Children's chant

[Larry Scroggs]

----- Original Message -----
From: Jonathan Lighter
To: larry at scroggs.com
Sent: Monday, January 31, 2005 4:46 PM
Subject: Re: Children's chant


What were those different versions of "Inky Dinky," Larry?  And where did
you hear about them.
  I am looking into the origins and career of this very song.

JL

Larry Scroggs <larry at SCROGGS.COM> wrote:
---------------------- Information from the mail
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Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: Larry Scroggs
Subject: Children's chant
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Heard at my school in the late 1950s.

Whistle while you work
Khrushchev is a jerk
Eisenhower's got the power
But it doesn't work.

I scream
You scream
We all scream
For ice cream

The first Marine went over the wall
Parle vous
The second Marine went over the wall
Parle vous
The third Marine went over the wall
Got hit in the ass by a cannon ball
Inkey dinkey parle vous
(There were several different verses of this)

Larry
Larry at Scroggs.com

Jonathan

I'm a military brat and I first recall singing these in seventh and eighth
grade when we were stationed at an Air Force base in northern Maine in the
late 50s. This was pretty risque language for us back then and we were
careful where we sang the verses. I particularly remember singing them on
Scout trips. All of our Scout leaders were military men and usually didn't
say much about our language. However they were irritated when we repeated
the verses over and over again. (grin) The verses are obviously military in
origin and and as I recall we just learned them from each other. They were
just verses that kids taught each other. Here are some more I can recall but
I'm sure there were many others. It has been almost fifty years ago.

The first Marine climbed up the tree
Parlez vous
The second Marine climbed up the tree
Parlez vous
The third Marine climbed up the tree
Got stung on the ass by a bumble bee
Inkey dinkey parlez vous

The first Marine he found the bean
Parlez vous
The second Marine he cooked the bean
Parlez vous
The third Marine he ate the bean
And shit all over the submarine
Inkey dinkey parlez vous

The first Marine went over the wall
Parlez vous
The second Marine went over the wall
Parlez vous
The third Marine he stayed behind
Fucked the girls and drank the wine
Inkey dinkey parlez vous

Larry
Larry at Scroggs.com