eena meena mackeracka (children's rhymes)

Subject: RE: eena meena mackeracka (children's rhymes)
From: GUEST,cath
Date: 14 Jun 19 - 11:16 AM

we had.
eeny meeny miceracca
rare ry dominacca
eenie meenie miceracca
rom pom pusha


this is how I learnt it as a child.
while eating with a spoon and pusher. the pusher was a shaped
utensil for pushing food onto the spoon. this goes back to my
grandma when she was young. she was born in 1920

Subject: RE: eena meena mackeracka (children's rhymes)
From: GUEST
Date: 20 Oct 19 - 02:29 PM

My Grandfather used to say this.

Ar ai shackeri, shackerackeroni,
Oni pony, om pom piney,
Allawallawaxy,
Chinese Chink.

The first half I've seen other people write here sounds familiar, but I don't remember him saying it. He was born in 1918 and grew up in Goodwick, Pembrokeshire

Subject: RE: eena meena mackeracka (children's rhymes)
From: GUEST,Ronald.thorne
Date: 11 Sep 20 - 05:37 AM

I first learned this at lilac Gardens, Rush Green, Romford, in 1945 just after the end of the war.

Subject: RE: eena meena mackeracka (children's rhymes)
From: GUEST
Date: 16 Jan 23 - 04:38 AM

Eeny meany macka racka rare rye dumbaracka chickapopa lollipopa rum tum tush. Sang this as a child round about 1960.

Subject: RE: eena meena mackeracka (children's rhymes)
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 16 Jan 23 - 05:25 AM

Ip dip dip
My blue ship
Sails on the water
Like a cup and saucer
Ip dip dip
You are IT!

(Or "not it," or other extensions of that last line...)

Used in the playground, usually by the Alpha Boy, when picking a team. He points to a different kid on every syllable. He could nefariously alter that last line if he could foresee that "it" would be an undesirable member of his team! Alternate "captains" would use the rhyme repeatedly until everyone had been picked. Naturally, if you were like me, i.e., the three-legged carthorse of football, you would, humiliatingly, be the last one picked...

From Radcliffe, Lancashire, in the 1950s.

Subject: RE: eena meena mackeracka (children's rhymes)
From: GUEST
Date: 28 Jan 23 - 07:21 AM

This sticks in my head from childhood
isaka dominaka chickeraka lollipoppa rom pom push
Does anyone else remember it and have any idea of its origins?

Miltz

Subject: RE: eena meena mackeracka (children's rhymes)
From: Joe_F
Date: 28 Jan 23 - 09:02 PM

When I was in grade school (southern California, 1940s) we had

Eeny meeny miney mo,
Catch a tiger by the toe.
If he hollers, make him pay
Fifty dollars every day.
My mother told me to choose this very best ONE.

We knew that the original had "nigger" but that that was a bad word. I imagine we got that information from the grownups.

Subject: RE: eena meena mackeracka (children's rhymes)
From: Bugsy
Date: 09 Feb 23 - 11:13 PM

This is what I remember from early childhood.

I went into a China shop to buy a loaf of bread
he put me in a pillowcase and this is what he said,
"Eanie meanie macker racker
rare eye dominacka
chicka racka lollipoppa
om pom push!"

The rhyme was used when playing "Spuds" to decide who went first/last, in whichever game we were about to play.

CHeers

Bugsy

Subject: RE: eena meena mackeracka (children's rhymes)
From: Bugsy
Date: 12 Feb 23 - 09:22 PM

eve Shaw,
"Ip dip dip
My blue ship
Sails on the water
Like a cup and saucer
Ip dip dip
You are IT!"

Brought back memories of when I was a little nipper in Stevenage New town. Most of the kids from our street were from the East End. The rhyme they used was

"Ip, Dip, Dog, Shit,
You, Are, Not, It!"

Ah... the memories.


Cheers

Bugsy

Subject: RE: eena meena mackeracka (children's rhymes)
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 13 Feb 23 - 08:42 AM

Eve? :-)

We were good Catholic kids and the staff room window was wide open. The word "shit" was never uttered! <> halo emoticon

Subject: RE: eena meena mackeracka (children's rhymes)
From: Bugsy
Date: 14 Feb 23 - 02:28 AM

Being a catholic myself, I Never used this rhyme in earshot of my parents. No expletives passed my lips until I was well out of earshot in the woods!


Cheers

Bugsy

Subject: RE: eena meena mackeracka (children's rhymes)
From: GUEST
Date: 16 Mar 24 - 06:05 PM

Round about the mid-fifties when I was 11, in Greenwich/Charlton, SE London, we used to sing:
Eenie meenie mackaracka
Dare or die dominacka
Chikka bakka lollipop
Oom boom push (which got changed to shove occasionally)

Subject: RE: eena meena mackeracka (children's rhymes)
From: GUEST
Date: 03 Jun 24 - 05:03 AM

That's the version I know, well done, never thought I'd see it written

Subject: RE: eena meena mackeracka (children's rhymes)
From: GUEST,Campjo
Date: 12 Jul 24 - 05:02 PM

The version I recall (Norton on Tees)

Went

Eeny meeny makkerakka
Aero dominakka
Allabakka chuckalakka
Rom Pom push

Subject: RE: eena meena mackeracka (children's rhymes)
From: GUEST,henryp
Date: 15 Jul 24 - 05:14 PM

In 'Brigg Fair - A memoir of Joseph Taylor' (edited by Peter Collinson), E Marion Hudson recalls a walk with her great grand-father, the singer Joseph Taylor, in Saxby-All-Saints, Lincolnshire.

When we got nearly to the end of the street, we climbed a tiny track and through a small gate into a field where, at the top, was a large flock of sheep with the shepherd. Obviously he was expecting us as he was leaning on his crook waiting to count his sheep. Grandpa, with his usual courtesy, introduced us. Then the mystery was solved! The shepherd hooked his crook over his left arm holding his stick in the same hand and a knife in the other, began to count:

“Yan, tan, tethera, pethera, pamp,
“Sethera, lethera, hoverer, covera, dix” (being ten)
“Yan-a-dix, tan-a-dix and so on up to “Bumfit” which is fifteen then “Yan-a-sethera” and so on until he came to twenty which is “Figgit”.

At this point he made a notch on his stick. He repeated the programme until all the sheep were counted then adding the Figgits and extra numbers found the total. It was an unforgettable experience.