Exeter words...

I am sitting in a hospital bed with little to do besides people watch, especially before I paid an extortionate amount of money to use this Andrew Lansley henchmen installed partial internet portal....

So I have started to collect words~

My favourites are the words of endearment used by nurses to deal with patiants. The  more decreped you look the more they use these terms...

"my lovely"
"my darlin'/darling"
"love"
"sweatheart"
"poppet"

I also heard two Devon nurses joking about the Bristolian "my lover"...  "Sweatheart" went together with "love" and with "my darling".

Another bit of earwigging I did was of an ealderly Devon family (not saying exactly where) who came out with the following beautifuly poetic turns of phrase ~

"Every thin's chaingen', innette?" "Is et?" "Ooo, et es."

"We 'add a chreffec 'ail storm, and them cars was just crawlin' along..."

(Daughter reprimanding dad) "Here then, you got 'em, 'ant ee?"

"Dohn it mek the meat tender?" "Do et?"  "Yeh"  "Were d' ee gedd et?"  "Down Tesco's."

"Tis' WILD out there." (about the weather).

One person (no Devon accent) complained that her daughter she had carefully named Macey was called at  school "Maizey".  Maizey is dialect for crazy...

Bristol Milk

Harvey's Sherry Warehouse in Bristol, by the floating harbour. By Linda Bailey [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

"Bristol milk.

That is, sherry-sack, which is the entertainment of course, which the courteous Bristolians present to strangers, when first visiting their city."

Ray 1768

Map - Bristol 

The wonderful con of Cariboo, or Princess Javasu AKA Mary Willcocks of Witheridge

[This next section of Sarah Hewett's book is entitled "peculiar and eccentric Devoninans. I couldnt deside whether this constituted folklore or not.  While they are of real histories I think they are linked to places and retold in relation to those places (I have told of this story in Bristol to a friend!).  The people are often 'folk' - their fame coming from legend rather than importance to the aristocratic orientated history books. Therefore I will include them, but rather than brake each one up into parts and keyword it all I have posted them all as one so as to take up minimal space.]

Princess Javasu, Cariboo, Mary Willcocks... By The book's text by JF Nicholls (d. 1883) and John Taylor (d. 1893). Death dates citation: doi:10.1093/library/s1-V.1.86. Images by unknown engravers, and thus are PD due to age, per the relevant British legislation [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

"THIS clever unscrupulous woman was born of poor but respectable parents at Witheridge, North Devon, on November 11th, 1792. Her father, Thomas Willcocks, was a shoemaker. His daughter Mary, being of a wild disposition, objected to the restrictions of school life, hence she received little or no education, and at eight years of age was employed in spinning wool. The manufacture of woollen yarns was at this time the staple industry of the district. Athletics had a strong attraction for Mary, who, before she was eighteen years of age, excelled all the village youths in cricket, playing at bowls, swimming, and fishing. As a domestic servant she was invaluable, and this must be said to her credit, that whatever she undertook she did well and intelligently, giving undivided attention to the minutest details. From her sixteenth to twenty-second year she lived in service at Witheridge, Exeter, Taunton, and in the neighbourhood of London. Fond of finery she applied all her wages to the purchase of smart attire, and when on a visit to her parents she made great display of it, to the disgust of her father who said, "'twadden vitty vor the likes o' she to be fettled up in such fal-lals and fantisheeny clothes." When he insisted that a certain smart white frock should be taken off, Mary refused to obey him, whereupon a quarrel arose which ended in her father taking the matter up in a furious temper, and beating her severely with a leathern strap. After this she decamped and was never seen again at Witheridge. While living with Mrs. Hillier, a fishmonger at Billingsgate, she met a man called Bakerstendt or Bickerstein, whom she is supposed to have married after only two months' acquaintance.

Whether she was married to this foreigner, or whether he seduced and afterwards deserted her, has not been clearly ascertained. There is little doubt, but that it was from him, who had probably associated with Malays or was acquainted with their language, that she picked up the Eastern words and idioms she used, as well as that knowledge of some Asiatic customs which so effectually enabled her to effect her imposition.

A year after her marriage (?) we find her living at Bristol with Eleanor Josephs. At first she did not pretend to be a foreigner, until one day she dressed herself in a turban, and went into the streets shouting at the top of her voice an unknown lingo. This was her first attempt to palm herself off as a stranger in a strange land.

On Thursday evening, the 3rd of April, 1817, the overseer of the parish of Almondsbury, near Bristol, called at the residence of Mr. Samuel Warrall, a magistrate, to inform him that a young woman, speaking a foreign language, had entered a cottage in the village, and made signs that she wished to sleep under its roof. A manservant in the house knew several languages, therefore the woman was brought before him, but appeared not to understand a word he said. Her dress consisted of a black stuff gown, with a white muslin frill around the neck, a black cotton shawl fantastically arranged about her head, and a red checked shawl loosely and tastefully put on her shoulders in imitation of Asiatic costume.

