Skipping-rope rhyme

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A skipping rhyme (occasionally skipping-rope rhyme or jump-rope rhyme), is a rhyme chanted by children while skipping. Such rhymes have been recorded in all cultures where skipping is played. Examples of English-language rhymes have been found going back to at least the 17th century. Like most folklore, skipping rhymes tend be found in many different variations.

Rhymes from the 1940s

The following are rhymes from West Los Angeles, California.

Two girls with a long rope stood about 12 feet apart and turned the rope as other children took turns jumping. If one were not a good jumper, one would be an 'Ever-Laster,' that is, one would perpetually turn the rope. When it was a child's turn to jump, she would enter as the rope turned, and jump to the rhyme until she missed. Then she would become a rope-turner, and the next child in line would take her place.

1.:Charlie Chaplin went to France

To teach the ladies how to dance.
First the heel, then the toe,
Then the splits, and around you go!
Salute to the Captain,
Bow to the Queen,
And turn your back on the Nazi submarine!

In the Charlie Chaplin rhyme, the child jumping had to follow directions as the rope was turning: touching the heel of one foot on the ground; touching the toe of the same foot on the ground; doing a (short) split of the feet, turning around, saluting, bowing, and jumping out from the turning rope on the last line. This rhyme, c. 1942, reflects children's awareness of World War II (The Queen to whom we bowed was the mother of the present Queen of England).

An Australian version of the Charlie Chaplin Skipping Song, as sung at Salisbury Primary School in Brisbane, Australia in the mid 1950s, is as follows:

Charlie Chaplan went to France,
To teach the ladies how to dance,
First he did the Rumba,
Then he did the twist,
Then he did the Highland Fling,
And then he did the splits.

2.:All in together, birds of a feather:

January, February, March, April, May, etc. (each child had to jump in during the month they were born).

3.:Ice cream soda, Delaware Punch,

Tell me the name of my honey-bunch.
A, B, C, etc.
. . . And don't forget the RED HOT PEPPERS (and the turners would turn the rope as fast as they could).

In Dublin, Ireland, the visits of inspectors known as "Glimmer men" to private houses to enforce regulations to prevent the use of coal gas in restricted hours during the Emergency gave rise to:[1]

Keep it boiling on the glimmer, if you don't you get no dinner.

Counting rhymes

Some rhymes are intended to count the number of jumps the skipper takes without stumbling. These rhymes can take very simple forms, such as this chant collected in London in the 1950s:

Big Ben strikes one,
Big Ben strikes two,
Big Ben strikes three,
(etc.)

Mature twists

Another rhyme with a definite twist. The fifth line is not said in the same rhythm as the preceding four, but is instead much faster.

Had a little sports car,
Two-forty-eight,
Ran around the cor-(skipper jumps out, and turners continue the syllable until they reenter)-ner
and SLAMMED on the brakes!
Policeman caught me and put me in jail
All I had was gingerale
How many bottles did I drink?
Goes, 10! 20! 30! 40!
Had a little car car,
Two-forty-eight,
Ran around the cor-(skipper jumps out, and turners continue the syllable until they reenter)-ner
and slammed on the brakes!
Policeman caught me
Put me on his knee,
Asked me a question
Will you marry me?
Yes, No, Maybe So (repeated)

Another skipping rhyme, but is more modern. Once the alphabet finishes, kids continue with numbers until skipper catches rope. It is natural for kids to use the letter that the skipper lost on and to use it to find someone's name following the rule of either best friend or boyfriend, depending on what is chosen in the beginning.

Ice cream, Soda pop, cherry on top,
Who's your best friend, let's find out;
Goes A! B! C!

or

Ice cream soda, cherry on top
Who's your boyfriend/girlfriend, I forgot;
Is it an A! B! C!

or

Ice cream sundae, banana split
[Name of jumper]'s got a boyfriend/girlfriend,
Who is it?
A! B! C!

