Eeny, meeny, miny, moe

For the record label, see Eenie Meenie Records.

Eeny, meeny, miny, moe, which can be spelled a number of ways, is a children's counting rhyme, used to select "it" for games and similar purposes. The rhyme has been around in various forms since the 1850s, or perhaps earlier, and is common in many countries.

Since many similar counting rhymes existed earlier, it is difficult to ascertain its exact origin.

Versions

Many versions exist, both within cultures and between them. Some examples:

American

Eeny, meeny, miny, moe

Catch a tiger by the toe

If he hollers let him go,

Eeny, meeny, miny, moe.

Sometimes a line is added at the end of the rhyme to draw out the selection process, such as "My mother says that you are IT!", "My mother told me to pick the very best one and you are IT!", or other variations such as:

Out goes one

Out goes two

Out goes another one

And that is you.

Another American version is:

Eeny, meeny, miny moe,

Catch a tiger by the toe.

If he hollers make him pay,

Fifty dollars every day.

Great Britain

Eeny, meeny, miny moe

Catch a fishy/fairy/baby/monkey/tiger by its toe

If it squeals/cries/screams, let it go

Eeny, meeny, miny moe

Wales

Eeny meeny miny mo

Catch a tiger by his toe

If he screams pull his tail

Send him off to Cardiff jail,

Eenny meeney miney mo

Catch a tinker by his toe

If he wriggles let him go.

eny, meeny, miney, mo.

Mexican

De tin, marín, de do, pingüé

Cucara, macara, títere fue

Yo no fui, fue Teté

Pégale, pégale, que ella fue!.

Trinidad

Eeny, meeny, miny moe

Catch a fella by the toe

If he hollers let him go

Eeny, meeny, miny more

A Blackbird came down

from heaven and said

you are the one

who will be dead

Costa Rica

On spanish:

Tin, Marín, de Do, pin-güé

cucara, makara, titere fué

yo no fui, fue teté

pegale, pegale, que ella fue

y la culpa la tiene, usted

solamente, usted

fosforito, colorado

el que queda está ca-ga-do

In which "-do" is the "it" person.

And also the well known version:

Eeny meeny miny mo

El chinito Franquisto.

Que jugando a la pelota,

una mano se quebró.

Eeny meeny miny mo

Singapore

In Singaporean culture, not the entire rhyme will be finished. In fact, children end on the second line and it commonly goes and ends like this:

Eeny, meeny, miny moe

Catch the spider on the wall!

History

The earliest known published versions in the English language date to 1855, one of which used the words eeny, meeny, moany, mite and the other hana, mana, mona, mike. Other versions have also appeared in Britain and America, as well as in several other European languages.

Many stories exist about the "real" meaning of the first line, although the most commonly accepted theory is that they are just nonsense syllables. Another theory posed by Christopher Knight and Robert Lomas in their book, The Hiram Key, suggests that the words are the first numbers in the counting system of the pre-Celtic Britons. The Lakeland Dialect Society more specifically suggests that this is just one of many versions of Celtic sheep-counting rhymes, but it observes that a large number of 19th century English publications exist in which these counting rhymes were more often used to amuse children than to count sheep.

Another possibility is that the British occupiers of India brought a doggerel version of an Indian children's rhyme used in the game of carambola: "ubi eni mana bou, baji neki baji thou, elim tilim latim gou." (p.157)
The "Tiger" in the rhyme could be a reference to the Tippu Sultan known as the "Tiger of Mysore" for his ferocity; he enjoyed hunting tigers and incorporated images of them into his flag. His defeat in 1799 allowed the British to conquer India.

Controversial version

A controversial alternative version of this poem substitutes the word tiger with the word nigger, which in some eyes has tainted the entire rhyme. Two early versions that use the 'nigger' version are:

From Rudyard Kipling's "A Counting-Out Song", from "Land and Sea Tales for Scouts and Guides," published in 1923:

Eenee, Meenee, Mainee, Mo!

Catch a nigger by the toe!

If he hollers let him go!

Eenee, Meenee. Mainee, Mo!

You-are-It!

The chorus from Bert Fitzgibbon's 1906 song "Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Mo", copyrighted by F.B. Haviland:

Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Mo,

Catch a nigger by the toe,

If he won't work then let him go;

Skidum, skidee, skidoo.

But when you get money, your little bride

Will surely find out where you hide,

So there's the door and when I count four,

Then out goes you.

However, an earlier version using 'chicken' was printed in 1898:

Eendy, Beendy, banida, roe,

Catch a chicken by his toe

And the Dorset Field Club recorded this version in 1917:

Eenie, meenie, minie, mo,

Catch a tinker by his toe.

If he screams, let him go,

Eenie, meenie, minie, mo.

O.U.T. spells out,

And out you must go.

As fair as it can be.

Others have also been found from the 1940s with words used other than "nigger". As pointed out in The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes, the word "nigger" was common in American folk-lore, but unknown in any English traditional rhyme or proverb. This, combined with evidence of various versions of the rhyme in England that predate the "nigger" version, suggest that the "nigger" version merely became the most popular at some point in the 20th century, probably originating in America.

