Okay, so, one of my long-standing interests is The Folk Process.

[conuly]

That's actually part of why I like language, because The Folk Process is (more or less) what gives us etymology.

So I skip around in some bizarre pattern from reading up on nursery rhymes (and no, Ring Around the Rosy does *not* mean what you think it does. I'm wary of hidden meanings in general, but that one's pretty provably wrong), then to children's songs (the ones written *by* children, meaning they're often alarmingly inappropriate) to jump rope rhymes, to chinese jump rope patterns (you see the thread there, right?), to hand clap rhymes, to folk songs and ballads, to etymology, to urban legends, to fairy tales, and somehow I inevitably end up with military cadences, no, I don't know why.

Right now Ana's into hand clapping, which is great except... uh... I was a bit of an outcast as a child. AND we didn't live near my school or anything, so it's not like I had much of an opportunity for forced socializing either. (I can't jump rope either.) I know precisely three handclaps from my childhood, and one of them is Quack-dilly-oso, and so it probably doesn't count. (Fun facts: 1. My sister and I spent a summer in Belgium teaching Quack-dilly-oso to other children, and if anybody in Wavre still plays it it is entirely because of us, thank you very much. 2. If the term "quack-dilly-oso doesn't make sense to you, try the name "Stella Ella Ola". Better?)

So here I am, dutifully trying to come up with a few more to teach her. (Evangeline is interested in them too, but she is really too young to quite get the mechanics of them. She has the words down pat, though. She has a remarkable memory for songs, tell the truth. It's amazing. All those games of "I'm going on a trip" must be sticking!)

It's easy enough to find sites and sites of people transcribing (with predictably poor spelling) the various rhymes they use, and the zillion and a half different variants known to mankind. Finding melodies (for those rhymes that have them) is a bit harder, and finding clear instructions is impossible. Most of them, the contributers didn't write instructions at all, and in the rest they're about as clear as mud.

There need to be vidoes, or, barring that, step by step photographs. Why nobody has done this yet, I don't know.

I can find a few on YouTube, but many of them go quickly, or aren't what I'm looking for. And anyway, they're *hard* to find on YouTube! YouTube isn't always as useful as one might hope :(

So, anybody willing to help me out here? Even scanty information is better than *no* information, really. (Information on chinese jump rope patterns, jump rope rhymes, the kind of songs kids sing but you wish they wouldn't, and - yes, lizziey! - cadences are appreciated too. And in other languages! Go whole hog! I can whip up almost poetic variations if I have a literal translation.)

Oh, and since we're (loosely) on the subject of kids' pastimes - remember that first BSG of the season? Where a big(ish) thing was that bag of jacks so-and-so found in the-spoilery-place? Yeah. When's the last time you saw jacks like that being sold? Huge plastic ones, and they're hard to find too. Clearly, Earth is not of our Earth.

Comments

[marveen.livejournal.com]

Nope, never heard of quackdillyoso or stella ella ola.

(I knew precisely two handclaps, and one is pattycake and one is pease porridge hot.)

Did you ever play the jumprope game "helicopter"? The chant goes, as far as I can recall, "Helicopter, helicopter, flying in the air/Helicopter, helicopter, fly over there/'Copter came down and hit my mother on the head/The blood came out and the blood was ____." (The color varied, but I always chose "red" as a nod to reality and a rhyme scheme.)

[erinlin.livejournal.com]

I know the "Piccolo" rhyme. I'll try and describe it:

Piccolo: My name is high low pika-low, pika-low high low, high low pika-low, pika-low low

A and B stand facing each other. They hold their left hands out, as if to shake hands BUT not palm to palm. The hands are back to back. Let's call these hands 'the figure.' Throughout the ryhme, only the right hands move, the left hands stay in figure. On the word 'High', A and B clap their right hands together over the figure. On the word 'Low" they clap their right hands together under the figure. On the word "Pika," A and B clap their right hands with their own left hands, while maintaining the figure.

How's that, clear as mud?