The general impression from her manners and person was attractive and prepossessing. In height about 5ft. 2in., she had a small head, low forehead, black hair and eyes, short nose, pink cheeks, wide mouth, white gleaming teeth, lips large and full, a small round chin, and an olive complexion. Her hands were well formed, and so white that one would suppose they were unaccustomed to labour. Age about twenty-five years.

When offered food she covered her face with her hands, and appeared to repeat a prayer, bowing her head at the conclusion.

Mrs. Warrall took compassion on her loneliness and received her into her house as a guest. Upon being shewn books of travel, she intimated that the one descriptive of China was the country from which she came. Mrs. Warrall began to have suspicions that the woman was an impostor, and talked very seriously to her, begging her to speak the truth of herself. She pretended not to understand a word, and addressed Mrs. Warrall in her own tongue. Mrs. Warrall wrote her name upon paper, pronouncing it several times as she placed it before her, hoping that the woman would reveal her own, which she did by crying out "Caraboo ! Caraboo !" pointing to herself.

Upon some furniture being shewn to her, inlaid with Chinese figures, Caraboo made signs that they belonged to her country. She then drew the following chart of her voyage to Europe :

Her father's country was Congee (China), her mother's was Batavia, her own, Javasu, of which she was the princess. Hereafter she was known as Caraboo, or the Princess Javasu. For several months she lived this picturesque lie. One gentleman who had made several voyages to the East Indies took great interest in her, and in the warmth of his anxiety to discover her history probably assisted her to emphasise more distinctly the imposture on the good people of Bristol and Bath.

She marked time by tying knots on a string in a peculiar manner, and by this means pointed out the periods and distances of her voyage. She said that in Congee they wrote with a camel's hair brush or pencil and Indian ink. Here are a few of the signs she employed, which are simply Arabic characters which she might have found among Beckerstein's papers.

The gibberish language in which she made herself understood, was aided by gestures and animation of countenance which it is impossible to describe. It is singular that during her residence at Knowle, Bath, and Bristol she was never heard to pronounce a word of English. She had an astonishing command of countenance and complete self-possession. A gentleman tried to move her by flattery : he drew his chair close to hers, looked steadily and smilingly in her face, and said : "You are the most beautiful creature I ever beheld. You are an angel." Not a muscle of her face moved, no blush suffused her cheek, and her countenance was a blank.

The bubble, however, was on the eve of bursting. 

Dr. Wilkinson, of Bath, determined to probe the mystery, and after making exhaustive enquiries about her, of persons with whom she was known to have lodged previous to her arrival at Almondsbury, discovered that she was none other than the veritable daughter of Thomas Wilcocks, the Witheridge shoemaker.

After this, the exposure of the deception practised on Mrs. Warrall was speedy and decisive. Mrs. Warrall went alone into a room with Caraboo, and told her of the damning proofs she had obtained of her being an impostor. She again tried in her gibberish to interest her benevolent friend by saying, "Caraboo, Toddy Noddy," etc., but could not succeed.

Hereupon she acknowledged the cheat and begged that her parents should not be sent for. This was promised on condition that she would make a clean breast of the whole imposture and give details of her former life, to which she readily acceded.

A passage in the " Robert and Ann," under the care of Captain Robertson, was at once procured for her, and taking the name of Mrs. Mary Burgess, she sailed for, and lived many years at, Philadelphia. The day before leaving Bristol she wrote the following letter to Mrs. Warrall, which shewed that Caraboo was not insensible of the great kindness and attention to her comfort and happiness which Mrs. Warrall unweariedly gave her.

This is a verbatim copy :

" HON. MADAM,
Friendship thou charmer of the mind thou sweet deluding ill the brightest moments mortals find and sharpest pains can feel fate has divided all our shares of pleasure and of pain in love the friendship and the cares are mixed and join again the same ingenious author in another place says tis dangerous to let loose our love between the eternal fair for pride that busy sin spoils all that we perform. 

 MARY BAKER."

After several years residence in America she returned to England, and settled at Bristol, about the year 1849, where she and her daughter earned a precarious living by selling and applying leeches, still retaining the assumed name of Mary Burgess, alias Baker. She died at Bristol in 1864.

