"Eeny, meeny, miny, moe"—which can be spelled a number of ways—is a children's counting-out rhyme, used to select a person in games such as tag, or for selecting various other things. It is one of a large group of similar rhymes in which the child who is pointed to by the chanter on the last syllable is chosen. The rhyme has existed in various forms since well before 1820 and is common in many languages using similar-sounding nonsense syllables. Some versions use a racial epithet, which has made the rhyme controversial at times. Since many similar counting-out rhymes existed earlier, it is difficult to know its exact origin.

Current versions

A common modern version is: :Eeny, meeny, miny, moe, :Catch a tiger by the toe. :If he hollers, let him go, :Eeny, meeny, miny, moe. The scholars

Iona and Peter Opie Iona Margaret Balfour Opie, (13 October 1923 – 23 October 2017) and Peter Mason Opie (25 November 1918 – 5 February 1982) were an English married team of folklorists who applied modern techniques to understanding children's literature and ...

noted that many variants have been recorded, some with additional words such as "... O. U. T. spells out, And out goes she, In the middle of the deep blue sea" or "My mother told me/says to pick the very best one, and that is Y-O-U/you are otit"; while another source cites "Out goes Y-O-U."L. and W. Bauer, "

Tigger Tigger is a fictional character, an anthropomorphic stuffed tiger. He was originally introduced in the 1928 story collection ''The House at Pooh Corner'', the sequel to the 1926 book ''Winnie-the-Pooh'' by A. A. Milne. Like other Pooh charact ...

" is also used instead of "tiger" in some versions of the rhyme.

Origins

The first record of a similar rhyme, called the "Hana, man," is from about 1815, when children in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

are said to have repeated the rhyme: :Hana, man, mona, mike; :Barcelona, bona, strike; :Hare, ware, frown, vanac; :Harrico, warico, we wo, wac.

Henry Carrington Bolton Henry Carrington Bolton (1843–1903) was an American chemist and bibliographer of science. Biography He graduated from Columbia in 1862, and then studied chemistry with Jean Baptiste André Dumas and Charles Adolphe Wurtz in Paris; with Robert ...

discovered this version to be in the US, Ireland and Scotland in the 1880s but was unknown in England until later in the century. Bolton also found a similar rhyme in German: :Ene, tene, mone, mei, :Pastor, lone, bone, strei, :Ene, fune, herke, berke, :Wer? Wie? Wo? Was? Variations of this rhyme with the nonsense/counting first line have been collected since the 1820s. This one, which includes the 'toe' and 'olla' from Kipling's version, is one of many variants of "counting out rhymes" collected by Bolton in 1888: :Eenie, Meenie, Tipsy, toe; :Olla bolla Domino, :Okka, Pokka dominocha, :Hy! Pon! Tush! A Cornish version collected in 1882 runs: :Ena, mena, mona, mite, :Bascalora, bora, bite, :Hugga, bucca, bau, :Eggs, butter, cheese, bread. :Stick, stock, stone dead – OUT. :A Barbadian version used by children in primary school to decide who is 'it' before starting a game : :Doggie, Woggie, Step right out There are many theories about the origins of the rhyme. They include: * It is descended from

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th c ...

or Welsh counting, similar to the old shepherd's count "

Yan Tan Tethera Yan Tan Tethera or yan-tan-tethera is a sheep-counting system traditionally used by shepherds in Northern England and some other parts of Britain. The words are numbers taken from Brythonic Celtic languages such as Cumbric which had died out in ...

" or the Cornish "Eena, mena, mona, mite". * British colonials returning from

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

introduced a

doggerel Doggerel, or doggrel, is poetry that is irregular in rhythm and in rhyme, often deliberately for burlesque or comic effect. Alternatively, it can mean verse which has a monotonous rhythm, easy rhyme, and cheap or trivial meaning. The word is deri ...

version of an Indian children's rhyme used in the game of

carom billiards Carom billiards, sometimes called carambole billiards, is the overarching title of a family of cue sports generally played on cloth-covered, billiard tables. In its simplest form, the object of the game is to score or "counts" by ' one's o ...

