Gibb, I think you think I'm more serious than I am.

My starting this thread wasn't for the purpose of gathering "data".

I started this particular "category" thread and other threads like it as a way of sharing songs & rhymes lyrics and titles that are part of a particular category. It's just fun and also it's a kind of test of one's recollection. You can blame my astrological Virgo rising, and Virgo mars placements for a fondness for making list.

However, in the case of children's playground rhymes, I readily admit that I also hope to elicit some examples that I might include on my website http://www.cocojams.com/
and I might include in books that I project editing.

I certainly don't have any plan to formally analyze what is posted here-other than to offer comments here or there.

And I'll offer these comments regarding African American matriarchy:

I don't think that African American society/societies is/are matriarchal, as fathers are at least ideally considered to be the head of the household.

And African Americans certainly aren't matrilineal, since lineage (ancestry) isn't traced through the mother and maternal ancestors.

But mothers are usually very highly regarded in African American cultures (I use a plural because there are multiple types of African American cultures). And many West African cultures such as the Akan (Ghana and The Ivory Coast) are traditionally matriarchal/matrilineal. I think that's partly what's "at play" with mother insults in the African American verbal "game" of the dozens. {If you want to test someone's self-control, strike where they are most sensitive and see whether they loose their cool or are still able to be quick witted).

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With regard to the mother/granny insults in children's handclap rhymes, I think it's rare that children would get angry as a result of hearing these examples. While I categorize the examples shared on this thread as taunting rhymes, they aren't usually used to taunt but to accompany the performance of (usually) girls (about 5-12 years old) percussivehandclap routines. That said, some rhymes like these are chanted by athletic sports cheerleaders to taunt the other team and their cheerleaders & fans. But, I think, even then the beat and the accompanying rhythmical, percussive movements are more important than the words.

In other words, chanting these children's rhymes isn't the same as adults in the UK singing football (soccer) songs which may indeed result in anger and physical harm.