[Ads-l] exploration of eeny meenie miney etc.

[Wilson Gray]

FWIW, I read somewhere-nother - The Book of Knowledge? - back in the '40's,
that "eeny-meeny-miny-moe" was Welsh. When I found out that these sounds
didn't correspond to the number-names in Welsh, I didn't give it further
thought.

For many years, the only version of this that I knew was the WWII version,

Eeny, meeny, miny, moe
Catch a Jap by the toe
If he hollers O-E-O
Throw him over in To-kee-o

As a consequence, the title of Chester Himes's novel, "If He Hollers, Let
Him Go" had no special meaning for me, until very recently. I grew up with
"Acker, backer, soda cracker," "Inker, stinker, bottle of inker," "One
potato, two potato," and "tossing the bat," which involved the literal
tossing of a softball bat.

On Fri, Apr 24, 2015 at 11:58 AM, David Daniel <dad at coarsecourses.com>
wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       David Daniel <dad at COARSECOURSES.COM>
> Subject:      RES: exploration of eeny meenie miney etc.
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Um... yan, tan, tether dick, and yan, tan, tether bumfit? Somebody be
> pulling somebody's chain here...
> DAD
>
>
> -----Mensagem original-----
>
> Poster:       W Brewer <brewerwa at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: exploration of eeny meenie miney etc.
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------=
> -
> ---
>
> WB:  RE: Anglo-Cymric Score
> Ms Rafel writes that <<Across northern England and southern Scotland, a
> set=
>
> of numerals exists for specific, ritual purposes>>:
> Yan, tan, tethera, methera, pimp,
> Sethera, lethera, hothera, dovera, dick,
> Yan-dick, tan-dick, tether-dick, mether-dick, bumfit,
> Yan-a-bumfit, tan-a-bumfit, tethera bumfit, pethera bumfit, gigert.
>      It very resembles P-Celtic, Cymru am byth! Did Welsh shepherds really
> tend the flocks of the Q-Celts? Enquiring minds need to know, thank you
> very mooch, Ms Raphel.
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
>
> ---
> Este email foi escaneado pelo Avast antiv=C3=ADrus.
> http://www.avast.com
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>



-- 
-Wilson
-----
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-Mark Twain

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org