Innie Minnie Miny Moe Lyrics
'Eeny, meeny, miny, moe' — which can be spelled a number of ways — is a children's counting rhyme, used to select a person in games such as tag, or for selecting various other things. Justin Bieber - Eenie Meenie Lyrics. Eenie meenie miney moe Catch a bad chick by her toe If she holla (if, if, if she holla) let her go Eenie meenie miney moe.
How did the original 'Eeny, meeny, miny, moe' (featuring the word n*gger) begin? What does it mean line by line?
Taken from wikipedia:
Some older versions of this rhyme had the word nigger instead of tiger:
Eeny, meena, mina, mo, Catch a nigger by the toe; If he hollers let him go, Eena, meena, mina, mo.[3] This version was similar to that reported as the most common version among American schoolchildren in 1888.[10] It was used in the chorus of Bert Fitzgibbon's 1906 song 'Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Mo':
Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Mo, Catch a nigger by his toe, If he won't work then let him go; Skidum, skidee, skidoo. But when you get money, your little bride Will surely find out where you hide, So there's the door and when I count four, Then out goes you.[11]
Innie Minnie Miny Moe Lyrics Clean
It was also used by Rudyard Kipling in his 'A Counting-Out Song', from Land and Sea Tales for Scouts and Guides, published in 1935.[12] This may have helped popularise this version in the United Kingdom where it seems to have replaced all earlier versions until the late twentieth century.[3]
Iona and Peter Opie pointed out in The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes that the word 'nigger' was common in American folk-lore, but unknown in any English traditional rhyme or proverb.[3] This, combined with evidence of various other versions of the rhyme in the British Isles pre-dating this version, would seem to suggest that it originated in North America, although the apparently American word 'holler' was first recorded in written form in England in the fourteenth century, whereas according to the Oxford English Dictionary the words 'Niger' or 'nigger' were first recorded in England in the sixteenth century with their current disparaging meaning. The 'olla' and 'toe' are found as nonsense words in some nineteenth century versions of the rhyme, and it could possibly be that the original 'Where do all the Frenchmen Go?' (probably originating during one of the periods of Anglo-French warfare) was later on replaced by the earlier version in the United States, using some of the nonsense words
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eeny,_meeny,_miny,_moe
I have several questions:
Are words like 'Eeny' 'Miny' 'Skidum' and 'Skidoo' complete nonsense for the sake of creating a memorable delivery? What is the purpose of their usage?
How did the eeny, meeny, miny, moe rhyme begin? Was it a quick rhyme to tell small children, not unlike old pirate songs (ex; sing a song of sixpence, etc.)?
When the rhyme states 'If he won't work then let him go' .. ' is this implying a slave should be murdered, if deemed unproductive? Released to hunt the slave? Is there historical significance here?
When the rhyme states 'But when you get money, your little bride will surely find out where you hide,' What is this in reference to?
Why would anyone ever catch another human being by the toe? Or is this also to create a silly rhyme?
In addition to the now better known substitution of 'tiger' for 'nigger' I can tell you as a small child I definitely heard both iterations which is fascinating to me because I'm only in my 20's - so I'm curious about how the split began. I'd also be curious to hear how common each iteration is and what the origin is?
