Thread: Eenie, Meenie, Miney, Moe :-)

Eenie, Meenie, Miney, Moe,
Catch a tiger by its toe.
If it squeals let it go,
Eenie, Meenie, Miney, Moe.
you are not it!

Children in England chant (sing) this song to eliminate a player from a group until there is only one person left. The leader starts with the first person on their left, pointing at each person around the group on the beat of the song. Each time, the person on the last [it], is eliminated.

Is there one like this in Russian?

(P.S. Many years ago the word [tiger] was another word, which is now a [taboo] word and not used)

We used to sing it:

Eenie meenie miney moe,
Catch a tiger by his toe,
If he hollers make him pay,
Fifty dollars every day,
My mother told me to pick the very best one and you are not it!

When I visited my grandparents in Texas, the local kids would replace tiger with ni@@er. Muse be a throw back to slavery days.

There are a loads of these counting rhymes (считалки), for example

Вышел месяц {Вариант: немец} из тумана
Вынул ножик из кармана.
Буду резать, Буду бить,
Всё равно тебе водить.

Водить means to be a catcher in hide-and-seek or this kind of the main player in other games.

Or
На златом крыльце сидели:
Царь, царевич, король, королевич,
Сапожник, портной.
Говори, кто ты такой поскорей
Не задерживай честных людей.

The one who is stuck latest says who is he amongst these "professions" and in the next round the one who is said to be this one, is eliminated. The similar primciple is in the following rhyme:

Со второго этажа
Полетели два ножа
Красный, синий, голубой,
Выбирай себе любой.

Nonsence rhyme:
Эне бене раба
Квинтер финтер жаба
(I don't remember if it is an end)
or something like
Эники-беники
ели вареники
эники-беники
(бумс, бац, or what is in the end?)

Thanks Propp with the word считалки I see that I have hundreds of counting rhymes on the Internet - for me a good way to study and learn Russian words: getting some sense out of the rhymes is tricky though