As Morse Caught The Mare

A mare on Dartmoor - image by lostajy (Flickr) [CC-BY-2.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

"As Morse caught the Mare. —I shall be glad to be informed the meaning of this expression — it is to be met with in the translation of Rabelais. There is also a song sung among the farmers of South Devon, of which the !ast line of each verse is " As Morse caught the Mare." 11. S. B."

NOTES AND QUERIES. [No. 20. Mar 16 1850]

Some Exmoor dialect words that reveal folklore from 1746

Wassailing the apple tree in our garden on old Twelfth- night - if you wish to use this photo please attribute this blog.

"Axwaddle = A dealer in ashes, and, sometimes, one that rolls in them.

Baggaged or Bygaged = Mad, bewitch'd

Chaungeling = An ideot, one whom the fairies have chang'd

Dowl = The Devil

Gallibagger = a bug-bear [Not sure if this is the mythical sort or simply an anxiety or iritation. In Dorset and the Isle-of-White a Gallybagger is a scarecrow.]

Huckmuck = A little tiny fellow [Thick, stubbed]


Leech-way = Path on which the dead are carried to be buried
 
Pixy = A fairy

Wassail = A drinking song on twelth-day-eve, throwing toast to the apple-trees in order to have a fruitful year; which seems to be a relick of a heathen sacrifice to Pomona //  // Wassail, or Was-Heil - to wish health, see Observat on Macbeth pg.41.

Whitwich = A pretend conjurer who discovers, and sells charms for witchcraft."

The Gentleman's Magazine 1746  Vol. 16 Aug Page 405

Jan Pook, a Moretonhampstead Folksong (part one)

Leat on the road between Two Bridges and Princetown - by Tom Jolliffe [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

"The following, which appeared in a recent number of the Western Morning News, is from the pen of the late Dr. Puddicombe, of Moreton. The subject, Jan Pook, was post boy at the Saracen's Head, Two Bridges, Dartmoor. The poem gives a clear idea of the habits of the convivial souls who inhabit and divert themselves in that neighbourhood.

 

JAN POOK.
 

JAN Pook wuz a post-boy,
The vokes where he stapped
Zed a hardier 'osebird,
There nivver wuz drapped.
He ciide laugh, he cude zing,
He cude smoke, he cude tell,
And whativver he diied,
He alwes diied well.
He wuz loved by his guv'ner,
Samuel Cann,
Of " The White Hart," in Moreton,
A merciful man,
Who trated his 'osses,
And customers, too,
And trated Jan Pook,
When he'd nort else to do.
Jan Pook druv a party
To Princetown one day,
Returning wherefrom,
On his empty post shay,
To the " Saracen's Head,"
He pulled up for a wet,
Refreshment 'es zel
And his osses to get.
Jan drinked wey some miners
Until, as he zed,
The liquor he drinked
Had got into his head.
When he started again,
To his home to return,
What arterwards happened,
You'll presently learn..." [cont...]

Hewett 1900

Barnstaple Fair - a song (part 1)

Fairground ride - By Iantresman (Own work) [CC-BY-3.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

[Barnstaple fair is still in existence.  This is what Wikipeedia has to say about current proceedings -

The ceremonial opening of the fair survives from ancient times. The town council meets in the Guildhall, where various toasts are honoured with a spiced ale which, according to tradition, is made from a jealously guarded recipe handed on from generation to generation. Whilst the toasts are being honoured, "fairings", (a form of sweetmeat) are handed around.

On the reading of the Proclamation a large stuffed gloved hand garlanded with flowers is hung from a window of the Guildhall. The gloved hand represents the hand of friendship and the hand of welcome to the thousands that come to the fair. At 12 o'clock, a civic procession forms at the entrance to the Guildhall and the proclamation is read.

The fair begins on the Wednesday before 20 September each year.

Today the fair consists of rides and amusements located in the car park of the leisure centre.

from - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barnstaple under this license - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Text_of_Creative_Commons_Attribution-ShareAlike_3.0_Unported_License

Barum is and alternative name for Barnstaple.]