[gingembre.livejournal.com]

Try some of these:

http://www.beachnet.com/~jeanettem/chants.html
http://www.gameskidsplay.net/games/ClappingRythmsGames/index.htm
http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/NCFR/NCFR.html
http://hubpages.com/hub/Recess-is-BACK-Hand-Clapping-Games
http://childstoryhour.com/gamesclapping.htm
http://www.lightplanet.com/mormons/ywc/gcfun/handclap.htm
http://musiced.about.com/od/adviceforparents/a/clappinggames.htm
http://www.streetplay.com/thegames/clapandrhyme.htm

:-)

[of-polyhymnia.livejournal.com]

Miss Mary Mack, mack, mack
All dressed in black, black, black
With silver buttons, buttons, buttons,
All down her back, ...
I asked my mother...
to give me 15 pence...
to see the elephant...
jump over the fence...
he jumped so high...
he reached the sky...
and never came back...
till the fourth of july...
*You* lie!

Hands cross at the shoulders, hit your thighs, clap together, and hit the other person's R to R, clap, L to L, clap, R to R. With the other person, hit on the word (Mack) and clap on the off beat.

[ksol1460.livejournal.com]

When we were at university that all came under the general heading of Folklore. Our best discovery along these lines was the Opies' The Lore and Language of Schoolchildren. Iona Opie has another book called People in the Playground which is more like psychological observations along with the "alarmingly inappropriate" things children say (I'm reminded of the anecdote about JFK Jr. saying "G'night, Poopy Head" to his father, who responded "You're calling the President of the United States a poopy head?").

They are a bit biased as the Opies believed in gender biodeterminism, but so what. They're a terrific source.

The only one we ever did or saw done was "Playmate".

[elenbarathi.livejournal.com]

The book you need is A Rocket In My Pocket (http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_b?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=A+rocket+in+my+pocket), and I'll bet your public library either has it, or can get it for you. Enjoy!

A few from my own childhood

[elenbarathi.livejournal.com]

Not last night but the night before,
Twenty-four robbers came knocking at my door,
As I ran out, they ran in,
Hit me over the head with a bottle of gin.
Spanish dancer, do the splits,
Turn around, touch the ground,
Spanish dancer, get outta town!

Ta-ra-ra-boom-de-ay,
Our teacher died today,
We threw her in the bay,
She scared the sharks away.
When we took her out
She looked like sauerkraut,
Ta-ra-ra-boom-de-ay,
Our teacher died today.

Mine eyes have seen the glory of the burning of the school,
We have tortured every teacher, we have broken every rule,
We are marching down the corridors to kill the Principal
The kids go marching on,
Glory glory hallelujah,
Teacher hit me with a ruler,
I hit her on the bean with a rotten tangerine [or Russian submarine]
And she ain't gonna teach no more.

(LOL, that Russian submarine really dates me, doesn't it? I started kindergarten in 1962.)

Miss Lucy had a steamboat,
The steamboat had a bell,
Miss Lucy went to heaven and
The steamboat went to...
Hello operator,
Please get me number nine,
And if you disconnect me
I'll kick you in the...
Behind the 'frigerator
There was a piece of glass,
Miss Lucy fell upon it
And broke her little...
Ask me no more questions,
I'll tell you no more lies,
The boys are in the bathroom
Pulling up their...
Flies are in the country,
Bees are in the park,
The boys and girls are kissing in the
D-A-R-K, D-A-R-K, D-A-R-K, dark!

Oh I wish I was a fascinating lady,
I'd sleep all day and work all night
And live in a house with a little red light,
And once a month I'd take a short vacation
And leave all the men in utter desperation,
And once a year I'd go hog wild
And have myself an illegitimate child,
Oh I wish I was a fascinating lady
Instead of... a Girl Scout.

(Written by my friend Kat on a Girl Scout campout.)

[lizziey.livejournal.com]

If you want, I can burn the disk of marching cadences I have for you. Oddly, they were the ONLY thing to get Tate to sleep as a baby (thank you, Christopher Paul, for practicing your cadences on my stomach. Rawr!!

[marveen.livejournal.com]

Nope, never heard of quackdillyoso or stella ella ola.

(I knew precisely two handclaps, and one is pattycake and one is pease porridge hot.)

Did you ever play the jumprope game "helicopter"? The chant goes, as far as I can recall, "Helicopter, helicopter, flying in the air/Helicopter, helicopter, fly over there/'Copter came down and hit my mother on the head/The blood came out and the blood was ____." (The color varied, but I always chose "red" as a nod to reality and a rhyme scheme.)