: :baji neki baji thou, :elim tilim latim gou.Nihar Ranjan Mishra, ''From Kamakhya, a socio-cultural study'' (New Delhi: D.K. Printworld, 2004), p. 157. *It comes from a Swahili poem brought to the Americas by enslaved Africans: ''Iino ya mmiini maiini mo''. * It comes from a centuries-old, possibly

Old Saxon Old Saxon, also known as Old Low German, was a Germanic language and the earliest recorded form of Low German (spoken nowadays in Northern Germany, the northeastern Netherlands, southern Denmark, the Americas and parts of Eastern Europe). It i ...

divination Divination (from Latin ''divinare'', 'to foresee, to foretell, to predict, to prophesy') is the attempt to gain insight into a question or situation by way of an occultic, standardized process or ritual. Used in various forms throughout history ...

rhyme, argued for in 1957 by the Dutch philologists Jan Naarding and Klaas Heeroma of the (Low Saxon Institute) at the

University of Groningen The University of Groningen (abbreviated as UG; nl, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, abbreviated as RUG) is a public research university of more than 30,000 students in the city of Groningen in the Netherlands. Founded in 1614, the university is the ...

. The rhyme was recorded in 1904 by Nynke van Hichtum in

Goor Goor () is a city about 20 km west of Enschede in the Dutch province of Overijssel. It received city rights in 1263. Goor was a separate municipality until 2001, when it became a part of Hof van Twente. Goor was the site of a statue of the ...

in the eastern Netherlands. :Anne manne miene mukke, :Ikke tikke takke tukke, :Eere vrouwe grieze knech, :Ikke wikke wakke weg.

American and British versions

Some versions of this rhyme used the racial slur "

nigger In the English language, the word ''nigger'' is an ethnic slur used against black people, especially African Americans. Starting in the late 1990s, references to ''nigger'' have been progressively replaced by the euphemism , notably in cas ...

" instead of "

tiger The tiger (''Panthera tigris'') is the largest living cat species and a member of the genus ''Panthera''. It is most recognisable for its dark vertical stripes on orange fur with a white underside. An apex predator, it primarily preys on un ...

". Iona and Peter Opie (1951) quote the following version: :Eena, meena, mina, mo, :Catch a nigger by his toe; :If he squeals let him go, :Eena, meena, mina, mo.I. Opie and P. Opie, ''The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1951, 2nd edn., 1997), pp. 156-8. This version was similar to that reported by

as the most common version among American schoolchildren in 1888. It was used in the chorus of

Bert Fitzgibbon Bert or BERT may refer to: Persons, characters, or animals known as Bert * Bert (name), commonly an abbreviated forename and sometimes a surname *Bert, a character in the poem "Bert the Wombat" by The Wiggles; from their 1992 album Here Comes a S ...

's 1906 song "Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Mo": :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. It was also used by

Rudyard Kipling Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)'' The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English novelist, short-story writer, poet, and journalist. He was born in British India, which inspired much of his work. ...

in his "A Counting-Out Song", from ''Land and Sea Tales for Scouts and Guides'', published in 1935. This may have helped popularise this version in the United Kingdom where it seems to have replaced all earlier versions until the late twentieth century.

pointed out in ''The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes'' (1951) that the word "nigger" was common in American folklore, but unknown in any English traditional rhyme or proverb.

Variations

There are considerable variations in the lyrics of the rhyme, including from the early twentieth century in the United States of America: : Eeny, meeny, miny, moe, :Catch a tiger by the toe. :If he hollers make him pay, :Fifty dollars every day. During the Second World War, an AP dispatch from Atlanta, Georgia reported: "Atlanta children were heard reciting this wartime rhyme: :Eenie, meenie, minie, moe, :Catch the emperor by his toe. :If he hollers make him say: :'I surrender to the USA.'" A distinct version of the rhyme in the United Kingdom, collected in the 1950s & 1960s, is: :Eeeny, meeny, miney, mo. :Put the baby on the po. :When he's done, :Wipe his bum. :And tell his mother what he's done. (Alternatively: Shove the paper up the lum) In Australia, children sang: :Eeny meeny miny moe, :catch a nigger by the toe, :when he squeals, let him go, :eeny eeeny einy moe From New Zealand: :Eeny, meeny, miny, moe, :Catch a tiger by the toe. :If he squeals, let him go, :Eeny, meeny, miny moe. :Pig snout you're out.

Controversies

* In 1993, a high school teacher in

Mequon Mequon () is the largest city in Ozaukee County, in the U.S. state of Wisconsin, and the third-largest city in Wisconsin by land area. Located on Lake Michigan's western shore with significant commercial developments along Interstate 43, the comm ...

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michi ...

