Mary Mack

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"Mary Mack" ("Miss Mary Mack") is a clapping game played by children in English-speaking countries. It is known in various parts of the United States and in New Zealand and has been called "the most common hand-clapping game in the English-speaking world".^[1]

In the game, two children stand or sit opposite to each other, and clap hands in time to a rhyming song.

The same song is also used as a jumprope rhyme,^[2] although rarely so according to one source.^[3]

Rhyme

Various versions of the song exist; a common version goes:

Miss Mary Mack, Mack, Mack

All dressed in black, black, black

With silver buttons, buttons, buttons [butt'ns]

All down her back, back, back.

She asked her mother, mother, mother

for fifty cents, cents, cents

To see the elephants, elephants, elephants

Jump the fence, fence, fence.

They jumped so high, high, high

they reached the sky, sky, sky

And didn't come back, back, back

Till the 4th of July, ly, ly!

(July can't walk, walk, walk

July can't talk, talk, talk

July can't eat, eat, eat

With a knife and fork, fork, fork).

She asked her mother, mother, mother

For 5 cents more, more, more

To see the elephants, elephants, elephants

Jump over the door, door, door.

They jumped so low, low, low

They stubbed their toe, toe, toe

And that was the end, end, end,

Of the elephant show, show, show!

In some variations, Mary Mack asks her mother for fifteen cents rather than fifty.^[4] These variations may represent an earlier version of the song. It changed because of the speed of the rhyme and the similarity of the spoken words "fifteen" and "fifty", and because there were few things one could buy with 15 cents in the later part of the 20th century.^{[citation needed]}

Clap

A common version of the accompanying clap is as follows:

• &: Arms across chest
• 4: Pat thighs
• &: Clap hands
• 1: Clap right palms with partner
• &: Clap left palms with partner
• 2: Clap right palms with partner
• &: Clap left palms with partner
• 3: Clap right palms with partner

Another version:^[5]

• &: One palm up, one palm down
• 4: Clap both partners hands
• &: Clap own hands
• 1: Cross arms to chest
• 2: Slap thighs
• 3: Clap own hands

Possible origins

The first verse, without the repetition, is also a riddle with the answer "coffin".^[6]

Early mentions of the part about the elephant do not include the part about Mary Mack.^[7][8]

Merrimack

The origin of the name Mary Mack is obscure, and various theories have been proposed. According to one theory Mary Mack originally was Merrimac (an early ironclad that would have been black, with silver rivets) suggesting that the first verse refers to the Battle of Hampton Roads during the American Civil War.^{[citation needed]}

References

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