A vocabulary of a few words with their meanings made use of by Caraboo :

Word: -

Alia Tulla
Samen
Tarsa
Manjintoo
Larger
Juxto
Kala
Anna
Mono
Vellee
Apa
Savee
Ake Brasidoo
Ake Dosi
Ake Sacco
Pakey
Savoo
Fosi
Toose
Mosha
Raglish
Noutee
Zee
Archee
Mo

 Meaning -

God
Heaven
Earth
Gentlemen
Ladies
Doctor
Time
Night
Morning
Bed
Fire
Rain
Come to breakfast
Come to dinner
Come to supper
Child
Knife
Fork
To swim
A man
A woman
An orange
Tea
Potato
Milk
Suso Sugar
Smachi Cayenne
Tamah Fowl
Rampue Pigeon

ODE TO MOLLY BAKER alias PRINCESS CARABOO.

THE two following Jeu d'esprits appeared during the period when this imposture formed the topic of general conversation at Bath and Bristol.

Oh Molly, what a wag thou art
So effectually to play the part
Of wandering, friendless Caraboo,
Bespeaks a talent few could boast
Even from juggling India's coast
But prythee tell me can it all be true ?
If thou when heathen Greek inditing,
Didst rival Rapier in his writing
(So versatile thy nature,
And sweetly plastic every limb)
Like Roland fence, like Dolphin swim,
Thou art indeed an interesting creature.
Wert thou with all the men so shy,
As ev'n thy beauteous hand deny
In common salutation ?
Was there no tender tete-a-tete,
Thy admirers thus to fascinate,
Who puffed thy beauty through the nation ?.
Thy sloe-black eyes, and teeth so white,
(By Nature formed to charm or bite ?)
With lady-airs in plenty
Like opiates all the senses lull'd,
Of reason and of vision gulled,
Th' all-knowing Cognoscenti.
When to the house-top prone to stray,
And would'st to Alla-Tullah pray,
Had'st thou no high priest near thee ?
1 mean not that imperious sun
Of reckless Juggernaut ; but one
Well pleased to assist, and hear thee ?
But where did'st learn (for Heaven's sake)
To swim or dive, like duck or drake
When water-dogs pursue ?
And when for pure ablution quipp'd,
Lurk'd there (as when Godiva stripped)
No peeping Tom or wanton Makratoo ?
Plague on that meddling tell-tale Neale,
Eager thy history to reveal,
And mar the pleasing fable :
Too sudden came the denouement
Which proved thou art from down-along,
Where dumplings grace each table.
" Drat her pug-nose, and treacherous eyes,
Deceitful wretch ;"
the doctor cries,

(No more inclined to flattery)
" When next I meet her (spite of groans)
I'll rive her muscles, split her bones
With my galvanic battery."
But heed him not for on my soul
Whether at Bristol, Bath or Knole,
I admired thy Caraboo.
Such self-possession at command,
The by-play great the illusion grand :
In truth 'twas everything but true.
Then Molly take a friend's advice
(To make thy fortune in a trice),
All wand'ring gypsy tricks resign
Fly to thy proper forte the stage :
Where thou in this half mimic age
Princess of actors would'st unrivall'd shine.

From the Bristol Mirror, June 2ist, 1817.

THE following squib was circulated after the exposure of this arch-impostor's deceptions, throughout Devon and Somerset.

CARABOO.

OH ! young Caraboo is come out of the west,
In Frenchified tatters the damsel is dressed
And, save one pair of worsted, she stockings had none,
She tramped half unshod, and she walked all alone :
But how to bamboozle the doxy well knew ;
You ne'er heard of gipsy like young Caraboo.
She staid not for river, she stopt not for stone,
She swam in the Avon where ford there was none :
But when she alighted at W gate,
The dame and the doctor received her in state.
No longer a gipsy, the club of bas-bleu
To a princess converted the young Caraboo.
So boldly she entered the W hall,
Amongst linguists, skull-feelers, bluestockings and all.
Sure never a hall such a galliard did grace,
When she fenced with the doctor, so queer her grimace.
But her host seemed to fret though the doctor did fume
Should any to question her titles presume.
And 'twas currently whispered the best they could do,
Was to send up to London the young Caraboo.
The hint was enough ; as it dropt on her ear
It ruined her hopes ; it awakened her fear.
So swift to the quay the fair damsel she ran ;
" Oh ! take me, dear captain, away if you can."
She's aboard they are off; "Farewell, Dr. Rampoo,
They'll have swift ships that follow," quoth young Caraboo.
There was bustling 'mong dames of the W clan,
The blue-stocking junto they rode and they ran,
There was racing and chasing from Bath to the sea,
But the bright Queen of Javasoo ne'er could they see,
What a hoax on the doctor and club of bas-bleu,
Did you e'er hear of gipsy like young Caraboo ?
Then spake the sage doctor, profoundly absurd,
While the sly Caraboo answered never a word :
" Art thou sprung from the moon, or from far Javasoo,
Or a mermaid just landed, thou bright Caraboo ?"
To these questions sagacious she answer denied,
Though hard was her struggle the laughter to hide,
But since they decree me these titles so fine
I'll be silent, eat curry, and taste not their wine ;
With this imposition I've nothing to do,
These are fools ready made, said the young Caraboo.
She looked at a pigeon the dame caught it up ;
Caraboo had a mind on a pigeon to sup ;
She looked down to titter she looked up so sly
With the bird in her hand, and the spit in her eye :
She dressed it she ate it she called it Rampoo.
This proves, swore the doctor, she's Queen Caraboo.
H. C. S.
Notes and Queries, June 3rd, 1865."