, provoked a student walkout when she said, in reference to poor test performance, "What did you do? Just go eeny, meeny, miny, moe, catch a nigger by the toe?" The school's district superintendent recommended the teacher "lose three days of pay, undergo racial sensitivity training, and have a memorandum detailing the incident placed in her personnel file". * A jocular use of a form of the rhyme by a

Southwest Airlines Southwest Airlines Co., typically referred to as Southwest, is one of the major airlines of the United States and the world's largest low-cost carrier. It is headquartered in Dallas, Texas, and has scheduled service to 121 destinations in the U ...

flight attendant A flight attendant, also known as steward/stewardess or air host/air hostess, is a member of the aircrew aboard commercial flights, many business jets and some government aircraft. Collectively called cabin crew, flight attendants are primar ...

, encouraging passengers to sit down so the plane could take off, led to a 2003 lawsuit charging the airline with

intentional infliction of emotional distress Intentional infliction of emotional distress (IIED; sometimes called the tort of outrage) is a common law tort that allows individuals to recover for severe emotional distress caused by another individual who intentionally or recklessly inflicte ...

and

negligent infliction of emotional distress The tort of negligent infliction of emotional distress (NIED) is a controversial cause of action, which is available in nearly all U.S. states but is severely constrained and limited in the majority of them. The underlying concept is that one has ...

. Two versions of the rhyme were attested in court; both "Eeny meeny miny mo, Please sit down it's time to go" and "Pick a seat, it's time to go". The passengers in question were

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of enslav ...

and stated that they were humiliated because of what they called the "racist history" of the rhyme. A jury returned a verdict in favor of Southwest and the plaintiffs' appeal was denied. * In May 2014, an unbroadcast outtake of

BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

motoring show ''

Top Gear Top Gear may refer to: * "Top gear", the highest gear available in a vehicle's manual transmission Television * ''Top Gear'' (1977 TV series), a British motoring magazine programme * ''Top Gear'' (2002 TV series), a relaunched version of the or ...

'' showed presenter

Jeremy Clarkson Jeremy Charles Robert Clarkson (born 11 April 1960) is an English broadcaster, journalist, game show host and writer who specialises in motoring. He is best known for the motoring programmes ''Top Gear'' and ''The Grand Tour'' alongside Rich ...

reciting the rhyme and deliberately mumbling a line which some took to be "catch a nigger by his toe". In response to accusations of racism, Clarkson apologised to viewers that his attempts to obscure the line "weren't quite good enough". * In 2017, the retailer

Primark Primark Stores Limited (; trading as Penneys in the Republic of Ireland) is an Irish multinational fast fashion retailer with headquarters in Dublin, Ireland. It has stores across Europe and in the United States. The Penneys brand is not us ...

removed from its UK stores a

T-shirt A T-shirt (also spelled tee shirt), or tee, is a style of fabric shirt named after the T shape of its body and sleeves. Traditionally, it has short sleeves and a round neckline, known as a ''crew neck'', which lacks a collar. T-shirts are generall ...

that featured the first line of the rhyme as spoken by '' The Walking Dead'' character

Negan Negan, later revealed as Negan Smith in the television series, is a fictional character in the comic book series '' The Walking Dead'' and in the television series of the same name. He was the leader of the Saviors, a group of survivors in the S ...

, overlaid with an image of his

baseball bat A baseball bat is a smooth wooden or metal club used in the sport of baseball to hit the ball after it is thrown by the pitcher. By regulation it may be no more than in diameter at the thickest part and no more than in length. Although histori ...

. A customer, minister Ian Lucraft, complained the T-shirt was "fantastically offensive" and claimed the imagery "relates directly to the practice of assaulting black people in America."

Cultural significance

There are many scenes in books, films, plays, cartoons and video games in which a variant of "Eeny meeny ..." is used by a character who is making a choice, either for serious or comic effect. Notably, the rhyme has been used by killers to choose victims in the 1994 films ''

Pulp Fiction ''Pulp Fiction'' is a 1994 American crime film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino, who conceived it with Roger Avary.See, e.g., King (2002), pp. 185–7; ; Starring John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, Bruce Willis, Tim Roth, Ving Rham ...

'' and ''

Natural Born Killers ''Natural Born Killers'' is a 1994 American crime film directed by Oliver Stone and starring Woody Harrelson, Juliette Lewis, Robert Downey Jr., Tommy Lee Jones, and Tom Sizemore. The film tells the story of two victims of traumatic childh ...

