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Eeny meeny miny mo

Posted by ESC on June 24, 2000

In Reply to: Eeny meeny miny mo posted by Barry Jacobs on June 21, 2000

: A professor of mine once asserted that that this phrase derives from a very old (pre-Celtic?) counting system. I've never been able to confirm it.

: P.S. Great site! What a wonderful way to while away a work day!

EENA, MEENA, MINA, MO or eeny, meeny, miny, mo - ".It is, of course, part of a counting-out expression used in children's games to determine who will be 'it' among a group of players. The full rhyme, probably dating back to the 19th century, was originally the insensitive (at best): 'Eena, meena, mina, mo,/Catch a [word removed in order to comply with Google's Publisher Policy] by the toe,/If he hollers, let him go,/Eena meena, mina, mo.' Sometimes the fourth line is "My mother says I should pick this here one,' and happily, the second line is much more frequently today 'Catch a tiger by the toe.' The rhyme is said, of course, with the counter pointing at each player in rotation with each word, the player who is last pointed at being 'it.' One tradition has it that counting-out rhymes are relics of formulas Druid priests used to choose human sacrifices." From Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins by Robert Hendrickson (Facts on File, New York, 1997).

That last part sounds like what your professor was saying.

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