childhood rhymes

Sun Aug 1 03:06:17 UTC 2004

On Jul 31, 2004, at 10:29 PM, Geoffrey S. Nathan wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Geoffrey S. Nathan" <an6993 at WAYNE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: childhood rhymes
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> <font size=3>At 04:22 PM 7/31/2004, Wilson Gray wrote:<br>
> <blockquote type=cite class=cite cite>Speaking of girls' games, is
> anyone
> else familiar with "One, Two,<br>
> Three, O'Leary" and/or "Heel, Toe, Stomp, and Over"?
> These
> are the same<br>
> game. "One, Two" is the white version and "Heel,
> Toe"
> is the black<br>
> version. Back in the '40's in Saint Louis, this game was played by<br>
> pre-adolescent girls. While playing the game, the girls chanted the<br>
> words sing-song style, with both whites and blacks using the same
> tune.<br>
> The game itself involved bouncing a ball, usually a tennis ball, in<br>
> time with each syllable of the chant while, at the same time,<br>
> performing the foot-and-leg actions described in the black
> version</blockquote><br>
> Margaret Winters reports that she learned the 'One, two three O'Leary'
> version from her mother, which antedates it to the early
> twenties. 
> She notes that in NYC people used 'spaldeens', as tennis balls were
> reserved for the rich kids (like Wilson ;-) )<br><br>
> Geoff</font></body>

Early '20's?! Wow! Even my mother, who's 93, was a girl in those days!
Well, the tennis balls were used, not new!;-) And, by the way, what the
hell is a "spaldeen'? I know this word only as a literary term. When I
first ran across it, way back when, I assumed that it was a term for a
baseball, derived from the "Spalding" brand name. However, further
reading over the years has persuaded me that it's either not a baseball
or is not only a baseball.
Do me some solid and tell me and explain it to me. I'd consider it a
real mitzve.

-Wilson

> <br>
> <div>Geoffrey S. Nathan</div>
> <div>Department of English/Computing and Information Technology</div>
> <div>Wayne State University</div>
> <div>Detroit, MI, 48202</div>
> <div><geoffnathan at wayne.edu></div>
> Phones:  C&IT (313) 577-1259/English (313) 577-8621
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