"There are several versions of this song extant. A very charming one was a favourite with the late Dr. Stoneman, of Ilfracombe. Many persons remember how he would "bring the house down" with applause when he sang it in the Concert Room, but although I have advertised and tried to obtain a copy from private sources, I have unfortunately failed to get one. I am indebted to the kindness of Mr. Lawrence, editor of the North Devon Herald, Barnstaple, for the following very amusing example :..."  [cont...]

Hewett 1900

The West Country Man - a slightly anti-monarchy folksong reffrencing Barnstaple Fair

Ash tree leaves - By Pearson Scott Foresman [Public domain],

'There was an old man in the West Country ;
A blatch in his lease the attorney found,
Twas all for the felling of five ashen trees,
And building a house upon his own ground.

The old man, he would to London go,

To shew the King great part of his woe,
To shew the King great part of his grief,
And likewise to ax'n for some relief.

Now when the old man to London came,

The King he was to Windsor gone,
" Why if he had known that I was acoming,
He widden have gone so far from home."

When the old man unto Windsor came,

The gates were locked, and all secure,
" Why let's knock away with my oaken club,
There's room for me to get vore, to be sure."

"Yer sarvint, Maister Nobles!" shew me the king,
"Whot's this the King you sheweth to me ?
I zeed a chap to Barnstaple fair
Looked more like a king than thicky chap there."

"Yer sarvint, Mr. King !" the old man said,

"A blatch in my lease the 'torney' hath found,
And it's all for felling of five ashen trees,
And building a 'ouze pin tap his own ground."

The King he took the lease all up,

And signed it with his hand so free.
" Why, if us ciide a-had it a-diied at home,
Us needn't a-comed to thee."

The old man took the lease all up,

And for to go home was also willing,
But to make the King some sort of amends,
He took out his purse and gave him a shilling,

The King he thanked the noble soul,

And paid him down ten pounds in gold,
And every year for the sake of the sport,
Ten pounds were paid from Windsor Court.

The old man took the lease all up,

And for to go home he now was quite willing,
" But if I'd a-knowed thee'd agot so much money,
The devil-a-bit wid I a-gied thee a shilling."'

For this and the following song I am indebted to the kindness of Mr. W. H. Whiteaway, of Sunnyside, Exmouth, who is good enough to allow me to insert them here. He says, " these songs I give to you, from memory, as I can remember hearing them sung over sixty years ago."

Hewett 1900

Map - Barnstaple Fair

Map - Exmouth

[A tune exists here, Roud No. 18844 and 18877, in Sabine Baring-Gould's manuscripts, that looks like it might fit.]

Some Old Songs of Devonshire

Me playing fiddle - if you wish to use my photos please attribute this blog, thanks!

[I am a little uncertian what to do here - Please say if you think I have got it wrong.

Sarah Hewett includes a few Devonian folksongs in the end of her book.  I am uncertian whether to include them here. As this blog is mostly about the folklore of places, and most of the songs do not mention the place they are about I feel I should leave them out. Also including folk-songs takes us into huge territory, as a glance around the collections of EFDSS website will show. Most are not that unique to the place they where connected.

However, just because folklore appears in song form dosent meen it is not folklore!

It is a hard call to make for someone who has spent his life enraptured in the musical arms of folkmusic.

I think on this occasion, unless the song contains a reffrence to a specific West Country place I will simply list the song titles, and leave it at that. 

I am so slow at creating these posts I feel it would take to much time to include folksongs. Perhaps when I am in my 90's, and most of the folklore that is not in copyright is up here I will start on songs as well.

So here are the songs I am not detailing from Hewett 1900 - 

A SONG WRITEN ON THE OCCASION OF THE OPENING OF THE GREAT WESTERN RAILWAY 1844

YOUNG ROGER OF THE VALLEY.

THE OLD MAN'S SONG.

DADDY FOX.

WHERE ARE YOU GOING, FAIR MAID ?

THE OLD MAN WHO LIVED IN A WOOD.