'', the 2003 film ''

Elephant Elephants are the largest existing land animals. Three living species are currently recognised: the African bush elephant, the African forest elephant, and the Asian elephant. They are the only surviving members of the family Elephantidae a ...

'', and the sixth-season finale of the television series '' The Walking Dead''.

Music

The vinyl release of

Radiohead Radiohead are an English rock band formed in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, in 1985. The band consists of Thom Yorke (vocals, guitar, piano, keyboards); brothers Jonny Greenwood (lead guitar, keyboards, other instruments) and Colin Greenwood (bass); ...

's album ''

OK Computer ''OK Computer'' is the third studio album by the English rock band Radiohead, released in Japan on 21 May 1997 and in the UK on 16 June 1997. Radiohead self-produced the album with Nigel Godrich, an arrangement they have used for their subsequ ...

'' (1997) uses the words "eeny meeny miny moe" (rather than letter or numbers) on the labels of Sides A, B, C and D respectively. " Iniminimanimo" is a 1999 song by Kim Kay.

Literature

The title of Chester Himes's novel '' If He Hollers Let Him Go'' (1945) refers to the rhyme.

Rex Stout Rex Todhunter Stout (; December 1, 1886 – October 27, 1975) was an American writer noted for his detective fiction. His best-known characters are the detective Nero Wolfe and his assistant Archie Goodwin, who were featured in 33 novels and ...

wrote a 1962

Nero Wolfe Nero Wolfe is a brilliant, obese and eccentric fictional armchair detective created in 1934 by American mystery writer Rex Stout. Wolfe was born in Montenegro and keeps his past murky. He lives in a luxurious brownstone on West 35th Street in N ...

novella A novella is a narrative prose fiction whose length is shorter than most novels, but longer than most short stories. The English word ''novella'' derives from the Italian ''novella'' meaning a short story related to true (or apparently so) facts ...

titled '' Eeny Meeny Murder Mo''. In

Salman Rushdie Sir Ahmed Salman Rushdie (; born 19 June 1947) is an Indian-born British-American novelist. His work often combines magic realism with historical fiction and primarily deals with connections, disruptions, and migrations between Eastern and We ...

's '' The Moor's Last Sigh'' (1995), the leading character and his three sisters are nicknamed Ina, Minnie, Mynah and Moor.

Film and television

In the 1930s, animation producer Walter Lantz introduced the cartoon characters

Meany, Miny, and Moe Meany, Miny, and Moe are the Walter Lantz characters, who made their first appearance in the Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoon "Monkey Wretches" (1935). Their final animated appearance was in 1937 in "The Air Express". Personalities and developmen ...

(later Meeny, Miney and Mo). First appearing in

Oswald Rabbit Oswald the Lucky Rabbit (also known as Oswald the Rabbit or Oswald Rabbit) is a cartoon character created in 1927 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks for Universal Pictures. He starred in several animated short films released to theaters from 1927 to 19 ...

cartoons, then in their own series. The 1933

Looney Tunes ''Looney Tunes'' is an American animated comedy short film series produced by Warner Bros. starting from 1930 to 1969, concurrently with its partner series ''Merrie Melodies'', during the golden age of American animation.

cartoon ''

Bosko's Picture Show ''Bosko's Picture Show'' is a Warner Bros. ''Looney Tunes'' animated short directed by Hugh Harman and Friz Freleng. It was the last ''Looney Tunes'' Bosko cartoon produced by Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising for Leon Schlesinger and Warner Bros. The ...

'' parodies

MGM Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 a ...

as "TNT pictures", whose logo is a roaring and burping lion with the motto "Eenie Meanie Minie Moe" in the place of MGM's "Ars Gratia Artis". The rhyme appears towards the end of 1949 British

black comedy Black comedy, also known as dark comedy, morbid humor, or gallows humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally considered serious or painful to discus ...

Kind Hearts and Coronets ''Kind Hearts and Coronets'' is a 1949 British crime black comedy film. It features Dennis Price, Joan Greenwood, Valerie Hobson and Alec Guinness; Guinness plays nine characters. The plot is loosely based on the novel ''Israel Rank: The Auto ...

''. The use of the word ''nigger'' was

censored Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication, or other information. This may be done on the basis that such material is considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or "inconvenient". Censorship can be conducted by governments ...

for the American market, being replaced by ''sailor''. p. 90.

References

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