Hewett, 1900

Map - Almondsbury

Map - Bath

Map - Bristol

Map - Exeter

Map - Knowle

Map - Taunton

Map - Witheridge

First draft of Playground rhymes, games and words post - Work in progress

Rough Draft - I am publishing this now to prompt peoples memories - if any of these remind you of anything please add your memories in the comments box - I will update the post with it. Please tell me if things I have written here also occurred where you are.

Thanks! 

My primary school, Southville Primary in Bristol - © Copyright Anthony O'Neil and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.  http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2256566

[I love this subject.  I can remember learning and repeating rhymes at school with no knowledge (or even interest) in where they came from - they are real anarchic little bits of child culture that get passed generation to generation.

It is true that some may have come via books, or TV, but my suspicion is that many are just passed child to child (or possibly adult to child across the generations). I love how tiny fragments of rhyme get passed across between schools as children move about the country. Some, such as the second one down ("Ip, Dip, Bird Sh**."), must be free from books, TV and adult intervention, yet it was being spoken simultaneously in different cities!

Bellow are a few that I have collected (warning - a few are rude!). If you want to add yours to the comments box I shall update this post.

Counting rhymes -

Ip Dip Do

Batmans got the flu

Robins got the measles

so out goes you

if it lands on number ten

it will be you

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

From Southville primary school in Bristol late 1980's

~#~

Ip Dip Bird Shit

You Are On It

From Southville Primary school in Bristol, also South Twerton Junior in Bath, late 1980's
 

~#~

Eeny Meeny Miney Mo,

catch a baby by its toe

if it screams let it go

Eeny Meeny Miney Mo.

From Southville Primary school in Bristol, late 1980's

~#~

Eeny Meeny Miney Mo

catch a nicker by its toe

if it hollars let it go

Eeny Meeny Miney Mo

You

Are

OUT!

The recorder of this rhyme says she never did know what a "nicker" was. Almost definatly it came from "nigger", though by the 1980's this was thankfully redundant as a word in Bath schools, other than this corrupted and meaningless remnant . Horray!

~#~

Ip dip doo

Cat's got the flu

The dog's got chicken pox

So out goes you

Mark First School, Somerset (2008)

~#~

Eeny Meeny Miney Mo 

In a public playground in Chagford (Devon) I observed a boy using this to decide which end of a see-saw to go - the end where "mo" was said was used - 2011

~#~ 

Eeeny Meeny Miney Mo

Catch a nigger by his toe.

Sadly I heard this one in 2012 in a Devon hospital by a nurse handing out meals and joking about the power she held to give people the meals they asked for - she quickly realised she had said something unacceptable in using the word nigger and flustered out in a hurry exclaiming that it was unacceptable because you couldn't say whitey either any more.

Taunting rhymes -

From South Twerton Junior in Bath, late 1980's
 

~#~

Oh Dear, what can the matter be

J**** and G*****, stuck in the lavatory

Been there, Monday to Saturday,

Nobody knew they where there.

J**** and G*****where two children, apparently unsuited for each other

From South Twerton Junior in Bath, late 1980's
 

~#~

Oh Dear, what can the matter be 

Two old ladies, stuck in the lavatory

Been there, Monday to Saturday,

Nobody knew they where there.

From Southville Primary school in Bristol, late 1980's
 

~#~

J**** and G****** sitting in a tree

K. I. S. S. I . N. G.

Again J***** and G***** where the favoured people that this informant remembers, but other people where used. This informant also recalls only later realising that the letters spelt 'Kissing'! I too remember this rhyme, though who it was used against I can not remember - it was a bad thing to be accused of Kissing!

From Southville Primary school in Bristol, also South Twerton Junior in Bath, late 1980's

~#~

Liar Liar

Pants on fire

Your hair sticks up like a telephone wire!

Yeovil 1980's

~#~

Liar Liar

Pants on fire

Bristol 1960's and 1980's 

~#~

Made you look

made you stare

Made you lose

your underware

Bath 1980's

~#~

Made you look

made you stare

Made you wet

your underware

Chagford children 2011

Oaths

On my mothers life

Oath sworn for deadly seriousness. As my mother was already dead I used this peticularly when I wanted to lie, or show off in front of my friends who where in the know...

