A Knife and a Fork and a Bottle and a Cork...

[James A. Landau]

In a message dated  Fri, 28 Jan 2005 20:39:39 -0800,  howard schrager
<prncpmprnckl at YAHOO.COM> writes:

>  Subject: A Knife and a Fork and a Bottle and a Cork...That's how you spell
> New  York

>  Does anyone know the origin of the above street rhyme and its mate,
Chicken
> in the Car and the Car Can't Go... That's how you spell Chicago?

One I learned in (I think) elementary school:
   Cin, Cin, a needle and a pin, and that's how you spell "Cincinnati"

I don't know how widespread that one was.  I lived in Louisville, KY, a
hundred miles downriver from Cincinnati, so the spelling of the latter city was
more important for us than for most of the rest of the country.

Probably irrelevant, but are you familiar with the song

     My gal's a corker
     She's a New Yorker
     I've bought her everything to keep her in style
     She's got a head of hair
     Just like a grizzly bear
     That's where my mo-o-oney go-o-oe!

This stanza is sung endlessly, with differently lines 5 and 6, until the
singer's imagination (or the audience's patience) runs out, e.g.
      She's got a pair of lips/ just like potato chips
      She's got a pair of hips/just like two battleships

    - Jim Landau