Many people who grew up before the late 1960s are likely to report having heard or grown up with the "nigger" version of the rhyme. Since then, and especially the Civil Rights Act of 1964 the "nigger" variation has become much rarer in the U.S. but is still used in some circles.

In the "nigger" version of this poem, the last two lines are often changed to the version seen below, which is sometimes also found in non-racist versions:

Eeny, meeny, miny, moe

Catch a nigger by his toe

If he hollers make him pay,

Fifty dollars every day

Another controversial version of the rhyme from the WWII era is as follows:

Eeny, meeny, miny, moe

Catch a Jap by his toe

If he hollers make him say,

"I surrender, USA!"

United States Lawsuit

Jocular use of a form of the rhyme by a Southwest Airlines flight attendant, encouraging passengers to sit down so the plane could take off, led to a 2003 lawsuit charging the airline with racism. The airline was acquitted when the suit was dismissed by summary judgment by a United States District Court in Kansas City in January 2004, a decision that was upheld on appeal.

Two different versions of the rhyme were attested in court:

Eeny meeny miny mo

Please sit down it's time to go

and

Eeny meeny miny mo

Pick a seat, it's time to go

The passengers in question were African American and stated that they were humiliated.

Advertising

The Boulevard Brewing Company, of Kansas City, Missouri, used the words under four glasses of beer on a billboard advertisement. A member of The Kansas City Star's editorial board felt it was offensive, saying in the paper's op-ed page [1] that the rhyme "has an awful history, which is far from cute."

Popular culture

There are innumerable scenes in books, films, plays and cartoons in which "Eeny meeny ..." or a variant is used by a character making a choice, either for serious or comic effect. The phrase sometimes appears in other ways, including:

Literature

• The title of Chester Himes's novel If He Hollers Let Him Go refers to the rhyme.
• In Salman Rushdie's The Moor's Last Sigh, the leading character and his three sisters are nicknamed Ina, Minnie, Mynah and Moor.

Film

• In the 1930s, animation producer Walter Lantz introduced the cartoon characters Meany, Miney and Mo (later Meeny, Miney and Mo). First appearing in Oswald Rabbit cartoons, then in their own series, the trio were semi-humanized chimpanzees; clothed, living in a funny animal world but rarely speaking understandable words. Later, in the comics, the trio spoke English with the inflections of the Three Stooges.
• In Robert Hamer's 1949 film Kind Hearts and Coronets, both Louis (Denis Price) and Sibella (Joan Greenwood) use the "nigger" version.
• The rhyme has been used by killers to choose victims in several films, including the 1994 films Pulp Fiction and Natural Born Killers; the 1997 film Funny Games and its 2008 remake; and the 2003 film Elephant.

Music

• "Eeny Meeny Miney Mo" was a popular song written in 1935 by Johnny Mercer and Matty Malneck.
• "Organ Grinder's Swing" was a hit in the 1930s for Ella Fitzgerald, who sang "eenie meenie miny moe, catch that monkey by the toe...".
• The rapper Yung Joc used a slight variation of the "Eeny Meeny Miny Mo" rhyme in his song "I Know You See It."
• John Frusciante's 2005 song "A Name" contains the line "Eenie meenie miny moe, it's about time, 'bout time to go".
• Japanese singer May Nakabayashi and rapper Seamo use the line "a game of eeny meeny miny mo" in their 2006 song "Fallin' in or Not".
• The song "My Dad's gone Crazy" by rapper Eminem contains the line "eenee, meenee, meini, mo, catch a homo by his toe"
• The singer Craig David had the song "Eenie Meenie" on the album Slicker Than Your Average.
• The Bloodhound Gang's song "Rang Dang" from their 1995 album Use Your Fingers contains the line "Einie Meanie Miney Moe. Which Of You Girls Will Be My Ho'?"
• Polish underground rapper Jimson used the line "Eenie-Meenie-Miney-Moe" as the title of his song from the EP "Goraczka w parku igiel".
• The Dutch girl group Luv' recorded a song entitled "Eeny Meeny Miny Moe" in 1979.
• The European pop-group Toy-Box had a song entitled "Eenie, Meenie, Miney, Mo" about the singer's lover.
• The song "Choices" by Mudvayne contains the line six times.
• The vinyl release of Radiohead's album 'OK Computer' uses the words 'eeny meeny miney mo' (rather than letter or numbers) on the labels of Sides A, B, C and D respectively.

The rapper Lil Wayne use it in the new version of "Lollipop" remixed with Kanye West: "Innie minie mynie mo, I'm in yo ..."

Video Game

• Tidus character of Final Fantasy X says "Eeny, meeny, miny, moe" before executing one of his overdrives during early hours of play.

Television

• Larry David and Jeff Green use "Eeny Minny Miny Mo" in an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm ("Lewis Needs Kidney," S05e05) to determine who would donate a kidney to Richard Lewis.
• One episode of Whose Line is it Anyway had the comedians show "When 'Eeny Minny Miny Mo' is not an appropriate method of choice". One answer, poking fun of the 2000 Election, was choosing George W Bush as the president.
• Gil Grissom from the series CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, said "Eeny, meeny, miny, moe, Catch a monster by the toe" at the end of the episode Monster in the Box.

See also

• Nursery rhyme
• Ip dip