A skipping rhyme (occasionally skipping-rope rhyme or jump-rope rhyme), is a rhyme chanted by children while skipping. Such rhymes have been recorded in all cultures where skipping is played. Examples of English-language rhymes have been found going back to at least the 17th century. Like most

folklore Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, ranging ...

, skipping rhymes tend to be found in many different variations. The article includes those chants used by English-speaking children.

History

Explorers reported seeing aborigines jumping with vines in the 16th century. European boys started jumping rope in the early 17th century. The activity was considered indecent for girls because they might show their ankles. There were no associated chants. This changed in the early 18th century. Girls began to jump rope. They added the chants, owned the rope, controlled the game, and decided who participated. In the United States, domination of the activity by girls occurred when their families moved into the cities in the late 19th century. There, they found sidewalks and other smooth surfaces conducive to jumping rope, along with a host of contemporaries. Another source suggests that, prior to 1833, the invention of

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enabled girls to jump rope without displaying ankles. Chants are intended to structure the game and are secondary, explaining the nonsense or irrational lyrics. These chants are unusual inasmuch as they were transmitted from child to child usually without an underlying reason, as opposed to nursery rhymes which were transmitted from adult to child and often contained a moral. Chants may contain girlish references to boyfriends or marriage.

Examples of chants

Two girls with a long rope stood about apart and turned the rope as other children took turns jumping. If one were not a good jumper, one would be an 'Ever-Laster,' that is, one would perpetually turn the rope. When it was a child's turn to jump, she would enter as the rope turned, and jump to the rhyme until she missed. Then she would become a rope-turner, and the next child in line would take her place.

Jump in, jump out

For a line of potential jumpers, the jumpers were restricted on time by the length of the chant. They jumped in at the beginning, jumped out at the end, and the next jumper took their turn. : Charlie Chaplin went to France :To teach the ladies how to dance. :First the heel, then the toe, :Then the splits, and around you go! :Salute to the Captain, :Bow to the Queen, :And turn your back on the

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

submarine! In another version, the teacher is "Benjamin Franklin." In the Charlie Chaplin rhyme, the child jumping had to follow directions as the rope was turning: touching the heel of one foot on the ground; touching the toe of the same foot on the ground; doing a (short) split of the feet, turning around, saluting, bowing, and jumping out from the turning rope on the last line. This rhyme, c. 1942, reflects children's awareness of World War II (The Queen to whom we bowed was the Grand mother of the present 2022 British King). An Australian version of the Charlie Chaplin Skipping Song, as sung at Salisbury Primary School in Brisbane, Australia in the mid 1950s, is as follows: :Charlie Chaplin went to France, :To teach the ladies how to dance, :First he did the Rumba, :Then he did the twist, :Then he did the Highland Fling, :And then he did the splits. There's also "Betty Grable went to France,/To teach the soldiers how to dance." (The rest is the same.) :Had a little car car, :Two-forty-eight, :Ran around the cor-(''skipper jumps out, and turners continue the syllable until they reenter'')-ner :and slammed on the brakes, but the brakes didn't work, :So I bumped into a lady who bumped into a man, :Who bumped into a police car, man, oh man! :Policeman caught me :Put me on his knee, :Asked me a question :Will you marry me? :Yes, No, Maybe So (repeated) :All in together, birds of a feather: :January, February, March, April, May, etc. (each child had to jump in during the month they were born). :I see London, I see France, :I see (xxx)s underpants, :Not too big, not too small, :Just the size of Montreal (or just the size of cannonball, Berlin Wall, etc.) Another variation: : I see London, I see France, I see (xxx)s underpants. : Are they blue? Are they pink? I don't know but they sure stink! : Teacher, teacher, I declare, I see (xxx)s underwear (or bottom's bare)

Political statement

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, Ireland, the visits of inspectors known as " Glimmer men" to private houses to enforce regulations to prevent the use of coal gas in restricted hours during the

Emergency An emergency is an urgent, unexpected, and usually dangerous situation that poses an immediate risk to health, life, property, or environment and requires immediate action. Most emergencies require urgent intervention to prevent a worsening ...

gave rise to: :Keep it boiling on the glimmer, if you don't you get no dinner.

Counting rhymes

Most rhymes are intended to count the number of jumps the skipper takes without stumbling. These were essentially restricted to times when there were relatively few jumpers and time was abundant. These rhymes can take very simple forms. This chant was collected in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

in the 1950s: : Big Ben strikes one, :Big Ben strikes two, :Big Ben strikes three, :(etc.) and :Applesauce, mustard, cider :How many legs has a spider? :1, 2, 3, etc. alternately, "Salt, vinegar, mustard, pepper. How many legs does a spider have? 1,2,3, etc." :Butterfly, butterfly: turn around. umper turns while jumpingref name="mudcat.org"
All Jump Rope Rhymes
, ''Mudcat.org''. Accessed: December 6, 2017. :Butterfly, butterfly: touch the ground umper touches the ground as she is jumping:Butterfly, butterfly: show your shoe. .thrusts out her shoe:Butterfly, butterfly: to do. :One, two, three, ... p to the count of n, which increases by 1 with each set of jumpersAnother rendition substitutes, "

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" for "butterfly. This can be dated no earlier than the early 20th century, to the term of

Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...

