70 Year Old
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Male
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From Cincinnati, OH·
Joined on August 12, 2011
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Relationship status: Single
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Born on February 8th
12
Alligator Shoes - September 26, 2011 After becoming very frustrated with the attitude of one of the shopkeepers, the young blonde declared, "Well, then, maybe I'll just go out and catch my own alligator and get a pair of alligator shoes for free!" The shopkeeper replied with a sly smile, "Well, little lady, why don't you go on and give it a try?" The blonde headed off to the swamp, determined to catch an alligator. Later in the day, as the shopkeeper was driving home, he spotted the same young woman standing waist deep in the murky water, shotgun in hand. As he brought his car to a stop, he saw a huge 9-foot gator swimming rapidly toward her. With lightning reflexes, the blonde took aim, shot the creature and hauled it up onto the slippery bank. Nearby were 5 more dead gators all lying belly up. The shopkeeper stood on the bank, watching in silent amazement as the blonde struggled mightily and barely managed to flip the gator onto its back. Then, rolling her eyes heavenward, she screamed in frustration, "Crap! This one's barefoot too!"
Stopping Church Gossip - September 24, 2011 Mildred, the church gossip, and self-appointed monitor of the church's morals, kept sticking her nose into other people's business. Several members did not approve of her extracurricular activities, but feared her enough to maintain their silence. She made a mistake however when she accused Frank, a new member, of being an alcoholic after she saw his old pickup truck parked in front of the town's only bar one afternoon.. She emphatically told Frank (and several others) that every one seeing it there WOULD KNOW WHAT HE WAS DOING! Frank was a man of few words. He just stared at her for a moment and just turned and walked away. He didn't explain, defend, or deny anything. He said nothing at all. Later that evening, Frank quietly parked his truck in front of Mildred's house, walked home, and left it there all night.
The Power Of Positive Thinking - September 23, 2011 Two prostitutes were riding around town with a sign on top of their car which said: "Two Prostitutes -- $50.00." A policeman seeing the sign stopped them and told them they'd either have to remove the sign or go to jail. Just at that time, another car passed with a sign saying: "JESUS SAVES." One of the girls asked the officer, "How come you don't stop them?!" "Well, that's a little different." The officer smiled, "Their sign pertains to religion." So the two ladies of the night frowned as they took their sign down and drove off. The following day found the same police officer in the area when he noticed the two ladies driving around with a large sign on their car again. Figuring he had an easy bust, he began to catch up with them when he noticed the new sign which now read: "Two Fallen Angels Seeking Peter -- $50.00."
70 Year Old
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Male
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From Cincinnati, OH·
Joined on August 12, 2011
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Relationship status: Single
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Born on February 8th
Interests
From Frog's Book of Knowledge Meanings and origins of popular phrases Eeny, meeny, miny, mo
MEANING: The first line of a popular children's counting rhyme.
ORIGIN: Of all of the phrases and idioms in the English language 'eeny, meenie, miny, mo' must be the one with the widest variety of spellings. I've opted for 'Eeny, meeny, miny, mo' but there are many others - 'Eenie, meenie, miney, moe', 'Eany, meany, miney, mo' and so on. Added to that, as far back as the 19th century there have been variants of the rhyme which are so dissimilar to our current version as to be scarcely recognisable - 'Hana, mana, mona, mike' (from New York) and 'Eetern, feetern, peeny, pump' (from Scotland) and many of these now have local variants and words added from other languages.
What lies behind this variability is that throughout the 19th century the rhyme spread from different parts of the UK to every playground in the English-speaking world, but by word of mouth rather than on paper. There never was an accepted definitive version, so the children who used the rhyme were very happy to substitute their own words as the mood took them.
