[Ads-l] _long finger_ =?UTF-8?Q?=E2=80=9Cmiddle_?=finger"

[Wilson Gray]

> "Little one, lean one, long one, lickpot, thumbo"

Check dis out:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYPmuP3Jf38

On Thu, Sep 28, 2017 at 10:00 PM Jim Parish <jparish at siue.edu> wrote:

> When I was young, I heard a song with the chorus
>
> "Little one, lean one, long one, lickpot, thumbo".
>
> (For the longest time, I thought the singer was Tennessee Ernie Ford,
> but I can't find it in his discography.)
>
> Jim Parish
>
>
> On 9/28/2017 8:10 PM, Wilson Gray wrote:
> > While browsing around in DARE, I came across the above. Not only is this
> > the usual term for the middle finger that I used during my East Texas
> > childhood, but it also occurs in a song that I once heard when I was
> about
> > three years old. The song is entitled _Thumbkin_ et sim. Giving research
> a
> > lick and a promise, I found that the song goes back, in variants, to at
> > least 1849.
> >
> > Thumbkin says he’ll dance
> > Thumbkin says he’ll sing
> > Dance and sing, ye merry little men
> > Thumbkin says he’ll dance and sing
> >
> > Fore finger says he’ll dance
> > Etc.
> >
> > _Long finger_ says he’ll dance
> > Etc.
> >
> > Ring finger says he’ll dance
> > Etc.
> >
> > Short finger says he’ll dance
> > Etc.
> >
> > All fingers say they’ll dance
> > Etc.
> >
> > goo.gl/jonkH7
> >
> > Speaking of recalling stuff from childhood, I once met a (white)
> > fellow-Texan who, as toddler, had had a Russian nursemaid. She used to
> sing
> > him to sleep with a Russian lullaby. He remembered that lullaby so well
> > that, over a quarter-century later, he was able to sing it, pronouncing
> the
> > Russian so well that I could easily understand the words of the song and
> > interpret them for him, his own knowledge of Russian being non-existent.
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org