Regional Variants on 'Eensy Weensy Spider'

[Peter A. McGraw]

"Itsy bitsy spider" is all I remember ever hearing during a childhood in S.
California and Oregon in the  late 40s-early 50s.

Peter

--On Sunday, October 30, 2005 5:59 PM -0500 "Martinez-Gibson, Elizabeth A."
<MartinezE at COFC.EDU> wrote:

> I grew up in NYC and it was the "itsy bitsy spider" for me.
>
> Liz Martinez
>
> ________________________________
>
> From: American Dialect Society on behalf of Douglas G. Wilson
> Sent: Sat 10/29/2005 5:40 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Re: Regional Variants on 'Eensy Weensy Spider'
>
>
>
>> I had a kid's record on which it was "The Eentsy Beentsy Spider."  This
>> is the only form I ever knew. Some people in Colorado once ridiculed me
>> for it, claiming "itsy bitsy" was correct.
>
>> My wife, who is a native of /dee TROIT/, Michigan, also says it is "itsy
>> bitsy".
>
> I grew up in Detroit. "Eensy weensy" sounds 'right' to me and I'm pretty
> sure this was the one I heard the most in my childhood (in spite of "itsy
> bitsy" seeming more usual in general, in other contexts).
>
> -- Doug Wilson



***************************************************************************
Peter A. McGraw       Linfield College        McMinnville, Oregon
******************* pmcgraw at linfield.edu ****************************