Hide and Seek catchphrase All-ie All-ie Outs in Free, Olly Olly Oxen Free

Tue Feb 14 20:11:16 UTC 2012

The hypothesized evolution of the Hide and Seek catchphrase was
discussed at the website of Random House lexicographers:

The Maven's Word of the Day for April 22, 1997

ollie ollie oxen free

http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=19970422

 [Begin excerpt]
The original form of the phrase was something like all in free or
all's out come in free, both standing for something like all who are
out can come in free. These phrases got modified to all-ee all-ee
(all) in free or all-ee all-ee out(s) in free; the -ee is added, and
the all is repeated, for audibility and rhythm.
>From here the number of variants takes off, and we start seeing folk
etymologies in various forms. The most common of these has oxen
replacing out(s) in, giving all-ee all-ee oxen free; with the all-ee
reinterpreted as the name Ollie, we arrive at your phrase, which,
according to the Dictionary of American Regional English, is
especially common in California. Norwegian settlement areas have Ole
Ole Olsen's free. For the out(s) in phrase, we also see ocean, oxford,
ax in, awk in, and even oops all in.
[End excerpt]

I do not have access to the key DARE article.

Wikipedia has a relevant entry: Olly olly oxen free
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olly_olly_oxen_free

Here is a sampling of citations. (Please check carefully for typos I
may have introduced when copying from the sources before using any of
this information):

Cite: 1898 July 05, The Daily Gazette [Emporia Gazette], [Freestanding
untitled short article], Emporia, Kansas. (GenealogyBank)
[Begin excerpt]
This war has been a game of hide-and-seek. It was "bushel of wheat and
bushel of rye" with Uncle Sam at first. But with "one-two-three for
Montejo" and "one-two-three for Cervera," it will soon be "all't's
out's in free." And Spain will be "it" for a long, long time
afterward.
[End excerpt]

Cite: 1909 May 23, Grand Forks Daily Herald, Social Circles: When
Grandpa Plays, Part Two, Page 11, Column 1, Grand Forks, North Dakota.
(GenealogyBank)
[Begin excerpt]
He started to play hide and seek, and  first he had to blind.
And then he ran with all his might to  see who he could find.
And Tommy Wtkins beat him in from  there behind a tree.
Till Grandpa had to give it up and say, "All's out's in free!"
[End excerpt]

An article about golf in 1927 presented a longer version of the
hide-and-seek catchphrase within a satirical article. The article
combined rules and rhymes from different games.

Cite: 1927 July 17, Seattle Daily Times, Gallery Gallopers Gathering
Dodging Practice Swings, Page 10, Column 2, Seattle, Washington.
(Genealogybank)
[Begin excerpt]
Immediately on discovering it he shall shout, "All-e, all-e outs in
free," whereat the gallery will resume their places on the course
exactly as they were before the row started.
[End excerpt]

In 1936 a Muggs McGinnis cartoon strip printed a version of the
hide-and-seek catchphrase.

Cite: 1936 April 03, Middletown Times Herald, Muggs McGinnis cartoon
by Wally Bishop, Page 22, Middletown, New York. (NewspaperArchive)
[Begin excerpt]
ALL-IE = ALL-IE = OUTS = IN FREE!
ALL-IE = ALL-IE = OUTS = IN=FREE!
YOO-HOO, SKEETER! COME ON IN = WHERE EVER YA' ARE! I'M NOT GOING TO
HUNT YA' ANY MORE!
[End excerpt]

By 1950 a song was released with the title Olly Olly Oxen Free.

Cite: 1950 January 17, Register-Republic, Music on Records by Robert
L. Jacobs, Page 10, Column 7, Rockford, Illinois. (GenealogyBank)
[Begin excerpt]
Home Town Band is one of the more interesting novelty tunes of recent
date, with a lilting march-tempo melody and much colorful business
about baton-twirlers, girl tuba-players, etc. The Modernaires
(Columbia) handle it cleverly, with appropriate backing by an
unidentified band-style ensemble. Olly Olly Oxen Free, the flip, is
another catchy novelty which should please the young-uns.
[End excerpt]

Cite: 1950 October-December, The Journal of American Folklore,
Children's Rhymes from Missouri by Ruth Ann Musick and Vance Randolph,
Volume 63, Number 250, Start Page 425, Quote Page 434, Published by:
American Folklore Society
http://www.jstor.org/stable/536189
[Begin excerpt]
After he has caught one or more, if the seeker is tired he may end the
game by shouting:
Bee, bee, bumblebee,
All's out's in free.
[End excerpt]

Garson

On Tue, Feb 14, 2012 at 2:29 PM, Charles C Doyle <cdoyle at uga.edu> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Charles C Doyle <cdoyle at UGA.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: nyaa nyaa/ naa naa (UNCLASSIFIED)
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> "Ollie ollie ocean free" is also encountered.  Sounds in search of meanings . . . .
>
> --Charlie
>
> ________________________________________
> From: American Dialect Society [ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] on behalf of Ben Zimmer [bgzimmer at BABEL.LING.UPENN.EDU]
> Sent: Tuesday, February 14, 2012 1:41 PM
>
> On Tue, Feb 14, 2012 at 11:54 AM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>>
>> My first encounter with either phrase was in a Peanuts cartoon of the
>> late '50s. Linus tells the players something like, "The correct phrase
>> is 'All, all who are out are in free!'!
>>
>> I'd revise that (too much education) to "All ye, all ye..." which was
>> then shortened to "All ye, all ye out are in free!" and then "...All
>> ye, all ye outs (are) in free!"
>
> I recall the Peanuts strip a bit differently. This sounds right:
>
> ---
> http://everything2.com/title/ollie+ollie+oxen+free
> In an early Peanuts comic strip, an unfortunate Linus van Pelt
> rendered this call as as "Ollie Ollie Olsen Free-O". This elicited a
> great deal of mockery from Lucy, who corrected him with "All-ee,
> all-ee, out are in free."
> ---
>
> --bgz
>
> --
> Ben Zimmer
> http://benzimmer.com/
>
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> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
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> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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