RAISING THE ANCHOR.

THE DEAR LITTLE LETTER.

CHILDREN'S SONG FOR ALL SOULS' DAY.

THE KNIGHT KILLED THE SQUIRE.

THE DEVIL AND THE TAILOR.

THE STAR IN THE CANDLE.

A ROBIN TAPPING AT THE WINDOW PANE.

The following songs do reference a place, so I will include them -

PURTY JANE.

THE TRUE LOVERS.

JAN POOK.

BARBARA ALLEN.

THE WEST COUNTRY MAN.

BARNSTAPLE FAIR.]

Harry Trewin and his leather trowsers - Chagford

Sheep Skin - this one is cured! - By Dina Wakulchik from Indianapolis, Indiana, USA (Sheep skin for sale too :)) [CC-BY-2.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

"At the beginning of the present century the small boys of Chagford made the streets resound with shouts of this quaint old rhyme :

Old Harry Trewin
Had no burtches to wear,
So he stawl a ram's skin
Vur to make en a pair :
Wi' the woolly zide out,
And the fleshy zide in,
They sticked purty tight
To old Harry Trewin."

Hewett 1900

Map - Chagford
Map - Moretonhampstead

[I have studied this fragment a little, and found it is part of a much larger family of folk tunes (Roud Folksong index no. 294).  I found local variations, including one from Chagfords 'rival'  Moretonhampstead.  I would publish the long peice I wrote on it, but I am saving it up for a book I am going to publish on the Folklore of Chagford...]

A terrifying Devon Lulaby

An appropriately fierce Black Ram... Steve F [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

"WHEN a child gets tired or a little out of temper, and he nurse wishes to amuse it, she dandles it on her knee, and sings -

"Vather and mawther
And uncle Jan,
Went to Market
Pin tap a black ram,
Off val'd vather,
Off val'd mawther,
And away raw'd
Uncle Jan ! !

All up ! all up ! all up !
Eat the fat ram
And hang Uncle Jan !
All up ! all up ! all up !
Huraw for Uncle Jan !""

Hewett 1900

A May Day celebration in Devon

[I had great plans for this May Day (or Beltaine, to use the Irish/Scotish/Manx term), but found that having a baby around does not make for complicated festivities...

I did manage to get some May blossom (hawthorn flowers) to decorate my daughters pram as we walked around town, in remembrance of my Granny (from Northamptonshire, not the Westcountry) who used as a girl to carry hawthorn blossoms from house to house on May Day, singing a rhyme my dad can never quite remember... It was a begging rhyme.

The Fire is lit...

Later in the day we went to a basket making friends May Day fire - a huge great conflagration of a years supply of pruning and a barn roof.

It felt like a fitting way to welcome in the flowers and grouth of May.

Old May day songs where sung, drums sounded out and a sunwise circling of the flames was walked with excitement and loud exclamations at the huge serpentine flames.

The flames of May

A little later some knife and axe throwing (at tree section targets) was practiced.

Later, as the flames dropped down to the embers first the bravest of the men, then the bravest of the women and finally the bravest of the children tried to jump the glowing fire, sometimes kicking up sparks in their wake as they landed a little short of the far side.

Hedgerow berry fueled home brew and commercial wines and beers where cracked open and crisps born by insistent children where eaten. I brought out my fiddle and played the Baring-Gould Chagford tune for perhaps its first public Chagford performance in over 100 years...  Soon artist Rima Staines joined in  on the Accordion (or rather carried on - I stopped - too much alcohol on not enough sleep) and then her partner, the story teller Tom Hiron accompanied her on clarinet.

Beautiful patterns my camera was not fast enough to capture

We had to leave then, the little one needing her bed, but the festivities carried on into the night, I imagine in a riot of multi-generational humans and a few teenage dogs. 

Next year, maybe then I can have puppets, masks and a May-pole....]

Reading the weather in Devon from the movements of animals - Kingfisher

Kingfisher, by Ruskin

"The kingfisher builds its nest in holes in the banks of a river. Should it become dislodged and float down the river and out on the surface of the sea without capsizing, then there will be a long spell of fine weather.