[erinlin.livejournal.com]

I know the "Piccolo" rhyme. I'll try and describe it:

Piccolo: My name is high low pika-low, pika-low high low, high low pika-low, pika-low low

A and B stand facing each other. They hold their left hands out, as if to shake hands BUT not palm to palm. The hands are back to back. Let's call these hands 'the figure.' Throughout the ryhme, only the right hands move, the left hands stay in figure. On the word 'High', A and B clap their right hands together over the figure. On the word 'Low" they clap their right hands together under the figure. On the word "Pika," A and B clap their right hands with their own left hands, while maintaining the figure.

How's that, clear as mud?

[gingembre.livejournal.com]

Try some of these:

http://www.beachnet.com/~jeanettem/chants.html
http://www.gameskidsplay.net/games/ClappingRythmsGames/index.htm
http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/NCFR/NCFR.html
http://hubpages.com/hub/Recess-is-BACK-Hand-Clapping-Games
http://childstoryhour.com/gamesclapping.htm
http://www.lightplanet.com/mormons/ywc/gcfun/handclap.htm
http://musiced.about.com/od/adviceforparents/a/clappinggames.htm
http://www.streetplay.com/thegames/clapandrhyme.htm

:-)

[of-polyhymnia.livejournal.com]

Miss Mary Mack, mack, mack
All dressed in black, black, black
With silver buttons, buttons, buttons,
All down her back, ...
I asked my mother...
to give me 15 pence...
to see the elephant...
jump over the fence...
he jumped so high...
he reached the sky...
and never came back...
till the fourth of july...
*You* lie!

Hands cross at the shoulders, hit your thighs, clap together, and hit the other person's R to R, clap, L to L, clap, R to R. With the other person, hit on the word (Mack) and clap on the off beat.

[ksol1460.livejournal.com]

When we were at university that all came under the general heading of Folklore. Our best discovery along these lines was the Opies' The Lore and Language of Schoolchildren. Iona Opie has another book called People in the Playground which is more like psychological observations along with the "alarmingly inappropriate" things children say (I'm reminded of the anecdote about JFK Jr. saying "G'night, Poopy Head" to his father, who responded "You're calling the President of the United States a poopy head?").

They are a bit biased as the Opies believed in gender biodeterminism, but so what. They're a terrific source.

The only one we ever did or saw done was "Playmate".

[elenbarathi.livejournal.com]

The book you need is A Rocket In My Pocket (http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_b?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=A+rocket+in+my+pocket), and I'll bet your public library either has it, or can get it for you. Enjoy!

A few from my own childhood

[elenbarathi.livejournal.com]

Not last night but the night before,
Twenty-four robbers came knocking at my door,
As I ran out, they ran in,
Hit me over the head with a bottle of gin.
Spanish dancer, do the splits,
Turn around, touch the ground,
Spanish dancer, get outta town!

Ta-ra-ra-boom-de-ay,
Our teacher died today,
We threw her in the bay,
She scared the sharks away.
When we took her out
She looked like sauerkraut,
Ta-ra-ra-boom-de-ay,
Our teacher died today.

Mine eyes have seen the glory of the burning of the school,
We have tortured every teacher, we have broken every rule,
We are marching down the corridors to kill the Principal
The kids go marching on,
Glory glory hallelujah,
Teacher hit me with a ruler,
I hit her on the bean with a rotten tangerine [or Russian submarine]
And she ain't gonna teach no more.

(LOL, that Russian submarine really dates me, doesn't it? I started kindergarten in 1962.)

Miss Lucy had a steamboat,
The steamboat had a bell,
Miss Lucy went to heaven and
The steamboat went to...
Hello operator,
Please get me number nine,
And if you disconnect me
I'll kick you in the...
Behind the 'frigerator
There was a piece of glass,
Miss Lucy fell upon it
And broke her little...
Ask me no more questions,
I'll tell you no more lies,
The boys are in the bathroom
Pulling up their...
Flies are in the country,
Bees are in the park,
The boys and girls are kissing in the
D-A-R-K, D-A-R-K, D-A-R-K, dark!

Oh I wish I was a fascinating lady,
I'd sleep all day and work all night
And live in a house with a little red light,
And once a month I'd take a short vacation
And leave all the men in utter desperation,
And once a year I'd go hog wild
And have myself an illegitimate child,
Oh I wish I was a fascinating lady
Instead of... a Girl Scout.

(Written by my friend Kat on a Girl Scout campout.)

[lizziey.livejournal.com]

If you want, I can burn the disk of marching cadences I have for you. Oddly, they were the ONLY thing to get Tate to sleep as a baby (thank you, Christopher Paul, for practicing your cadences on my stomach. Rawr!!