Bristol, 1980's;

Crossed fingers

Luck, called Cross-keys in Bristol 1960's

~#~

For lying, escaping rules of a game and also for luck - Bristol and Bath 1980's.  In Bath girls also crossed their legs, and in Bristol to retrospectively get out of something one could claim to have been crossing ones toes at the time one agreed to do it...


 Clapping Rhymes

A sailor went to sea sea sea

To see what he could see see see

But all that he could see see see

Was the bottom of the deep blue sea sea sea

Clapping rhyme (Two children face each other - clap; right; clap; left; clap; together; together; together).

From Ringwood, Hampshire / Dorset border, 1960's and from Chagford, Devon 2000's

~#~

Chinese men are very funny,
This is how they treat their mummy,
Oo cha,oo cha,turn around and boot ya.

Clapping Rhyme - Exeter, 1970's

~#~

My boyfriends name is tony

He comes from macaroni

with a cherry on his nose

and ten back toes

And this is how my story goes

One day as I was walkin'

I heard my boyfriend talkin'

to the prettiest girl in the whole wide world

and this is what he said to her

I L. O. V. E. love you

I K. I. S. S. kiss you

so I jumped in a lake

and swallowed a snake

and then I got a belly ache.

Do me a favour

Drop dead!

This long song was accompanied by a complex clapping rhythm (two girls facing each other- clap; right; clap;  left; clap; together; clap; left palm up right palm down; clap; left palm down right palm up- repeat). 

My informer says she remembers the existence of loads of different songs, especially amongst the girls, though she cant recall them now. Usually they were nonsense words, that accompanied skillful and complex clapping or skipping rhythms.Once you where good at them there was quite a performance about them, you showed off to others who watched. She remembers there where other rhymes,

Interesting the last but one verse, with swallowing snakes, jumping in lakes and belly aches - was this some allusion to puberty? Or was it just nonsense?  My informant now thinks it was quite suspicious, though at the time it meant nothing - she actually assumed it was some sort of self harm!

From South Twerton Junior in Bath, late 1980's

~#~

Miss Mary Mack, Mack, Mack
All dressed in black, black, black
With silver buttons, buttons, buttons
All down her back, back, back.

She asked her mother, mother, mother
For fifty pence, pence, pence
To see an elephant, elephant, elephant
Jump over a fence, fence, fence.

He jumped so high, high, high
He touched the sky, sky, sky
And didn't come down, down, down
Til the 4th of July, July, July

Clapping Rhyme from Yeovil, Somerset, 1980's .  Sounds weirdly American - 4th of July...

~#~

Tinker, 

tailor, 

soldier, 

sailor, 

rich man, 

poor man, 

beggar man, 

thief

Yeovil and Bristol, Somerset - 1980's - a skipping rhyme, also used to count things and tell who you would marry.

~#~

The big ship sails on the ally-ally-oh
The ally-ally-oh, the ally-ally-oh
Oh, the big ship sails on the ally-ally-oh
On the last day of September.

The captain said it will never, never do
Never, never do, never, never do
The captain said it will never, never do
On the last day of September.

The big ship sank to the bottom of the sea
The bottom of the sea, the bottom of the sea
The big ship sank to the bottom of the sea
On the last day of September.

We all dip our heads in the deep blue sea
The deep blue sea, the deep blue sea
We all dip our heads in the deep blue sea
On the last day of September. 

Someone had their hands on the wall and others went under them - Bristol,  1980's

~#~


Fragment -

If not, Why not

In a cup and saucer

Hopscotch

Jump for a colour

Half remembered fragment of a skipping rhyme from Yeovil 1980's

~#~

Fragment-

...See see 

My granny...

Clapping song in a pair - Bristol 1980's

~#~

My name is Elvis Presley,

Girls are sexy,

Sitting in the back seat,

Drinking pepsi,

Having a baby,

In the navy,

Do me a favour,

Drop dead.'

and as a variation at the same school - 

My name is Elvis Presley,

Girls are sexy,

Sitting in the back seat,

Drinking pepsi,

Huggin' and kissin',

Don't know what you're missin’,

Do me a favour,

Drop dead.'

Both from Bristol, 1990's

~#~

We are the tiger girls

We wear are hair in curls

We wear are dungarees, 
Down to our dirty knees.

La la la boom si eh 
How did i get this way

It was the boy next door

He had me on the floor

My daddy was surprised 
To see me tummy rise

My mummy jumped for joy

It was a baby boy!

Not sure if this was a clapping rhyme or not, but it has the rhythm of one!

Filton (Bristol) primary school - date uncertain - possibly 1990's?

~#~

Tip Tap Toe

Now Above,

Now Below

Give me three in a row,

Polly got shot by a UFO

This is a cue for the paper / scissors / stone game and is accompanied with a (very complicated) clapping routine. The clapping was done too fast for me to remember - it did have a bit where the fingers are  interlaced and the palms turned away from the body and clapped on those of  your opponent - who is doing the same thing.

