions since the eighties appears to have replaced it, in many publications, with more PC versions and sometimes history is written as though the original version did not exist at all, but that doesn't make it so. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.187.233.172 (talk) 21:16, 12 February 2011 (UTC)

  At school in North London 1972-78 we used the nigger version, without any ill intention; it was just part of the rhyme. This was also noted in the TV show The Goodies where they replaced the Nigger word with "Hmm Hmm Hmm" a series of throat clearing coughs to indicate that embarrassment at the word's inclusion in the rhyme. This to me shows that a non-bowdlerised version wasn't prevalent at the time. DavidFarmbrough (talk) 23:29, 8 August 2011 (UTC)

seems to connect with the commin practice of lopping off a slaves toe as punishment for attempting escape. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.117.96.105 (talk) 00:12, 7 June 2015 (UTC)

the original "nigger" version is NOT displayed prominently enough in this article. hence really misleading. wikipedia is NOT censored, so put the original to the very top of the article where it belongs!!! — Preceding unsigned comment added by 188.22.219.243 (talk) 00:20, 22 July 2015 (UTC)

It's not the original version, with or without all capitals. -DavidWBrooks (talk) 01:59, 22 July 2015 (UTC)

As a kid in the UK the only version I ever learned was 'catch a nigger by his toe'. I would appreciate it if editors didnt try to censor in the name of 'isms' as per usual. EEEEEE1 (talk) 20:54, 16 August 2015 (UTC)

I agree with this. It is almost Orwellian to deny that the version - "...catch a nigger by his toe, if he squeals let him go" - existed. I am a baby boomer and anyone born in the UK in the 1960s grew up singing this version in their childhood with no racist overtones. This rhyme only changed when PC came in and the version was changed to tiger (which I also had never heard until reading this article). So, please make reference to this original version as you cannot simply delete this original version.

As of your post (Jan. 15, 2017) the article has extensive discussion of the version; nobody denies it existed. - DavidWBrooks (talk) 22:24, 15 January 2017 (UTC)

Born in 1972 and growing up in Australia as a 2nd generation Australian of Egyptian background (I have dark skin and was often called nigger) I only heard the "nigger" version. Unfortunately this was the social norm at the time and I used to say this myself! — Preceding unsigned comment added by 1.152.110.12 (talk) 22:53, 27 October 2017 (UTC)

• I grew up in California, born in the mid-50s, and the only version I ever heard was the "nigger" version. Never heard the tiger version, as I was grown up by the time tiger was substituted — Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.115.168.2 (talk) 13:56, 23 March 2019 (UTC)

"Baby" version?

• Coming from the UK, I have never heard "tiger". Nor have I ever heard "baby". I have only heard "nigger" and "tinker" - a variation that nobody else has mentioned. Why haven't I heard "baby"? Is it something that was introduced in the last 10-20 years?--Oxonian2006 00:25, 29 November 2006 (UTC)

  I find it disgusting that the tinker version is not even mentioned on the main article as this is the only version that manages to be both inoffensive and logically cohesive at the same time, as you obviously cannot factually catch a tiger by the toe. Growing up in the UK in the late 80's and early 90's, the tinker version was the only version I was exposed to, yet the way the main article here is structured, it implies that the racist version was taught to children here, even in schools. If Wikipedia is trying to be accurate, leaving out the soundest version and simultaneously implying that even as a nursery rhyme sung to children, that it still retains racist connotations despite the clear direction away from such seems like a large fallacy motivated by someone's personal agenda. With all these other obscure variants included, why would you leave out the one that makes the most sense? The one that was taught predominantly to children in recent decades deserves some representation, as it currently has NONE here. 86.18.222.141 (talk) 21:32, 8 March 2023 (UTC)

• I am also from the UK, yet have only heard "tiger", and not "baby" at all. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 87.127.65.100 (talk) 14:06, 15 December 2006 (UTC)
• im from the UK aswell i havent heard tiger or tiger more a combination of the two where you catch a tigger by its toe and let i t go when it squeals

eenie meenie minie moe catch a tigger by the toe if it squeels let it go eenie meanie minie moe — Preceding unsigned comment added by 213.232.82.123 (talk) 08:23, 11 March 2007 (UTC)

In my opinion, this version is clearly racist and refers to slavery. In one of the versions showed it says: "if he won't work them let him go..." This extract shows that the rhyme really talks about slaves. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 200.198.50.14 (talk) 19:37, 18 June 2008 (UTC)

• I remember in Scotland in the 1950s the version:

Eeny meeny miny mo: Sit the baby on the po: When he's done, wipe his bum: Eeny meeny miny mo. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 188.28.150.22 (talk) 11:20, 23 February 2013 (UTC)

Current Version/s?

