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Thursday, June 16, 2005

Cinderella, dressed in yellow.....

I can't resist opening up this topic as a post. It's hardly spiritual, but we rejoice in our common memories, especially among the ladies, of playing outside and counting games and jumping rope.

MamaT, of the briskly lovely blog Summa Mamas, responded in the Percolators and roller skates post below, with this jump rope rhyme:

Cinderella, dressed in yellow, went upstairs to kiss her fellow, Made a mistake and kissed a snake, How many doctors did it take? One, two, three, four.....


In the Chicago area, we learned it

Cinderella, dressed in yellow, went downtown to meet a fellow, on the way her girdle busted, how many people were disgusted? 10, 20, 30....


Men, do you wonder what women are talking about when they congregate in the kitchen or go to the restroom together? Mostly this stuff.

I invite you to complete these rhymes, and offer your own. (Men, you're invited too, and maybe I'm wrong, but I can only remember boys playing "Higher and Lower," or "School," where you jumped over the rope while it was held at different heights.) I personally chanted each one of these in my Catholic-school playground back when the Mass was just coming out of Latin....

Engine, engine, number nine.....


Teddy bear, teddy bear...


And doesn't this sweet thing paint an eerie little picture?

Doctor, doctor, call the doctor,
Mama's got a brand new baby.
It isn't a girl
It isn't a boy
It's just an ordinary baby.
Wrap it up in tissue paper,
Throw it down the elevator.
First floor - STOP! (step on rope)
Second floor - STOP! (until you miss)

7 comments:

alicia said...

see saw, marjery daw, eavy Ivy over (done with the jump rope going halfway, and then at over going all the way around at the word 'over' then changing to)
Down by the ocean, down by the sea
Johnny broke a bottle and he blamed it on me.
I told ma, ma told pa
Johnny got a licking so ha ha ha
how many lickings did he get?

also
Spanish dancers dance around
Spanish dancers go to town
Spanish dancers do the splits,
Spanish dancers run like this (as you run out of the jump rope

Therese Z said...

I immediately heard the melody to "See Saw, Marjorie Daw" when I read this. These things stay intact in our heads!

I dimly remember Spanish dancers. Thanks for the memories....

TS said...

Ten little monkies jumpin' on the bed
One fell off and bust his head
mama called the doctor, doctor said
"No more monkeys jumping on the bed!"

Henry Dieterich said...

Then there is the classic counting-out rhyme, "Eenie, meenie, miney, mo." In my childhood, the second line was "Catch a piggy by the toe." Since then, I have also heard "Catch a tiger...," which leads me to believe that in the original version, the word was a certain racial slur beginning with "N." What did you catch by the toe?

Therese Z said...

We caught a monkey. Bad boys in my neighborhood caught the "N" word. I'm glad I remember that we were only impressed by their magnificent badness, not that we agreed with using that word even in playing.

Roz said...

Who remembers this one, probably related to Alicia's "Spanish dancers" song?

Not last night but the night before
24 robbers came knocking at my door.
As I ran out . . . (run out of the rope)
They ran in . . . (jump back in)
Knocked me on the head with a rolling pin.
I asked them what they wanted
And this is what they said.
Chinese dancers do the splits (jumper does the moves)
Chinese dancers do some kicks
Chinese dancers dance all night
Chinese dancers turn out the light
Chinese dancers turn around
Chinese dancers touch the ground
Chinese dancers get out of town. (run out of rope)

TS said...

We caught a tiger...I recall our (city) high school cheer abusing a more rural high school that seems humorously gentle in retrospect:

Go back
Go back
Go back to the woods!
Your coach is a farmer
and your team is no good!

 

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