Then comes -

Spider crawling up your back

Which finger is that?

The loser of the first round has to guess the correct finger their opponent is wiggling up their spine.  If you don’t then offer your arm and the other says -

Oh dear, You lose,

You get a big BRUISE!

on the word BRUISE the other can punch you in the arm.

Chagford primary school, 2010

Chasing games - 

Tag was called "Daddy-dun" - Poole 1940's

~#~ 

Olly Olly in,

the cat's in the bin

or

3 Erkies saves the lot

And "Getaway Games" where all played. (I actually pilfered this from another internet site, but I don't think they would mind). Someone from Plymouth explained that an Erkie was used in a game like hide & seek where you have to run and get back to the lampost/tree before the searcher and call it out.

Whitleigh, Plymouth  late 1970's

~#~

Ring-aring-aroses

a pocket full of poses

atishoo atisho

we all fall down

From Southville Primary school in Bristol, late 1980's

~#~

There was a similar game of safe bases (manhole covers) in Bristol, involving running around from base to base screaming, trying to escape the sharks. If you where caught you became a shark and joined the chasers. You could stay on a base as long as you liked, but the sharks would try and tempt you into the water by backing off...

From Southville Primary school in Bristol, late 1980's

~#~

There was also "sardines" where someone hid and everyone else had to find it and the last one to find it had to hide first next time.

From Southville Primary school in Bristol, late 1980's

~#~

Whats the time, Mr Wolf

with the wobbly tooth?

Tooth was pronounced more like "tuff" to rhyme with wolf but without the L.  This was said holding the 'wolf's' fingers.  The 'Wolf' was the person who was 'it' or 'on it'.  If s/he said "dinner-time" we all fled, if it was any other time it was OK. The wolf had to catch someone and they would be the next wolf.

From Southville Primary school in Bristol, late 1980's

~#~

One informer has a different version - the wolf faced away and everyone else walked toward them the number of hours the wolf said. she said there was some cudos attached to taking big steps, but also to not being caught. At the shout of "DINNER TIME!" there was lots of screaming as they ran away from the wolf... Whoever was caught was 'it'.

From South Twerton Junior in Bath, late 1980's

~#~

In and out the Dusty Windows was remembered by two of my schoolmates from Bristol - I cant remember this game or how it was played. One friend is now a primary teacher and teaches it to her class.

~#~

British Bulldog - one informer from Twerton, Bath remembers it thus in the 1980's - - Everyone would line up on one side of teh playground. One person would be in the middle. They would then shout "Bulldogs - Charge!" and everyone would peg it across the playground. The person in the middle would then have to wrestle whoever they could get hold of to the (concrete) ground and then pin them there until everyone else was safely on the other side.  The person thus court (often bleeding) would be the next person in the middle. Due to the shape of the playground everyone had to be involved, weather they liked it or not. There was some kind of honour code where the littlest ones where aloud to be by the sides where it was safist.  My informant remembers being terified when she reached the top class and realised she would be one of teh ones in the midle. It was banned throughout the time she went to the junior school, and took place through out that time, and often involved a teacher trying to stop it.

It also took place in our school in Bristol at about the same time, but ours had a slightly separate football pitch where it could happen, so I was not often involved, as I hung around by a big planter shaped in my mind like a horse and cart...  What I do remember of it was not a bloody as the Twerton version

Rhymes for fun - 

Bronco Layne had a pain,so they sent for Wagon Train.
Wagon Train was no good,so they sent for Robin Hood.
Robin Hood lost his bow,so they sent for Ivanhoe.
Ivanhoe was too large,so they sent for I'm In Charge.

Early 1960's, Exeter - It relates to TV programs  of the time.  'I'm In Charge' is Bruce Forsyth.

~#~

A pinch and a punch 

for the first of the month

Bristol, 1980's

~#~

Oranges and lemons,
Say the bells of St. Clement's.
[also herd as the bells of "St Clemons" or "St Clemens"]

You owe me five farthings,
Say the bells of St. Martin's.

When will you pay me?
Say the bells of Old Bailey.

When I grow rich,
Say the bells of Shoreditch.

When will that be?
Say the bells of Stepney.

I do not know,
Says the great bell of Bow.

Here comes a candle to light you to bed,
And here comes a chopper to chop off your head!

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
YOUR DEAD!

Bristol 1980's, 1990's - I think it went like this - two children make an arch with their hands - the other children file through.  When it gets to the last line the hands come down and the unlucky person is trapped, their head metaphorically cut off...

~#~

Willy was a watch dog, lying in the grass,

When along came a bumble bee and stung him in the...