Skipping rhymes don't always have to be rhymes, however. They can be games, such as a game called, "School." In "Kindergarten" (the first round), all skippers must run through rope without skipping. In "First Grade", all skippers must skip in, skip once, and skip out without getting caught in the rope, and so on. Also, there is "Mouse Trap", where there is a special pattern, and players must run through rope without getting caught. If caught, the jumper caught must hold the rope.

Nonsense rhymes

Many rhymes consist of pure nonsense, often with a suggestion of naughtiness:

Fudge, Fudge, Call the Judge:

Fudge, fudge, call the judge,
Mama had a baby.
Wrap it up in tissue paper,
Stick it in the elevator.
Mama called the doctor,
The doctor called the nurse,
The nurse called the lady with the alligator purse.
'Mumps' said the doctor,
'Mumps,' said the nurse,
'Mumps' said the lady with the alligator purse.

This rhyme was heard in Athol, MA in the 1950s:

Fudge, fudge, call the judge,
Mama's got a new-born baby
It's not a boy
It's not a girl
It's just an ordinary baby
Wrap it up in tissue paper,
Send it down the elevator,
First floor - Miss! [skipper to catch to rope between legs]
Second floor -Miss! [Continues until skipper fails]

Variant:

Fudge, Fudge, call the judge,
(Girl's name) is having a baby.
Wrap it up in tissue paper,
Send it down the escalator.
Boy, Girl, Twins, Triplets. (last line repeated until jumper fails)

Another Variant:

Fudge, Fudge, call the judge,
(Girl) is having a baby.
Her boyfriend's going crazy.
Wrap it up in toilet paper,
Send it down the elevator.
Boy, girl, twins or triplets (repeated until failure)

Another Variant:

Fudge, Fudge, call the judge,
(Girl) is having a baby.
(Boy)'s going crazy.
Wrap it up in toilet paper,
Send it down the elevator.
What's it gonna be?
Boy, girl, triplets, alien (until she stumbles)

Another variant:

Fudge, Fudge, call the judge,
(Girl) is having a baby.
And her boyfriend's going crazy.
How many babies will she have?
1, 2, 3, 4, ....

Another variant related by my mother (85 as of May, 2013) and jumped to by her as a child in Newark, NJ, in the 1930s:

Fudge, Fudge, tell the judge,
Momma's got a baby!
It isn't a boy.
It isn't a girl.
It's just a little lady!

Another:

Doctor, Doctor, call the nurse
She's having a baby,
She's going crazy,
Boy, girl, alien, twins [until they stop]

Another:

Three, six, nine
The goose drank wine
The monkey chewed tobacco on the telephone line
The line, it broke
The goose got choked
And they all went to heaven in a little rowboat.

And another (as told by Colin Mochrie):

Monkey, monkey, chew the butter
See my buttocks, they is better
Batter! Batoota, batoota, monkey monkey!
Look, there's a gerbil! I'm going up and down
60 Minutes, where are you?
Here's an expose for you!
Libilaulah! Libilaulah!

And another:

Fatty and Skinny went to bed
Fatty let a fart and Skinny went dead
Fatty called the doctor and the doctor said:
"If Fatty lets another fart we'll all be dead!"

And another:

Liar, liar, pants on fire,
Your belt's hanging on the telephone wire!

Variation:

Liar, liar, pants on fire,
Your nose is long as a telephone wire!

Yet another variation:

Liar, liar, pants on fire,
Hanging by a telephone wire!

And another:

Liar, liar, pants on fire,
Your hair sticks out like a telephone wire
Your eyes look like red bricks on the fire

International rhymes

Canadian circa 1960s:

I See London I See France

I see London, I see France, I see (name)'s underpants, Not too big, not too small, Just the size of Montreal!

Pretty Little Dutch Girl

Main article: Pretty Little Dutch Girl

"Pretty Little Dutch Girl" is an example of an international rhyme. If one sings it, it is generally sung to the tune of "A Sailor Went to Sea".