As adults, we might be curious as to whether the words mean anything and what their origin might have been. Children appear to have no such concerns. An example comes from the Danish island of Kattegat, where a rhyme arrived during the British occupation in the Napoleonic wars:
Jeck og Jill Vent op de hill Og Jell kom tombling efter
...which makes as little sense in Danish as it does in English but, despite it being entirely meaningless to them, the children of Kattegat still sing it.
The best known version of the rhyme is the one that is now widely derided as insulting, especially in the USA, where the middle two lines originated:
Eena, meena, mina, mo, Catch a nigger by the toe, If he hollers, let him go, Eena meena, mina, mo.
A more acceptable version has now established itself:
Eeny, meeny, miny, mo, Catch the tiger/monkey/baby by the toe. If it hollers[USA]/screams[UK] let him go, Eeny, meeny, miny, mo.
The rhyme is used by groups of children as a way of selecting someone to take a role that is different from the others. As difference is unwelcome to children, the formula had to be sufficiently unpredictable to be accepted as fair. A leader takes the counting role and, in the rhythm of the rhyme, points to each child in turn. The last line is often topped off with a short emphasized 'You are It!' or 'O, U, T spells out!', which all the children join in with. Sometimes the child pointed to at the end of one count is the one selected - to be 'It' in a game of hide and seek, for example. In more important choices - selecting who has to ask that grumpy man down the road for their ball back - the one pointed to last drops out and the formula is repeated several times until only one is left.
[Note: UK residents who have voted in today's referendum might notice a parallel with the 'First Past the Post' and 'Alternative Vote' systems.]
'Eeny, meeny, miny, mo' is certainly a strange line, so does it mean anything and does curiosity about its origin lead us anywhere? Well, as is so often the case in etymology, yes and no. There is a similarity between the words of the phrase and some of the numerals in pre-English Celtic and Cumbrian languages. For example, the oral tradition of the English coastal town of Yarmouth voices 'one, two, three, four' as 'ina, mina, tethera, methera'. Also, the word for 'one' in Welsh, Cornish, Irish and Breton is, respectively, 'un' (pronounced 'een'), 'ouyn', 'aon' and 'unan' - all of them sounding not unlike 'een' or 'eeny'.
The age of the phrase is uncertain. It first began to be written down in the 19th century - the scholarly journal Notes and Queries published this in the February 1855 edition:
"The following are used in the United States for the selection of a tagger... Eeny, meeny, moany, mite, Butter, lather, boney, strike, Hair, bit, frost, neck, Harrico, barrico, we, wo, wack"
This bears more than a passing resemblance to the English version recorded by Fred Jago in The Glossary of the Cornish Dialect, 1882:
Ena, mena, mona, mite, Bascalora, bora, bite, Hugga, bucca, bau, Eggs, butter, cheese, bread. Stick, stock, stone dead - OUT."
There's no doubt that the rhyme is older than the 19th century recorded versions, possibly very much older. The link to the names of numerals in ancient languages is also likely. Many farmers and fishermen on the fringes of Britain used such language for counting until quite recently and many natives of the north of England can still count from one to five in 'the old way' - 'yan, tan tehera, methera, pimp'.
Ancient Celtic counting system or Victorian nonsense verse? American in origin or English? Your best bet is to put all the available theories in a circle and repeat this rhyme - Eeny, meeny...
Nice Story about overcoming and recovery called Sundering Fate, click picture to read. and listen to alloy dream new music and videos.Have a Great Weekend.Ry
Avoidable ExposureA man is getting into the shower as his wife is getting out when the doorbell rings.The wife quickly wraps herself in a towel and runs downstairs. She opensthe door to find their next door neighbor, Bob. Before she can say aword, Bob says,"I'll give you $800 to drop that towel." After thinkingfor a moment, she drops her towel and stands naked in front of Bob.After a few seconds, Bob hands her $800 and leaves. Wrapping herself inthe towel, as she gets to the bathroom, her husband asks,"Who wasthat?""It was Bob," she replied."Great!" her husband says,"Did he say anything about the $800 he owedme?"