Ask no questions, tell no lies,

Have you ever seen a policeman doing up his...

Flies are a nuisance, bugs are worst,

This is the end of my little verse.

One informer remembers teaching her school mates (South Twerton Junior in Bath, late 1980's) this rhyme, given to her by her Dad, who is from Bath Ford or Bath Eastern area. Who knows where the poem is from. It could even have been from her mum who is from London. Anyway, it ended up in a Bath school.

South Twerton Junior in Bath, late 1980's

~#~

Would you run a mile

Or jump a style

Or eat a country pancake?

If the answer was "Country Pancake" then they had just said they would rather eat a cow pat!

Yeovil - 1980's

~#~

 

Order in the court,

The judge is eating beans,

His wife is in the bathtub,

Playing with submarines!

Plymouth - 1990's?

~#~

"Smell the cheese"  - this is where the fist is placed on the open palm of the other hand and offer to be smelt - anyone foolish enough to fall for it gets there nose flicked (or punched - I might have received the watered down adult version - not sure!).

 Chagford primary school, 2010

Jinxes -  

In Bath it appears it is simply "Jinx", but you have to say it at the same time to avert the doom.

Bath, 1980's?

~#~

In my secondary school if you said something at the same time you said "jinx.". If this was said at the same time you said "whoops you owe me a forfeit". If this was said at the same time it was repeated until one person laughed.  If this point was not reached then it would be the first person to say their own name who would loose... 

Bristol, 1990's

~#~

"Snap, Snap, Snap,
No Snapping back"

Somerset 2012 - This meant the 'snapping' (matching two objects and thus claiming ownership) had been preformed three times and thus could not be repeated.

Words

 

 

Truce

Self explanatory truce word -  Bristol 1980's

~#~

Parley

Truce word  - Bristol 1980's

~#~

Mercy Peanuts

Truce word - Pill Juniors, nr Bristol 1980's

~#~

Mercy

Truce word - Twerton, Bath 1980's

~#~

Time out

Temporary Truce word - Bristol 1980's

~#~

Failance (Fingers crossed)

Truce- Parkstone area Poole, Dorset 1940's

~#~

Knock knock Ginger

Pill, nr Bristol, 1990's - The name of the game where you knock on a door and run away.

~#~

Knock out Ginger

Knocking on the door prank in Pill, Bristol in the 1980's/90's

~#~ 


Mooching

Truanting - Bristol 1930's

~#~

Bunking off

Truanting - Bristol 1990's

~#~

Skiving

Truanting - Bristol 1990's

~#~

Mitching off

Truanting - Torquay, Totness, 1980's

~#~

Taking the air

Possibly a local group of friends phrase rather than a wider one - for discussing skipping a lesson for a smoke ("I will be taking the air this afternoon, care to join me?" "Err, double maths, yep OK") - Bath 1990's

~#~

Scabbing

Begging or asking for food off your friends - Bristol 1990's

~#~

Wicked, Sick, Dark, Well good

All words for good things in 1990's in Bristol

~#~

Lush

Bristol 1980's

~#~

Gert Lush

In "Proper Brizzle" (Bristolian Bristol), also in Southdown / Twerton / Foxhill / Snowhill in Bath 1980's and 1990's

~#~

Well Good

Good stuff - Bath 1990's

~#~

Ace

A good thing - Kingsteington, Devon - 1980's?

~#~

Dark

Word for bad stuff, after it had been for good stuff 1990's Bristol

~#~

Gay

A bit rubbish - Bristol 1990's (some of these children's words are pretty un-pc!)

~#~

Mingin'

I think this was in use while I was at school, which would make it mid 1990's Bristol - but the internet recons it only came south from Scotland in the mid 2000's...

~#~

Umm... I'm Telling!, Telling on you

Telling a teacher about someones misbehavior, Bristol 1980's

~#~

He grassed you up

 Telling a teacher about someones misbehavior, Bristol 1990's 

~#~

Spazzer, Spaz, Spazzing out

Another un-pc one...  Usually said the followed by the tongue being pushed into bottom lip sometimes with arms flailing with wrists limp and eyes rolling - a taunt for a stupid or emotional person. The school was trying to kill this one off at the time - I hope they succeeded. Bristol 1980's

~#~

Scabbing, A Scab

 Asking for someone-elses food, someone who would ask for others food - Bristol 1990's

~#~

Scavving

See above, but Torquay 1980's]

 

Map - Bristol

Map - Bath

Map - Chagford

Map - Mark

Map - Plymouth 
Map - Pill
Map - Yeovil

Some good books about this subject.  

Also, if by some miracle you read or here about this Iona Opie, I would have loved to use some of the rhymes you collected, but without being able to contact you to ask permission I did not feel that I could. If it was OK to use rhymes from your book here I would be overjoyed, and would re-publish this article with a much better scope for context etc.)- 

The People in the Playground by Iona Opie



Remember - as yet this is just a draft - please add your rhymes and games etc. bellow... Thanks! 