Cinderella

Cinderella dressed in yellow, went upstairs to kiss her fellow, by mistake kissed a snake, how many doctors will it take? 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 etc. (Go to 20 then go down to the next line)
Cinderella dressed in blue, went upstairs to tie her shoe, made a mistake and tied a knot, how many knots will she make? 1, 2, 3, etc.
Cinderella dressed in green, went downtown to buy a ring, made a mistake and bought a fake, how many days before it breaks? 1, 2, 3, etc.
Cinderella dressed in lace, went upstairs to fix her face, oh no oh no, she found a blemish, how many powder puffs till she's finished? 1, 2, 3, etc.
Cinderella dressed in silk, went outside to get some milk, made a mistake and fell in the lake, how many more till she gets a break? 1, 2, 3, etc.

The counting continues as long as the jumper avoids missing a jump. If they do then the counting starts again.:[2]

Historical rhymes

Other rhymes are highly topical, and sometimes survive long after the events that inspired them have disappeared from the headlines. Perhaps the most notorious rhyme of this type is one that began circulating during the 1893 trial of Lizzie Borden:

Lizzie Borden took an axe
And gave her mother forty whacks,
When she saw what she had done,
She gave her father forty-one.[citation needed]

Variations of this following rhyme, a wordplay on "influenza," were heard around the time of the 1918 flu pandemic:

I had a little bird,
And its name was Enza.
I opened the window
And in-flew-enza.[3][4]

It is also possible that "the lady with the alligator purse" in the lulu/lucy/Susie rhymes is a direct reference to U.S. suffragette Susan B. Anthony who was known for this trademark handbag. Press reports described California children skipping rope to the following version of the song during her 1895 suffrage drive in that state, although it isn't clear if it represented a topical adoption of an existing "lady with the alligator purse" character or the introduction of the phrase:

Miss Lulu had a baby, she called him tiny Tim.
She put him in the bathtub, so see if he could swim.
He drank up all the water! He ate up all the soap!
He tried to swallow the bathtub, but it wouldn't go down his throat!!
Call for the doctor!
Call for the nurse!
Call for the lady with the alligator purse!
"Mumps!" said the doctor. "Measles!" said the nurse.
"Vote!!" said the lady with the alligator purse!![5]

Offensive rhymes

Sometimes, rhymes have been known to offend people of different race and nationalities:

My parents have pretty eyes
My mother's Chinese
My father's Japanese
My brother's Taiwanese
My sister's Vietnamese

Another one that also mentions Asians:

Chinese
Japanese
dirty knees
Criss cross, duck sauce
Why don't you just get lost! (repeated until jumper slips up)

See also

References

  1. ↑ Reid, L.M. (2010). bpages.com/hub/World-War-Two-the-Emergency-Ration-books-in-Stoneybatter-Dublin-7-Ireland "Remembering Rationing and Bombs during World War Two in Dublin Ireland". Hubpages. Retrieved 2011-03-18. "Yes we had a rhyme we sang when we played skipping out in the street. It was about the gas rationing and the glimmer." 
  2. ↑ The British Library. "Skipping games - Cinderella, dressed in yellow". Playtimes. The British Library. Retrieved 3 September 2012. 
  3. ↑ Lynch, Eileen A. (November/December 1998). "The Flu of 1918". The Pennsylvania Gazette. University of Pennsylvania. 
  4. ↑ March, Peyton C. (September 4, 1932). "General March's Narrative: Glimpses of Woodrow Wilson". The New York Times. p. XX3, Special Features section. 
  5. ↑ National Susan B. Anthony Museum and House, Rochester NY; http://susanbanthonyhouse.org/alligatorbag.php

Further reading

External links

Clapping games
"Pease Porridge Hot"
Guessing games
Hand games
Hide-and-seek and tag
Baby games
Party games
Playground games
and songs
Singing games
Other
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