“Eeny, meeny, miny, moe” is a children’s counting-out rhyme used to select a person in games such as tag or for choosing various other things. It belongs to a large group of similar rhymes where the child who is pointed to by the chanter on the last syllable is either “chosen” or “counted out”. The rhyme has existed in various forms since well before 1820 and is common in many languages using similar-sounding nonsense syllables 12.
A common modern version of this rhyme is:
Eeny, meeny, miny, moe,
Catch a tiger by the toe.
If he hollers, let him go,
Eeny, meeny, miny, moe.
Variants of this rhyme have been recorded with additional words, such as:
- “O. U. T. spells out, And out goes she, In the middle of the deep blue sea.”
- “My mother told me/says to pick the very best one, and that is Y-O-U/you are [not] it.”
- Some versions even use “Tigger” instead of “tiger” 1.
The origins of this rhyme are not entirely clear, and several theories exist:
- It may be descended from Old English or Welsh counting, similar to the old shepherd’s count “Yan Tan Tethera” or the Cornish “Eena, mena, mona, mite”.
- British colonials returning from India introduced a doggerel version of an Indian children’s rhyme used in the game of carom billiards: “baji neki baji thou, elim tilim latim gou.”
- It might come from a Swahili poem brought to the Americas by enslaved Africans: “Iino ya mmiini maiini mo.”
- Another theory suggests it originates from a centuries-old, possibly Old Saxon, divination rhyme 1.
In any case, this playful rhyme has been passed down through generations and continues to be a part of childhood games and traditions!