"I spy with my little eye..."

Posted by Victoria S Dennis on January 07, 2006

In Reply to: "I spy with my little eye..." posted by ESC on January 07, 2006

: : "I spy with my little eye..."
: : Could anyone explain to me the meaning of this wordplay? And what is the origin of this line?

: : Thanks and greetings from Warsaw

: It is (in the U.S.) a children's game that has spawned a series of books by Scholastic. (Go to Amazon.com and search under "I spy.") The books have pages full of images for the child to find.

But in the original version of the game, one player would say, "I spy, with my little eye, something beginning with A [or any other letter of the alphabet]". The other player or players would look around them and try to guess what the thing beginning with A might be. (It had to be something that was really there and that everyone could see.) The person who guessed what it was, could then choose another thing and for the other players to guess.