Tea Cup Saucer Out

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Tea Cup Saucer Out is a children's "playground" saying, used for determining who is out or who goes first. It is related to such counting rhymes as "Eeny, meeny, miny, moe" or "Bubble gum, bubble gum, in a dish". Reported variations of this phrase include "Tea cup saucer, you are out".

The phrase is assumed to be of U.S. origin, although it does not seem to be universally known across the country. Furthermore, web searches for this phrase uncover very little information of relevance. Light research has suggested that this esoteric saying may originate from the city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin and its surrounding areas. That proposal is supported by the following survey data.

For background information about this survey data, click the image and view the summary.