children's chant

[Wilson Gray]

So, there really is a word, "peeny." I ran across it in a novel, back
in the '70's. I thought the author had invented it.

-Wilson

On Feb 1, 2005, at 2:17 PM, Mark A. Mandel wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Mark A. Mandel" <mamandel at LDC.UPENN.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: children's chant
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> --------
>
> Larry Scroggs <larry at SCROGGS.COM>notes:
>>>>>>
> 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.
>  <<<<<
>
> Same time frame but with World War II references:
>
> Whistle while you work
> Hitler was a jerk
> Neeny-neeny*
> Hossifini*
> Mussolini*
> Bit his peeny*
> Then it wouldn't work
>
> *These four lines repeat the same tune. As far as I can tell, the
> second and
> third are just nonsense, and one can only guess how to spell them.
>
> Well, these are CHILDREN'S chants, so no surprise if they are silly and
> snickering.
>
> -- Mark
> [This text prepared with Dragon NaturallySpeaking.]
>