I feel it is misleading to refer to the PC version as the 'current' version as though there is some official version which we should all know. The older version is still around. Surely the 'current' heading is an attempt to manipulate the audience into thinking that this is the version which they ought to use (rather then the version with the awkward word in it). — Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.187.233.172 (talk) 21:16, 12 February 2011 (UTC)

I added the most commonly used additional words. See this scholarly source for details https://encyclopedia.pub/entry/289662607:F2C0:94DA:C500:F169:EA16:A9E6:8FB0 (talk) 05:56, 4 January 2024 (UTC)

@MichaelMaggs I think the unregistered editor was citing the above source but might not know how to cite it within the line? Maineartists (talk) 16:24, 4 January 2024 (UTC)

You can fix the format of the source, but don't remove the "magazine" continuation part. This article has all sorts of archaic versions in different languages, but the current main version should certainly be included.199.119.233.221 (talk) 16:43, 4 January 2024 (UTC)

@199.119.233.221 You really should learn how to properly cite sources so that other editors can use the same source. Especially if there is additional content that can be drawn from the source. See Cite Web: Template. Also, the source you have cited is a Communal Encyclopedia Wiki. You need to cite the book from where the verse came from: R. D. Abrahams and L. Rankin, Counting-out Rhymes: a Dictionary (University of Texas Press, 1980), p. 119 Maineartists (talk) 23:16, 4 January 2024 (UTC)

Pulp Fiction

This isn't an article about that movie, so I trimmed back a lengthy discussion of the scene. The only reason it's here is the use of the rhyme, so character names, etc., aren't needed - DavidWBrooks 12:32, 12 Jun 2005 (UTC)

• I agree with DavidwBrooks' statement. As you can see by the entries at the top of the talk page and below this section under the New Zealand version header, the un-politically correct version is still the 'current' or at least most prevalent version in Australia and New-Zealand as far as I'm concerned (it changing in the major capitol cities but it's definitely not yet prevalent).--Cynicle (talk) 19:56, 1 June 2012 (UTC)

lawsuit citation

Can someone add a citation for the lawsuit? to a newspaper article or something? meanwhile, I'll lexis nexis it.Found it and added link--Muchosucko 08:19, 30 December 2005 (UTC)

"History"

It is also doubtful that the "nigger" version would have mutated into the "tiger" version in an era when political correctness was not an issue, or that it would have caught on so widely with few variations of similar popularity.

Many people who grew up before the late 1960's are likely to report having heard or grown up with the "nigger" version of the rhyme. Since the late 1960's, and especially Civil Rights Act of 1964 the "nigger" variation has become much more rare but is still used in some circles to this day.

Just how are these two statements consistent with each other? First the author says that it's unlikely to have changed in the comparatively brief time since PCness became fashionable, then s/he claims that it did. These two sentences and the paras that contain them were both contributed by the anon (no other contributions) who started the Eenie Meenie article (since merged). Shouldn't we verify or remove them?

Also, several people (on this talk page, on the Eenie Meenie talk page, myself, my colleagues) agree that the "nigger" version is still the usual one in the UK and Ireland, at least. It seems we could safely say so in the article. —Blotwell 11:56, 1 January 2006 (UTC)

Yes, and yes. - DavidWBrooks 22:14, 10 February 2006 (UTC)

I don't think it's the 'usual' version in the UK and Ireland. I learnt it as 'catch a knicker', everyone else at school learnt 'catch a tigger' or tiger. I was made aware of the 'bad' version by my mother, because it was the usual version when she learnt it. I do not believe the 'bad' version is in general use. I've also heard of older versions being 'catch a hare', listed in my Penguin Book of Nursery Rhymes somewhere. (And we used 'squeals' not 'hollers', because 'holler' isn't used in the UK.) Skittle 10:50, 7 June 2006 (UTC)

"nigger" is certainly not the usual one in the UK. Indeed, in many parts of the UK that would be a swift way for any child to be excluded from school. "It is also doubtful that the "nigger" version would have mutated into the "tiger" version in an era when political correctness was not an issue, or that it would have caught on so widely with few variations of similar popularity." suggests to me that "tiger / tigger" may have mutated in to "nigger" but not vice versa. --Longwayround 17:05, 22 August 2006 (UTC)

Actually the "NIGGER" one is probably the original version and not simply a "controversial version". This article is proof positive that you can't trust wikipedia as a real source of fact. For one, tigers don't have "toes" and if you were to catch a tiger by any appendage, you'd be the one hollering to be let go. The "tiger" version most certainly was the edited version. The word "nigger" was considered offensive well before our current PC days. 76.229.189.16 (talk) 00:51, 16 June 2008 (UTC)

