eenie meenie miney moe

There was one episode where Kramer and Jerry (and maybe even George) did this 'eenie meenie miney moe' routine to choose 'it.' What did Kramer say exactly? Is this something typical of East coast NY or is it more of a Jewish saying?

I need this to teach a bit of Americanism to my ESL students...

laura

Ah, Laura, I have a soft spot for teachers who use Seinfeld as part of their curriculum. :-)

That was from "The Status" when Jerry brought up the box of old clothes from the basement and there was a statue in it that looked exactly like one George's parents used to have before he broke it. Both George and Kramer wanted it so Jerry did the 'choosing.'

"Ink-a-dink, a bottle of ink, the cork fell out and you stink. Not because you're dirty, not because you're clean, just because you kissed the girl behind the magazine and you... are... it."

It's definitely an Americanism, but I'm not sure how regional it is. I remember it from childhood and I grew up in Brooklyn, so you can't go by me. Better to ask if anyone outside of NY had heard it when they were younger.

Dave wrote:

An obvious typo from Dave - He means "The Statue".

Perhaps he should tell you that the original "Eenie Meenie ..." - poem is very racist and contained the "N" word. It is not considered an acceptable choice method. It is not Jewish either.

In an episode of Barney Miller when they begin to use "Eenie Meenie", Det. Harris (an Afro-American) suggests quickly they use "One Potato Two Potato ..."

Heh. Muscular memory. In an average day at work, I probably type the word 'status' about 30 times. When the time came to write 'statue,' my fingers went the more familiar route. :-)

Hardly! It's racist and disgusting.

I really wish Nick at Nite would consider bringing Barney Miller back. It was one of my favorites, but it's been so long, I hardly remember any of the plots.

Great theme song, too. One of the best ever, ranks right up there with the Rockford Files and WKRP in Cincinnati.

I know that! The 'eenie meenie' that I grew up was changed from the "N" word to "tiger." I was asking if the 'eeenie meenie' on Seinfeld said by Kramer was Jewish / East coast or not.

laura

WHOA! Really?! The local (Minnesota) version of Eenie Meenie didn't use the racist "N" word. Actually, it used a substitute that *might* be considered racist, but none of us interpreted it that way. Then again, this is also the region where the children's game "Duck, duck, goose" is called "Duck, duck, grey duck". Weird, huh? I didn't realize how odd that is until I went away for college.

We did have the "One potato two potato" as well as "Inka dink, bottle of ink." Another popular (possibly regional?) choosing method was the "Bubble gum, bubble gum, in a dish; how many pieces do you wish?".

John Twernbold shared: "..... The local (Minnesota) version of Eenie Meenie didn't use the racist "N" word. Actually, it used a substitute that *might* be considered racist, but none of us interpreted it that way....."

Growing up in the Philadelphia 'burbs (1960's-70's), we used the "tiger" version, but I remember my grandfather (also from Philly) laughing and saying that wasn't the way he learned it. (In his youth, use of the "N" word was more common.)

John, if you don't mind sharing, what word that might be considered racist do you recall in the rhyme? (I promise, none of us will assume you're a bigot.)

These rhymes are very similar to folk songs...their origin is often murky, they were shared by means of an oral tradition, and they tend to differ from region to region. Very interesting.

While "tiger" was used by some, the more popular word in these parts was "monkey". As I mentioned, I'm sure most of us were thinking of actual monkeys; I didn't even know "monkey" could be used as a racist slur (or part of a racist slur--preceded by "porch") until decades later. And I never heard the "N" word used in Eenie Meenie, although because it was the original word I suspect even the substitution of "monkey" may have had racial connotations, although we certainly didn't know it at the time.

[email] (ArtVandelay2000) wrote:

Speaking of East Coast-isms: is 'burbs for suburbs one as well? I'm no native speaker in English myself (I'm Dutch), but the abbreviated version of suburbs I've always heard until now has been 'subs' or subbies (Australia only).

<<<Speaking of East Coast-isms: is 'burbs for suburbs one as well? I'm no native speaker in English myself (I'm Dutch), but the abbreviated version of suburbs I've always heard until now has been 'subs' or subbies (Australia only).>>>

Yes, " 'burbs" = "Suburbs." I'm not sure if it's an East Coast expression. (I've spent most of my life in the Philadelphia area, so I have no other point of reference.) There was a movie (late '80's/early '90's) called "The 'Burbs" with Tom Hanks, Bruce Dern and one of the Coreys (Feldman or Haim...is there a difference?).

Hmm, might be. As a Midwesterner I know what it means, although it's not a word we'd hear very often.

Right, I loved that movie! Very underappreciated by most critics. And I believe it was Corey Feldman--the only way I can tell them apart is by remembering the "d" in "Feldman" stands for "drugs", which he used heavily. :-)

I have always known 'burbs as suburbs - even here in Oz - that may be due to the fact that we are awash with Americanisms - although I have never referred to suburbs as subbies - I always thought subbies was short for sub-contractor (as in brick-layers, roof-tilers ....)

"Mees Roelofs" wrote in message news:[email]...

"CB" wrote:

Wasn't subbies used as a nickname for suburban clubs, particularly in Rugby, with its suburban Rugby Union in Sydney? Also, I seem to remember the nickname subbies for clubs having suburbs in their name (ie Western Suburbs that used to be in the Sydney RL)

I can remember using a different version that went "ink, dink, you stink, not because you're dirty........." and that's in Australia! so I don't think it is an east coast thing!

"Dave" wrote in message news:[email]...

say

I'm not sure how American it is. I have a Clancy Brothers album, on which they sing some of the rhymes of their very Irish youth, including: "Ahem, ahem, me mother has gone to church, She told me not to play with you because you're in the dirt, It tisn't because you're dirty, It tisn't becuase you're clean, It's because you have the whooping cough, And eat margarine."

Color me corrected. :-)

This made me think of Kramer's little rhyme from "The Bookstore." Does anybody know where this one came from?

"One spot, two spot, zig, zag, tear, pop-die, pennygot, tennyum, tear, harum, scare 'em, rip 'em, tear 'em, tay, taw, toe"

MDK wrote:

It was used in a Marx Brothers 1933 movie: Duck Soup. But it may have been in the common culture before that.

Thank you all for answering my question.

Has anyone ever used the second one?

laura