. In another skipping rhyme, once the alphabet finishes, participants continue with numbers until skipper catches rope. It is natural for participants to use the letter that the skipper lost on and to use it to find someone's name following the rule of either best friend or boyfriend, depending on what is chosen in the beginning. :Ice cream, Soda pop, cherry on top, :Who's your best friend, let's find out; :Goes A! B! C! or :Ice cream soda, cherry on top :Who's your boyfriend/girlfriend, I forgot; :Is it an A! B! C! or :Ice cream sundae, banana split : ame of jumpers got a boyfriend/girlfriend, :Who is it? :A! B! C! or :Ice cream soda,

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, :Tell me the name of my honey-bunch. :A, B, C, etc. Another counting rhyme: :Cinderella dressed in yellow, went upstairs (or downstairs) to kiss her fellow, kissed a snake, by mistake , how many doctors will it take? 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 etc. (Go to 20 then go down to the next line) :Cinderella dressed in blue, went upstairs to tie her shoe, made a mistake and tied a knot, how many knots will she make? 1, 2, 3, etc. :Cinderella dressed in green, went downtown to buy a ring, made a mistake and bought a fake, how many days before it breaks? 1, 2, 3, etc. :Cinderella dressed in lace, went upstairs to fix her face, oh no oh no, she found a blemish, how many powder puffs till she's finished? 1, 2, 3, etc. :Cinderella dressed in silk, went outside to get some milk, made a mistake and fell in the lake, how many more till she gets a break? 1, 2, 3, etc. The counting continues as long as the jumper avoids faulting. If they do then the counting starts again.:

Miscellaneous

*Skipping rhymes need not always have to be rhymes, however. They can be games, such as a game called, "School." In "Kindergarten" (the first round), all skippers must run through rope without skipping. In "First Grade", all skippers must skip in, skip once, and skip out without getting caught in the rope, and so on. Also, there is "Mouse Trap", where there is a special pattern, and players must run through rope without getting caught. If caught, the jumper caught must hold the rope. Chinese jump rope Diamonds pattern

Chinese jump rope patterns are often accompanied by chants. The diamonds pattern is accompanied by the letters which spell "diamond" ("D-I-A-M-O-N-D-S."), while the Americans pattern, as are many patterns, is accompanied by the names of the moves made while carrying out the pattern ("right, left, right, left, in, out/open, in, on.").

Speed rhymes

Some rhymes are intended to test the agility of the jumper by turning the rope more rapidly. The key word to start turning fast is often "pepper" to indicate speed, such as: :Mable, Mable, :Set the table, :Don't forget the salt, :Vinegar, :Mustard, :Pepper! (rapid turning follows) * When "red hot peppers" was called, the turners would turn the rope as fast as they could.

Pretty Little Dutch Girl

"Pretty Little Dutch Girl" was a lengthy song, much too long for a simple chant, but often excerpted for jumping rope. "My husband's name is Fatty. He comes from Cincinnati." Or alphabetical, "My husband's name is Alfred, He comes from Atlanta, He works in the attic.." All made up on the spur of the moment. The jumper may be obliged to jump out upon finishing a letter, or be allowed to continue until either failing to invent new lyrics, or faulting.

Historical rhymes

Other rhymes are highly topical, and sometimes survive long after the events that inspired them have disappeared from the headlines. Perhaps the most notorious rhyme of this type is one that began circulating during the 1892 trial of

Lizzie Borden Lizzie Andrew Borden (July 19, 1860 – June 1, 1927) was an American woman tried and acquitted of the August 4, 1892 axe murders of her father and stepmother in Fall River, Massachusetts. No one else was charged in the murders, and despite ost ...

. Despite Lizzie's desire to stay out of the public eye, children would follow her around and chant the rhyme. It later started being used as a rhyme used when skipping-rope: :Lizzie Borden took an axe :She gave her mother forty whacks, :After she saw what she had done, :She gave her father forty-one. :Lizzie Borden got away, :For her crime she did not pay. *Variations of this following rhyme, a

wordplay Word play or wordplay (also: play-on-words) is a literary technique and a form of wit in which words used become the main subject of the work, primarily for the purpose of intended effect or amusement. Examples of word play include puns, phon ...

on "influenza," were heard around the time of the

1918 flu pandemic The 1918–1920 influenza pandemic, commonly known by the misnomer Spanish flu or as the Great Influenza epidemic, was an exceptionally deadly global influenza pandemic caused by the H1N1 influenza A virus. The earliest documented case was ...

: :I had a little bird, :And its name was Enza. :I opened the window :And in-flew-enza. This one from Prohibition: :No, I won't go to Casey's any more, more, more, :There's a big fat policeman by the door, door, door. :He grabs you by the collar, :And makes you pay a dollar. :No, I won't go to Casey's any more.

References

External links

Educational CyberPlayGround Jumprope Chants, Clapping Games and Rhymes.

Jump-Rope Rhymes

Jump Rope Rhymes
* {{Authority control Children's street culture Folklore