Grew up in the 80s in Northern Ireland, the "nigger" version was the only one we knew, although it was said without any knowledge of race issues. None of us had even seen a black person other than on the telly. 82.29.231.118 (talk) 17:09, 9 May 2009 (UTC)

I was born in 1966 (New York City) and when I was a little boy (1970's) we sang: Eenie Meeny Miny Moe catch a tiger by the toe, if he hollers let him go, my mother says to pick this one and out goes Y-O-U (and we sometimes followed that up with - "and you are not it") I personally never heard the "N" word version until the Pulp Fiction movie. 98.116.75.98 (talk)AR

Updated British version

I'm considering changing the British version to

Eeny, meeny, miny, moe Catch a fishy with your' toe If it's nice lick it twice, Eeny, meeny, miny, moe.

As it is the standard version in my area, however I am unsure of it's popularity in other areas.Cardboard boxA 18:55, 6 August 2006 (UTC)

Sounds like that could be a regional variation. May be worth adding it to the article, but I don't think it could be described as the definitive British version. I grew up with the "tiger" version myself. --62.30.181.30 13:48, 8 August 2006 (UTC)

I've never heard the "tiger" version, despite having lived in Lincolnshire, Essex and Lancashire. "Tigger" is the version I know best. --Longwayround 17:00, 22 August 2006 (UTC)

published history

Right now, following the additions by an apparently well-informed anonymous IP concerning "nigger" versions printed in the early 1920s, we say both that "The earliest known published versions in the English language date to 1855," and that there are a lack of "tiger" versions in print before 1950. This implies that the 1855 version uses "nigger", or at least doesn't use "tiger". Does anybody know if this is the case? If we don't know for sure, we need to change something. - DavidWBrooks 20:02, 3 October 2006 (UTC)

Is it clearer now? Basically, earlier versions (and it will have been around for a long time before it was ever recorded, this being the nature of folk rhymes, especially before the 20th century) used a variety of different people and animals. Skittle 22:23, 11 June 2007 (UTC)

I grew up near Edinburgh, Scotland in the 1970-1980's and though I had heard the fishy version the most popular version was: Eeny Meeny Miny Moe, Sits a baby on a po, When it's done, Wipe its bum, Eeny Meeny Miny Mo. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.18.137.195 (talk) 17:01, 19 October 2006 (UTC)

Phoenix Wright reference

Ini Miney and Mimi Miney are in a separate case from the clown named Moe. Furthermore, since the clown's full name is given as Larry Curls, it seems clear to me that Larry "Moe" Curls is a Three Stooges reference, not a "eeny meeny miny moe" reference. -- Sertrel (talk | contribs) 17:55, 31 January 2007 (UTC)

Eeny, meeny, miny, moe -- occurrence in pop culture

Fats Domino's 1956 million-seller "Yes it's Me and I'm in Love Again" includes the following stanza:

Eenie meenie and miney mo Tol' me y' don't want me around no mo' Ooooeey, baby, oooooo-eee Baby don't you let yo dog bite me.

Too many pop-culture references

I have come to the conclusion that eeny-meenie-etc. is too popular for us to list all the times it shows up in films/books/TV/etc. - the section is growing *way* out of bounds. I'd like to throw out virtually all of them, keeping only extremely unusual cases (e.g., the character names in Rushdie's novel). Any thoughts? - DavidWBrooks 20:20, 25 August 2007 (UTC)

Four months later I did it - removing all instances in which are character says "eenie meenie ..." to make choices. I left in all the songs, since I couldn't decide if that counted or not. - DavidWBrooks (talk) 19:27, 17 November 2007 (UTC)

Other versions and other trivia

I do not know if any of this will be useful, but I am going to share it in the discussion area so that the editor may decide if this story or any part of it may be useful in the main article. The use of the word "nigger" is slang for "Negro" and was the common usage at that time.

---

When I was a child in Milwaukee during the fifties, the rhyme we used had two versions. It went like this to eliminate:

[The asterisk (*) represents the beat when the finger is pointed at the next in line.]

  *Eney *meany *miney *moe (four count)
  *Catch a *nigger *by the *toe (four count)
  *If he *hollers *let him *go (four count)
  *Out *goes *Y *O *U (five count)

The alternative last line was used to choose:

  *I *choose *Y *O *U (five count)

I know the last line does not rhyme properly, but we were kids and did not care. If you check out the mathematics, you will find that the count was a prime number and a prime number is ideal for a choosing rhyme.

Some time during the sixties, I remember changes to the rhyme. The word "tiger" replaced the word "nigger". It would not have made much difference if that were the only change, but more changes made the rhyme more unwieldy. The insertion of the line "my mother says to pick the very best one" before the last line made the total count an even number. Even as children, we realized that did not work as well. However, since we had respect for our mothers, the last line was usually eliminated to make the count an odd number again. Other less successful attempts were made, but since none of them had a prime number count, they never worked as well as the original version, with or without the word substitution.

