Same here, with differences
Posted by R. Berg on February 22, 2002
In Reply to: Racism posted by The Fallen on February 22, 2002
: : hello all~
: : i'm not sure if I spelled it correctly but I was wondering if anybody knows the origination of eeney meeney miney moe or knows of a different version than:
: : eeney meeney
miney moe
: : catch a tiger by its toe
: : if he hollers let him go
:
: eeney meeney miney moe
: : thanks!
: : nici
: The version of "eeny, meeny, miny, moe" that was current in playgrounds when I was a child (1960's Britain), replaced the word "tiger" with [word removed in order to comply with Google's Publisher Policy]. This is of course totally unacceptable by today's standards, given the massively pejorative and racist overtones that the word has gained over the ensuing years. At the time, however, it was used in total innocence.
The "n____" version was current among U.S. children in the
1950s. As I understand it, the word hasn't gained racist overtones since then:
it had them all the time. No, that's not strong enough. Not just overtones. The
whole meaning of the word was just plain racist. What has changed is people's
sensibilities about racism--including the words that help to perpetuate it. (In
the U.S., we had a civil rights movement that got national attention inthe 1960s,
followed by other changes in the culture.)
There were more lyrics. The next
verse started "If he hollers, make him pay / Fifty dollars every day." I don't
rememer the rest. It might be in a book I don't have, Iona and Peter Opie, "The
Lore and Language of Schoolchildren."
- Opie (Same here, with differences) masakim 02/22/02
- History
of "eeny meeny" R. Berg 02/22/02
- History of
"eeny meeny" The Fallen 02/22/02
- Anon, dà, tri, ceithir Word Camel 02/22/02
- History of "eeny meeny" Word Camel 02/22/02
- One more
observation on Racist language Word Camel 02/22/02
- Eena, meena,
mina, mo ESC 02/23/02
- Eena, meena, mina, mo Jim 02/25/02
- Eena, meena,
mina, mo ESC 02/23/02
- One more
observation on Racist language Word Camel 02/22/02
- History of
"eeny meeny" The Fallen 02/22/02