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

[JP Villanueva]

Eeny meeny miny, moe
Catch a tiger by the toe
If he hollers make him pay
fifty dollars every day.

My mamma told me to pick the very best one
and you are not IT!

also:

Ink-a bink-a bottle of ink-a
Cork fell out and you STINK!

                        -johnpatrickVillanueva-
                        -----------------------
                          jvillanu at ctc.ctc.edu


On Thu, 6 Jul 2000, A. Vine wrote:

> Eeny, meeny, miny, mo
> Catch a tiger by its/the toe
> If he hollers make him pay
> Fifty dollars every day
>
> My mother told me to pick this one cause I was naugh-ty
> (My mother told me to pick the o-ther one when I was naugh-ty)
> (also "mo-ther")
>
> This was used in choosing "it" for games.  Like "potatoes" - incidentally, if
> you've ever seen the movie "Assault on Precinct 13", there was a bit of comic
> relief (actually a lot, depending on how you look at it) when a person had to be
> chosen to make a break for it.  I don't remember the exact line, but it was
> decided to use the "potatoes" method, at which point the men broke into:
>
> One potato, two potato,
> Three potato, four
> Kiss my -ss and
> Spit on the floor
>
> Andrea
>
> Laurence Horn wrote:
> >
> > It would be interesting to try to pin down the replacement pattern--by the
> > late 40's in New York, the only version around our part of town was "catch
> > a tiger by the toe", and I was amazed when I learned the existence of the
> > earlier one.
> >
> > larry
> >
> > >
> > >Eny, meny, miny, mo
> > >
> > >The rhyme at the end remained common in Milwaukee until at least the 1940s
> > >and possibly even longer.
> > >akra
> > >
> > >
> > >      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.)
>