{Off topic, but perhaps germane; the use of the word "nigger" as a child did not make me a bigot. It was when a Negro discriminated against me that I became aware of racial prejudice.}

During this time of changes, our group decided on "*my *mother *says *to *chose *the *very *best *one, *so *I *choose *you" because it worked better than any of the other choosing rhyme variations with the word "mother" in it. This, unbeknownst to us, was because it has a prime number count. The only thing that made this method of choice random was the direction the chooser went, the choice of the individual to start, the changing number from which the choice was to be made, and the order in which the individuals lined up.

{Further off topic: During the seventies, I learned to use a random number generator to make choices, but by then I was no longer a child. I still have a couple of sets of random number generators consisting of seven dice (four, six, eight, ten (units), ten (decades), twelve, and twenty sided) that use actual numbers instead of dots.}

1880 citation

Bolton in his 1888 work on children's counting rhymes collected about eighteen variants of "Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Mo" (see pages 105-106). Of these, eight are included in Section 1—"Catch a nigger by the toe." Most of these were from the United States, but at least two were from the British Isles. Of these eight, five caught "a nigger by the toe" (No.s 600, 601, 602, 604, & 606); one "a negro by the toe" (No. 603); one "a baby by the toe" (No. 605); and one "a nigger by the thumb" (No. 607). Altogether Bolton collected more than 50 variants of "Enie, Meenie". Bolton states earlier in his book that the "nigger" variant likely originated in the U.S. The use of "tiger by the toe" seems to be an adult adaption of the children's rhyme dating from the mid-20th century as it appears nowhere in Bolton's collection. Hope this helps.

• Bolton, Henry Carrington, The Counting-out Rhymes of Children: Their Antiquity, Origin, and Wide Distribution. New York: D. Appleton & Co. (1888). BackSignTiger (talk) 04:16, 13 August 2008 (UTC)

By the way, the "catch a baby by the toe" was collected in Newport, Rhode Island, not in England. BackSignTiger (talk) 04:33, 13 August 2008 (UTC)

The book mentioned above is public domain, and available on Google Book Search. Link to page 105, which contains the offensive version as well: [1] -- Otto 19:24, 19 November 2008 (UTC)

The book also points out that the rhyme was the most popular version among American schoolchildren at the time (page 46) and that "every state in the union" reported this (page 105). -- Otto 19:28, 19 November 2008 (UTC)

Yonkers, NY, early '60s

(Please forgive the spelling)

Eeny Meeny Picka Teeny Goo Gah Gahgah Leeny Otcha Potcha Googa Lotcha Out Goes Y O U

(variation: Otchy Potchy Googa Lotchy)

Is this familiar to ANYONE?

24.188.14.175 (talk) 05:37, 18 August 2008 (UTC)

It reminded me of Beast Day [2] -well, very similar. Sussexonian (talk) 00:15, 11 November 2009 (UTC)

• Well I remember a version in Scotland which was total nonsense, but along similar lines:

Eeny meeny zicka zacka,

Paneruski eel tobacca,

Een skeen boxeleen,

Jellix

You Are Out!

("Tobacco" was always pronounced with a final "a" here.) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 188.30.226.37 (talk) 11:55, 23 February 2013 (UTC)

Misleading statments re English traditional rhyme, etc.

The following statements are not supported by actual facts: "As pointed out in The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes, the word "nigger" was common in American folk-lore, but unknown in any English traditional rhyme or proverb. This, combined with evidence of various versions of the rhyme in England that predate the "nigger" version, suggest that the "nigger" version merely became the most popular at some point in the 20th century, probably originating in America."

For instance, the well known American song "Ten Little Indians" was published in the US before 1868—Frank Green published the British version "Ten Little Niggers" in 1869. Also, the only reference found to anything "caught by the toe" in Britian other than "nigger by the toe" was found by Gomme (p. 420) in a schoolgirl's dancing song from Scotland c. 1898 (similar to "hokey-cokey"):

Eendy, beendy, baniba, roe,

Caught a chicken by the toe;

To the east, to the west,

To the old crow's nest,

Hopping in the garden, swimming in the sea,

If you want a pretty girle, please take me.