Bristol Christmas Brand

Fire - if you wish to use my pictures, please attribute this blog

 "The following is from "Christmas, a Poem, by Romaine Joseph Thorn," 8vo. Bristol, 1795, 1. 129 :

"
Thy welcome Eve, lov'd Christmas, now arriv'd,
The parish bells their tunefull peals resound,
And mirth and gladness every breast pervade.
The pondrous Ashen-faggot, from the yard,
The jolly farmer to his crowded hall
Conveys, with speed ; where, on the rising flame
(Already fed with store of massy brands)
It blazes soon ; nine bandages it bears,
And, as they each disjoin (so Custom wills),
A mighty jug of sparkling cyder's brought,
With brandy mixt, to elevate the guests."

Again:

"High on the cheerful fire
Is blazing seen th' enormous Christmas brand.""

Brand 1813

Map - Bristol

[Thorn appears to be a Bristol based poet, so was presumably reffering to a Bristol custom, although at this time he may also be using it as a romantic story he heard from else where - not a very secure story]

Bath and King Bladud

Wild Boar - from Wikipedia under Creative Commons licence (unfortunately the link broke soon after finding it - I will try to find the credit later when the computer is better!)

"The city of Bath has a curious and somewhat comic tradition (which is noticed in its local guide-books), that the old British King Bladud, d. 844 b.c. (father of King Lear or Leal, d. 799 b.c), being reduced by leprosy to the condition of a swine-herd, discovered the medicinal virtues of the hot springs of Bath, while noticing that his pigs which bathed therein were cured of sundry diseases prevailing among them. Warner, one chief writer on the history of Bath, quotes this tradition at large from Wood, a local topographer of the preceding century, who gives it without authority. Warner states that, although the legend may appear absurd, it is noticed and credited by most British antiquaries of antiquity. — N. and Q., 2 S., ix. 45.

The following epigram on the " Bristol Hogs " is by a clergyman of the name of Groves, of Claverton:

When Bladud once espied some Hogs
Lie wallowing in the steaming bogs,
Where issue forth those sulphurous springs,
Since honor'd by more potent Kings,
Vex'd at the brutes alone possessing
What ought t' have been a common blessing,
He drove them thence in mighty wrath,
And built the mighty Town of Bath.
The hogs thus banished by their Prince,
Have liv'd in Bristol ever since."

Hope 1893

Map - Bath

Map - Bristol

The Well of Saint Anne-in-the-Wood

Ruins of Keynsham Abbey - Rick Crowley [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia CommonsRick Crowley [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

"This well is in St. Anne's Wood ; near it was a building, probably used as a guest-house, and also a chapel, which was formerly attached to Keynsham Abbey, a monk of this abbey generally residing on the spot. Pilgrimages were made to it, and on the well being cleared, in 1878, many coins and tokens, offerings of the pilgrims, were found. July 26 was the day on which the pilgrimages were usually made.

The water of this well was formerly considered good for affection of the eye. 

The chapel was dismantled, and the pilgrimages, against which Latimer once preached a sermon in Bristol, were suppressed in 1536."

Hope 1893

Map - Saint Annes
Map - Keynsham Abbey

Thurlstone and the Spanish Armada

'Thurlstone Church claims the destinction of having been the first to sight the Spanish Armada and kindle the long line of beacons that from church tower to tower quickly caried the news to Bristol.'

Hope Moncrieff 1895

Giants of Cornwall

'The giant stories, prefaced with the often-told tale of Gogmagog, are of a character peculiarly their own. They do not appear to resemble the giants described in Mr Campbell's "Popular Tales of the West Highlands;" but it must be admitted that there are some indications of a common origin between those of Cromarty and of Cornwall, In Mr Dasent 's translation of Asbjornsen, and Moe's collection of "Norse Tales," the giant is not like our native friends. May we venture to believe that the Cornish giant is a true Celt, or may he not belong to an earlier race? He was fond of home, and we have no record of his ever having passed beyond the wilds of Dartmoor. The giants of Lancashire, of Cheshire, and Shropshire have a family likeness, and are, no doubt, closely related; but if they are cousins to the Cornish giants, they are cousins far removed. Dr Latham, in his "Ethnology of the British Islands," says "Tradition, too, indicates the existence of an old march or debatable land; for south of Rugby begins the scene of the deeds of Guy, Earl of Warwick, the slayer of the dun cow." The large bone which is shown in Redcliff Church, Bristol, is the last indication of the dun cow in the south. As this marvellous cow moved within prescribed limits, so was it with the giants of old Cornwall.'

Hunt 1903