Therefore, if the lyrics are changed in this particular poem, the meanings change and there is nothing offensive about it.
Audiences tend to react strongly to this juxtaposition of emotion and sound when paired with a scary film. Whether it is a small toy piano playing the melody, a little girl singing, or children singing a nursery rhyme while holding hands and dancing in a circle, there’s always a level of emotion carried. Horror films often use nursery rhyme type sounds to add an eerie effect. I believe that this celebration is similar to what composers use in movies today. Two people of race sued an airline in 2004 when the air hostess announced “Eeny, meeny, miny, moe, Please sit down it's time to go.” The court dismissed the case, but the point remains that encouraging children to sing this rhyme without the requisite knowledge can lead them into trouble. Still OffensiveĮven after the lyrics were changed, it remained as something of an offensive rhyme.
It was originally “catch an n-word by the toe.” Making a reference to a person of color’s skin and comparing that with with how an animal behaves is downright offensive and this is why the lyrics have been modified to suit political correctness of today’s day and age. In modern times, the words “tiger,” “pig,” “hen,” and “rooster” are used however, the original version, which was sung in the backyard of England, had the n-word in it. The oldest version of this nursery rhyme has a bit of a racist touch to it. Eeny Meeny Miny Mo is one of those nursery rhymes. (roll your hands around each other in a backwards motion on ‘come along’ and forwards on ‘go’) Oh, glory, (bring hands above head and make a circle with your fingers on ‘oh’ and clap on ‘glory’) Hallejulah (pretend to wave a small flag in each hand) Oh, glory, (same as before) Come along and go. Some of the rhymes get famous so much so that they are sung around the world. Many other nursery rhymes had similar synopsis beyond just the literal meanings. Humpty Dumpty was based upon a famous British Canon protecting a tower for over three months that finally fell, not to be found by the King’s search party. Stories and songs would be told generation to generation passed down throughout time. Many nursery rhymes were written for children but had a lot of subliminal messages.
They are now an essential part of a child’s education in his/her early years, be it in school or at home. The world heard first about the terminology describing these children songs as nursery rhymes in the 18th and 19th century. The rhythmic songs developed to keep children busy and learn while singing was called nursery rhymes. Singing and dancing have been the part of world history since the beginning of time. I probably learned them from my mom, they kind of sound like something she would do.Source Nursery Rhymes - Eeny Meeny Miny Mo Nursery Rhymes
Sara thought all of these extra additions were pretty hilarious, although I never really considered them much before. However, it never worked that way for us we always did the whole thing, all the way to the end.Īnd yes, I have Evie doing all the extras now. I would assume the purpose of these add-ons is to allow you to select the outcome you want: if you don’t land on the right thing, just tack something on the end and keep going.Īnd out you go with a dirty, dirty dishrag on your big fat enormous toe My mother told me to pick the very best one Now here’s where it starts to get interesting: The part that is funny is that everybody has their own set of “add ons” onto the base rhyme. These really brought back some memories, I haven’t thought about a lot of these since I was a kid. What will you eat first off your plate? Which crayon will you use? Who should put you to bed tonight? Always, eeny, meeny, miny, moe, like it’s some sort of infallible magic 8 ball, with all the right answers.Įvie’s actually learned a few of these lately, although eeny, meeny, miny, moe seems to be the rhyme of choice. Someone taught Evie the rhyme “eeny, meeny, miny, moe” and now all decisions must be made this way.