• Gomme, Alice Bertha. The Traditional Games of England, Scotland, and Ireland. London: David Nutt (1898) BackSignTiger (talk) 17:57, 21 August 2008 (UTC)

Table format

An editor was beginning to put the various national versions into table format. I have reverted the effort because I found it visually very confusing - tables are great for organizing information in which individual pieces of data are relatively small, but not for long stanzas of poetry. - DavidWBrooks (talk) 13:06, 27 November 2008 (UTC)

As a 'random' choice generator

Hmm, the article seems to be missing something important: the properties of the rhyme as a random choice generator. Would I be right in assuming that in the normal versions, it's four choices per line? So the british version would pick 16 mod Number of choices?--Fangz (talk) 16:31, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

The sentence "... used to select a person to be "it" for games and similar purposes." seems to me to cover that pretty well. And it's not really random - in fact, it's totally predictable who will be chosen once you begin; it's just too complicated to be worth the bother of calculating in advance who that choice will be. - DavidWBrooks (talk) 17:22, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

To an observer who doesn't understand the "code" it's impossible to distinguish appeared randomness and true randomness. These are children after all, and for them it is as good as any pseudorandom generating computer. (Anyone remembering becoming a little older, and the discussion and feelings when you started figuring out that it wasn't random after all?) I second a carefully worded paragraph of the random generator phenomena. Vbakke (talk) 21:39, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

While I've seen various rhymes used for choosing a child 'randomly', whenever someone has a difficult and descision that doesn't matter too much, very often they use 'eeny meeny' etc. I think that a section on use as a descision making aid should be included, with reference to the lack of true randomness. rdm_box 00:32, 8 December 2011 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Rdmbox (talk • contribs)

The indicated phrase doesn't remotely cover this well enough. *How* does the poem "select a person to be 'it'"? Whomever can say it fastest is It? Everybody says a word in sequence, and whomever messes up first is It? Applejuicefool (talk) 04:37, 6 February 2012 (UTC)

French version

I'm not familiar with the French version shown here. The one I've heard is this:

Ams tram gram
Pic et pic et colégram
Bour et bour et ratatam
Ams tram gram

This is also the one shown in the French version of this article.

Funnyhat (talk) 21:05, 17 January 2009 (UTC)

Mandarin version

The phonetic Mandarin version given isn't very good. I'm not sure what the source is but it isn't proper pinyin. Can we get this in proper pinyin or hanzi, or even an English translation? Pfmiller (talk) 23:54, 17 January 2009 (UTC)

Current versions

Hey, I like content just as much as the next guy. Unfortunately, the "Current Versions" section is.. unneeded. Keep in mind that this page already had versions in different languages. I'd go ahead and remove it myself, but I don't like provoking BAWWWWWs. Will some brave soul go ahead and kill it?  Aaron  ►  07:02, 13 February 2009 (UTC)

Also, nothing is sourced, so at this point, an equally unsourced argument of "I've never heard that one before" applies to all of these. Not that sourcing them would give them any reason to be here.  Aaron  ►  07:04, 13 February 2009 (UTC)

The "current Versions" section includes all the versions in different languages - do you think they all should go?

Looking at the page again, I do think that the history section should be moved up after the intro, dropping all these alternate versions down lower. However, I think the intro should have one current version in it, for readers who don't know what we're talking about (although then we would have to decide: which version?) - DavidWBrooks 17:37, 13 February 2009 (UTC)

Clean up time

I plan to get around to a clean-up of this article: wikifying format (italics are not needed for quotes), putting countries in alphabetical order, and adding in-line references where I can. I will give it a little time for comment here.--Sabrebd (talk) 09:00, 10 April 2009 (UTC)

I have been wondering about the long and ever-growing list of counting rhyme in other languages. They don't seem to me to belong in this article unless they specifically use syllables similar in sound to "eeny meeny ..." imploying that they have some direct historical connection with the English-language version. The fact that all these counting rhymes exist is relevant to the article - it raises the possibility that eeny,meeny is just one of a number of versions of counting rhymes that have spontaneously erupted - but the long list that now exists just drives away readers, IMHO. Not sure how to trim it, however, but it's worth a thought. - DavidWBrooks (talk) 21:51, 10 April 2009 (UTC)

I have to say I agree. I cannot see why some of these are included and with others I simply have no way of judging whether they are derived from the same rhyme. This is not helped by the lack of sources. No doubt if we start deleting verses there will be howls of protest. Perhaps we could archive the ones with no obvious connection and give time for editors to give sources. You are right that something has to be done as this article is very hard to read at the moment.--Sabrebd (talk) 08:12, 11 April 2009 (UTC)

As a start, we could move them all the bottom of the article en mass, and put something like this in front:

Simple counting rhymes are common in languages throughout the world, although it's often not clear whether they have any historical connection to Eeny, meeny. Some examples include:

Or perhaps we should create a whole new article, Counting rhymes, and move them all there ... - DavidWBrooks (talk) 12:32, 12 April 2009 (UTC)

