Lore and language

[ladyofastolat]

When you were a child, what was the main method you used to decide who was "it" in a game? Just curious...

(Will add mine when not typing laboriously on a phone.)

Comments

[segh.livejournal.com]

Usually, "Ip dip dip, my little ship sails on the ocean, you are not it", while counting round. Eliminate person reached on "it". Continue until one person remains, who is "it".
Occasionally, all held out both fists while the leader tapped on the fists, "One potato, two potato, three potato, four, five potato, six potato, seven potato, more, bad one". The fist reached on the final "one" had to be held behind your back. Repeat until everybody had both fists behind their backs; the owner of the last fist standing was "it". An interesting feature of this method was that while in the first, the dipper merely pointed to herself, in the second, she had to tap one fist on the other and then the other way round, to make sure she was tapped fairly.

[purplecat]

"Eenie, Meenie, Miny, Mo" - the non-politically correct version followed immediately by "Ip Dip Sky Blue, Who's it not you (`you' excluded at this point) the one who lands on number eight is it. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8"

[torkell]

I forget what the rhyme was at my school, but that one sounds familiar. Everyone stood in a circle with their feet touching in the middle, and as the rhyme went round you'd remove a foot if you were the one chosen to be out. The last people in were it.

[squonk79.livejournal.com]

There were a few. We mostly used the first two because they were quick. And involved bad language. The others were for when someone complained the person doing dip was rigging it by counting where it would land. Canny bunch at my school.

Ip dip, dog shit, you are not it

There's a German in the grass with a bullet up his ass, o-u-t spells out (we added so scram to the end after a while too)

There's a party on the hill can you come? (person it lands on says yes)
Bring your own bread and butter and your own cream bun
(name of person landed on with bun) will be there with his/her knickers in the air
O-u-t spells out (so scram)

Racing car number 9 losing petrol all the time, how many gallons did he lose? (person landed on picks a number and then this is counted round to decide who was or was not "it")

And then this one, which took me years to learn and there's dozens of slight variantions online
Eeny meeny macaraca, dera dia dumaraca, knickerbocker, lollipopper, rum pum push (person it lands on gets pushed out and is not it)

[ladyofastolat.livejournal.com]

IIRC, my best friend at junior school, who moved to our town aged 7 from Sutton Coldfield, introduced us to "eeny meeny macaraca," but none of us knew of it before that. (Her version went "eeny meeny macaraca, rare eye dominacka, om pom push.") Never heard the others before, though. :-)

[inamac.livejournal.com]

Mostly I remember using 'one potato', but the South London version of 'eeny meeny' had an extra phrase to yours - eeny meeny macaraca, rare eye dominacka, chica pocka lollipoppa om pom push, alley, alley oooh, out goes YOU!"

(Why do I retain this and not important things like internet passwords and PIN numbers?)

[squonk79.livejournal.com]

Ahhh, it's a good 7 miles or so between Tamworth (my home town) and Sutton Coldfield - they have funny ways there, there's no wonder there's a difference...

I definitely think we made up the German one ourselves while we were learning about WW2. The days before political correctness.

Speaking of - we also did eeny meeny miny mo, catch a n*gger by his toe. Of course we had NO idea what the word meant or that it was offensive.

[bookwormsarah.livejournal.com]

We had several methods:

Eeny meenie acker acker ere eye domincaker knicker bocker lollypopper om pom push (the person it landed on for 'push' was out).

One potato two potato three potato four, five potato six potato seven potato more. One bad spud SPLIT. (Everyone clasped hands together, when they were landed on for 'split' they separated their hands into two fists, each of which were counted separately. When an individual fist was landed on, it was tucked behind the back, and it often took longer than the actual game...

We also did 'eeny meeny miny mo, catch a tinker by its toe'. I had no idea what a tinker was...

[bookwormsarah.livejournal.com]

We also used "Ip dip sky blue, who's it? Not you. Not because you're dirty, not because you're clean, my mum says you're the fairy queen, so you are not it."

[ladyofastolat.livejournal.com]

That's the one I remember most clearly, though ours just went on and on and on... "Ip dip sky blue, who's it? Not you. Not because you're dirty, not because you're clean. My mother says you're the fairy queen. O U T spells out, so out you must go, because I say so."

[ladyofastolat.livejournal.com]

I remember doing the cherry stones thing - tinker, tailor, soldier, sailor, rich man, poor man, beggarman, thief - but I don't think I ever thought to wonder what on earth a tinker was. :-)

[phoebesmum.livejournal.com]

One potato, two potato.

[philmophlegm.livejournal.com]

Since nobody's mentioned this one, I'll add it to the list:

Ibble obble
chocolate bobble
ibble obble out
O-U-T spells out.

[ladyofastolat.livejournal.com]

We said "Ibble obble, black bobble, ibble obble out." Though I'd completely forgotten about that one until I read your comment.

[segh.livejournal.com]

Oh goodness, so did we!
I was never in any doubt about what a tinker was. I think we still had a few around the Old Kent Road.

[king-pellinor.livejournal.com]

You all stand round in a circle with your feet apart. A tennis ball is thrown in the middle, and you have to keep it away from your feet using only fists. If it goes between your feet you're out; last one in wins.

I think there was a variation in which you stood with both feet in the circle until one was hit, and which point you shifted so one was in the circle and the other one out; you weren't out until they both went.