dot-com wanes; eny, meny, miny, mo

[Aaron E. Drews]

}
}Eny, meny, miny, mo
}
}The rhyme at the end remained common in Milwaukee until at least the 1940s
}and possibly even longer.
}      The favorite in Milwaukee at the present time seems to be: "Eny, meny,
}miny, mo, catch a nigger by the toe; if he hollers, let him go--eny, meny,
}miny mo."  Doubtless the list could be indefinitely extended.--PECK'S SUN
}MAN.)
}

Strange.  I only ever heard "catch a tiger by the toe", and both my
parents come from Milwaukee.  On the other hand, my wife never heard the
"tiger" version.  Then again, the civil rights movement and the NAACP and
the changes in language they helped bring about weren't exactly as
popular in Scotland.

--Aaron

________________________________________________________________________
Aaron E. Drews                               The University of Edinburgh
aaron at ling.ed.ac.uk                  Departments of English Language and
http://www.ling.ed.ac.uk/~aaron       Theoretical & Applied  Linguistics

"MERE ACCUMULATION OF OBSERVATIONAL EVIDENCE IS NOT PROOF"
        --Death