Already is one: Counting-out game. They could go on Wikisource--Sabrebd (talk) 13:07, 12 April 2009 (UTC)

The Norwgian and Swedish version can be deleted. The Swedish version has no connection with the original content, nor rhyme! The Norwegian starts with elle melle that might have derived from eeny meeny, but the rest has connection with sailing ships. And the last line I have never heard. They both serve the same purpose as Eeny Meeny, but that is not what this article is about. --Vbakke (talk) 21:54, 28 April 2009 (UTC) (Norwegian, 1974)

That's useful to know and highlights the problems. A further difficulty here is that it is very difficult to evaluate these rhymes in so many languages, not least because almost none have any sources mentioned. I am starting to favour looking for sources for what we can and removing the rest - pointing to relevant wikipedias in other languages. This is, after all, an English language wikipedia.--Sabrebd (talk) 06:31, 29 April 2009 (UTC)

Agreed. If there isn't a linked source, remove it - and remove all foreign-language rhymes (even sourced ones) unless they have the "eeny meeny"-like sound. - DavidWBrooks (talk) 12:30, 29 April 2009 (UTC)

We have a methodology. I will see what relevant versions I can source and create refs, then we we can start removing unsourced versions. Irrelevant versions can go now.--Sabrebd (talk) 07:49, 30 April 2009 (UTC)

México

In this country it is said to be a Jitanjáfora[[3]]

Ini, ini, maini,mo,

que cheleque palestó,

que jingale, lestingó,

ini, ini, maini mo.

Notice:Can anyone help me with the 'quote copyright format' cause I've forgotten. Book 'Ómnibus de poesía mexicana' Author Gabriel Zaid p.123, etc. Just give me the dummy and I'll fill it in, please--207.249.136.254 (talk) 18:29, 25 May 2009 (UTC)--207.249.136.254 (talk) 18:41, 25 May 2009 (UTC)

Germany

Many German children rhymes from various regions start with the words "ene mene", see de:Abzählreim. For example:

  ene, mene, muh
  und raus bist du

or:

  eene meene mickimaus
  zog sich mal die hose aus
  zog sie wieder an
  und du bist dran  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2003:DD:3F34:374C:5CEE:B893:577C:1AEF (talk) 01:00, 27 December 2020 (UTC) 

85.178.9.5 (talk) 17:36, 12 September 2009 (UTC)

I also don't know the one in the article but that one (ene, mene, muh...) is very common and seems to be closer to "eeny, meeny, miny, moe..." 84.57.132.123 (talk) 23:01, 6 November 2009 (UTC)

French

The same exists in French. It's a rhyme designed to out players one by one. The words mean nothing particular.

am, stram, gram pic et pic et colégram bourre et bourre et ratatam am, stram, gram —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.45.178.123 (talk) 17:50, 20 March 2010 (UTC)

New Zealand

I'm 22 and live in New Zealand. The version all my friends and I used was "eeny meenie miney moe, catch a nigger by the toe, if he squeels, let him go, eeny meenie miney moe." I don't think I've ever heard any other version than this. --222.155.38.107 (talk) 12:01, 10 May 2010 (UTC)

reminisence

Growing up in the midwestern U.S. (1965) I never heard the racist version used. The rhyme was about catching a tiger, and it used "if it hollers, let it go". I now live in South Carolina and have heard children here using the exact same tiger rhyme. I'm offended by the fact (i.e. Southwest Airlines lawsuit) that if anyone says "eeny meeny" now they are thought to be making a racist slur, just because some people know a racist version. Even after hearing about the Southwest Airlines lawsuit and the new taboo being forced on even the innocent version of this rhyme, I still automatically think "eeny meeny" when picking between two things and am apt to say it by accident. I think the taboo should obviously only be on any racist version of the rhyme. Great article about the various versions including the Latin, thanks. --User:Urthcreature

Another experience, from my grandmother (b. 1889, Hood County, Texas)

My grandmother taught my mother this version: Eeny, meeny, minie, mo. Catch a nigger by the toe. If he hollers make him pay fifty dollars every day. My mother, who grew up in Fort Smith, Arkansas, taught it to her children, and we, who grew up in Oklahoma and Texas, never heard any other version. Our companions all knew it this way too. Texas Star Thrower 12:21, 16 July 2011 (UTC)

As I child I used this version, replacing the epithet with "tigger", like the Winnie-The-Pooh character. Applejuicefool (talk) 04:41, 6 February 2012 (UTC)

90s and early 2000s version in Virginia

I was born in Virginia in 1996, so I can't say much about the history, but the version I learned was "Eeny meeny miny moe, catch a tiger by the toe, if he hollers let him go. My mother says to pick the very best one and you are it." Never heard of the version using the n-word. Maybe because I'm so young? Not sure. Finding these other versions fascinating, though, I never knew its origins. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.62.188.215 (talk) 06:44, 23 September 2011 (UTC)

I was born in Virginia in 1955, and (alas) the "nigger" version was not unusual in my childhood, although officially frowned upon. - DavidWBrooks (talk) 13:23, 23 September 2011 (UTC)

Toronto, Ontario, 1960s. We had the nigger/hollers version, and it's still the only one I know.

It paired up nicely with the schoolyard version of the Daniel Boone show theme song:

Daniel Boone was a man

Yes, a big man

But the bear was bigger

So he ran like a nigger

Up a tree

Decades ago, that was offensive. But nowadays do they make movies that don't say nigger in them?

Varlaam (talk) 06:18, 4 January 2012 (UTC)

India version

I have removed the following from the article, because while it's a choosing rhyme with similar-sounding words in the opening, it's not close enough to "eeny meeny ..." to be here.

Another rhyme popular in India which closely matches the initial couplet in similar-sounding words goes like... अक्कड़ बक्कड़ बाम्बे बो (Akkad Bakkad Bambay Bo)

अस्सी नब्भे पूरे सौ (Assi Nabbe Pooray Sau = 80 90 total 100)

सौ में लगी बिल्ली (Sau mein lagi billi = Buy a cat with 100)

बिल्ली भागी दिल्ली (Billi bhaagi Dilli = The cat ran away to Delhi)

बोले शेख चिल्ली (Bolay Shekh Chilli = The Saint Chilly said...)

खेले डंडा गिल्ली (Khelay Danda Gilli = (They) Play (game called) Danda Gilli)

गिल्ली गई टूट (Gilli gayi toot = The Gilli Broke)

बच्चे गए रूठ (Bachchay Gaye Rooth = The children went cross)

बच्चों को मनाएंगे (Bachchon ko manainge = We'll coerce the kids)

रस मलाई खायेंगे (Ras-Malayi Khainge = They'll eat sweet dish)

रस मलाई अच्छी (Ras-Malayi Achchee = The sweet dish was good)

हमने खायी मच्छी (Hamne Khayi Machchee = We ate fish)

मच्छी में काँटा (Machchee mein kaanta = The fish had a bone)

पड़ेगा ज़ोर से चांटा (Padeyga zor se chhanta = You'll get a slap)

This is usually followed by the last person being either selected for his turn in the game, or slapped.

- DavidWBrooks (talk) 18:35, 28 March 2012 (UTC)

Jeremy Clarkson incident.

I was wondering whether the incident involving the unaired taping of Top Gear, and Clarkson saying the supposedly racist version of this rhyme should be covered? Arun Sunner 23:56, 2 May 2014 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Arun Sunner (talk • contribs)

Longer version of the rhyme

This is the one i learned as a kid

eeny, meeny, miny, moe

catch a tigger by the toe

if he hollers, let him go

if he doesn't, make him pay

fifty dollars every day

and you are now it.(line is usually said much louder/exaggerated)

68.117.88.143 (talk) 06:06, 25 June 2014 (UTC)

Do you have a reliable source for this? Sadly our memories are not enough for inclusion here.--SabreBD (talk) 07:13, 25 June 2014 (UTC)

Nope and I don't intend to look for one. Heh. i just posted that for interest sake. As another interesting aside, often times the last line was changed by kids to read you are "NOT" it and then they would do surprise tag on a different kid68.117.88.143 (talk) 18:25, 25 June 2014 (UTC)

Celtic origin

John McWhorter in this article states that the rhyme descends from pre-Anglo-Saxon Celtic. It's a neat story, but an origin vastly earlier and contradicted by most of this article. Is the Celtic origin a serious notion that has been presented somewhere? - SimonP (talk) 18:17, 18 November 2015 (UTC)

  He's referring to Celtic sheep-counting system that was still in use among UK shepherds as late as 100 years ago, and varied from region to region. "Eeny, meeny, miny, moe" would be the counts 1-2-4-5 ("yaeny, taeny, meddera, po" [the dd is pronounce like the th in that]). Similarly with the Hickory, Dickory, Dock, the counts are 8-9-10 ("hovera, dovera, dik"). The earliest versions of the Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Moe rhyme that I know of (one from 1680s/1690s and one from about 1708) have "skepa" and "tigger", respectively, for the thing being caught (a "skepa" is a sheep, a "tigger" is what we now call a beggar).

  One version of the sheep-count is yaeny, taeny, teddera, meddera, po, settera, lettera, hovera, dovera, dik. 15 would be bomfit, 20 would be jiggot, numbers from 11 to 14 were formed as one-ten (yaenadik) to four-ten (medderadik), and numbers 16 to 19 were formed as one-fifteen (yaenabomfit) to four-fifteen (medderabomfit). Numbers over 20 were counted as multiples of 20 and then the remainder (for example, 31 would be one twenty and one-ten in a similar way that one would use "score" for a count of 20 such as Lincoln's use of "four score and seven" for 87). — al-Shimoni (talk) 14:46, 5 April 2017 (UTC)

Origins

The article currently states

The "Hana, man" was found by Henry Bolton in the US, Ireland and Scotland in the 1880s but was unknown in England until later in the century.

However, it also gives an example of a ryhme collected in Cornwall in 1882 which is clearly a variation of the same. This strikes me as very odd. Unfortunately I do not have the Opies' book. Can anyone answer the following questions?

• Did Bolton really find exactly identical rhymes in the US, Ireland and Scotland?
• Do the Opies really claim it was unknown in England (this seems rather a leap to make) or just that it was unrecorded?

Thanks Thehalfone (talk) 19:16, 3 March 2016 (UTC)

I have a copy of a 1938 dissertation that quotes some of the rhymes Bolton found. They are not identical. You can check out his book, too. Adraeus (talk) 00:37, 23 February 2017 (UTC)

Most common version

"Eeny, meeny, miny, moe,

Catch a tiger by its toe,

If he hollers let him go,

Eeny, meeny, miny, moe"

Then:

"My mother says to,

Pick the very best one,

And that is you,

Y – O – U"

-- AlexanderHovanec (talk) 04:10, 30 December 2017 (UTC)

That's the first version in the article, although there's no definitive source for saying exactly which wording is "most common" - DavidWBrooks (talk) 13:34, 30 December 2017 (UTC)

Variants

This article currently has a Finnish rhyme that is sort of like Eenie Meenie but not really very much, as well as "Inky Binky", an English-language children's rhyme that has no connection that I can see except that it's one of many, many kids rhymes with some nonsense syllables.

Including those two implies that they have some connection to Eenie Meenie, which isn't supported.

I would like to remove both of them, leaving a sentence or two saying that there are many similar-sounding poems and rhymes in English and in other languages using nonesense words, but the connection between them and Eenie Meenie is unclear.

Any thoughts? - DavidWBrooks (talk) 20:02, 25 August 2020 (UTC)

I agree that "Inky Binky" and similar nonsense rhymes should go, as well as anything else that isn't according to a reliable source connected or at least potentially connected with "Eeny, meeny, miny, moe". The test shouldn't be whether it does or does not look similar on the page, but what scholars have said about it. I haven't looked at the Finnish source, but that's what should in my view determine the issue. MichaelMaggs (talk) 20:58, 25 August 2020 (UTC)

Agreed. that's sort of covered in the history section, above, noting the lack of obvious and agreed-upon connections. The Finnish item's only source is in Finnish, which doesn't make it a good source for the English Wikipedia. - DavidWBrooks (talk) 21:07, 25 August 2020 (UTC)

So far as I can make out from Google Translate, the source for the Finnish verse discusses its similarity to some German rhymes, but there's no mention at all of "Eenie Meenie". MichaelMaggs (talk) 11:29, 26 August 2020 (UTC)

I've removed them both. - DavidWBrooks (talk) 00:43, 29 August 2020 (UTC)

Mid-Atlantic (NJ, NY suburbs) Early 1980s Example

… My mother says to pick this one this very best one and you are I-T it

Missing important information

The article begins with this passage:

""Eeny, meeny, miny, moe"—which can be spelled a number of ways—is a children's counting-out rhyme, used to select a person in games such as tag, or for selecting various other things. 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 chosen."

That is the entirety of any explanation of how the rhyme is used.

The article needs at least a brief explanation of how this rhyme is used to choose among several alternatives: by pointing to each one in turn on each stressed syllable, using a circular order on the alternatives, with the last alternative pointed to becoming the choice.

(So if there are N alternatives numbered 1 through N in order, the final choice will be the one having number 16 mod N, i.e., the remainder when 16 is divided by N. E.g., if N = 5 the choice will be the alternative having the number 1.)

I hope someone knowledgeable about this subject can fix this.

There's no single way to use it - your description is a common method but not the only one. We don't really need more of a description. - DavidWBrooks (talk) 13:40, 9 November 2023 (UTC)

Book of Nursery Rhymes

The lead illustration is from the Book of Nursery Rhymes, which was published in 1901. Source: https://www.isbns.net/isbn/9781164164142/

That correct date is on the photo's metadata but, confusingly, the file name of the picture says "1801," which led an editor to change the caption. - DavidWBrooks (talk) 20:21, 5 November 2024 (UTC)