In some parts of the country this bird is used as a vane, not exposed to the action of the wind, but stuffed and suspended in a room by a thin string, its bill always indicating the point from which the wind blows.

Into what corner peers the halcyon bill ?
Ha ! to the east yes see how stands the wind

The antients supposed that it built its nest on the ocean, and hatched its young at the winter solstice.

To account for the preservation of the nest and young birds amidst the severity of the season, they imagined that the bird had a power of lulling the raging of the waves during the period of incubation ; and this power was believed to reside in its song," so says the author of Chambers's Information for the People, vol. ii, page 447."

Hewett 1900

Chagford tune - All The Trees They Are So High

Me learning the fiddle...  If you want to use my photos please attribute this blog.

[This tune (a version of a well known folk tune) I encountered in a brilliant database of manuscripts held by the English Folk Dance and Song Society website , digitized by the Devon Traditions Project. Put Chagford in the EFDSS search bar to get the original of this tune.  I was researching for a forthcoming book on Chagford Folklore (more on that later in the year!).

It was collected in 1890 by Sabine Baring-Gould from William Aggett in Chagford. William was described thus by Sabine - 

“…William Aggett, aged 70, crippled and infirm, Chagford.  Certainly illiterate, an old broken down laborer…”   

The words of this song (just one of around 30 he collected from Chagford) are as follows - 

As I looked over my father’s castle wall

I saw four and twenty boys playing at the ball

But my pretty lad he did exceed them all

And my pretty lad is young and he is growing

O father, father dear, if that you think it fit

We’ll send him to the collage for a year yet

And spinning I at home will sit-sit-sit.

Whilst my pretty lad is young and is growing

I’ll buy my love five shirts of the Holland so fine

And all the time I’m sowing, the tears run down the twine

And I will sit and sing of that sweet love of mine,

Whilest my pretty lad is young and is growing

I’ll cast my yellow train away by the root

And I will clothe myself all in a boys suit

And to the collage ?wish?, I will go a foot

When my pretty lad so young still is growing

At the age of fourteen he was a married man

At the age of fifteen he had a little son

At the age of sixteen his thread of life was done

So my pretty lad so young had ceased growing

This actually did make me shed a tear when I read it to my wife. It was the amazing line "And all the time I'm sowing, the tears run down the twine" that did it! Folk music is amazing for getting to the core in just a few simple strides. The last verse didn't help...

And for those with a musical ear who might want to sing it, here is my faltering attempt at one of two complimentary tunes given by William Aggett. This is the tune noted as being sung to the words above. I have done a slight alteration to it by repeating the third bit to make it fit the 4 part structure of the song -

 

 Map - Chagford

p.s. Thanks to my neighbor Terri Windling for an excellent mini review on her blog. Cheers!]

Crying the Neck in the West Country

Crying the Neck in Cornwall 2008 - By Talskiddy (Own work) [CC-BY-3.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

"A VERY old custom, that of crying the neck at the end of corn harvest, still obtains in some parishes in the west of England.

When the last sheaf of wheat is cut at the end of August, the reapers take the very last handful of straw and plait the ends together, tying them with lengths of bright-coloured ribbons ; then, lifting it high above their heads, wave their sickles frantically, and shout :

We-ha-neck ! we-ha-neck !
Well aplowed ! well asowed !
We've areaped ! and we've amowed !
Hurrah ! hurrah ! hurrah !
Well-a-cut well abound !
Well-a-zot upon the ground !
We-ha-neck ! we-ha-neck '
Hurrah ! hurrah ! hurrah !...

[I have put the discussion of Newton Abbot and Paignton ceremonies, discussed here by Hewett, in their own separate posts]

...The word a-neck is said to be derived from the Celtic language, and means " saved." Others claim for it an Irish origin, as the word "anaie" in that country means " save thou me." While another suggestion is that the custom may have been derived from the Jewish ceremonial of the wave offering mentioned in Leviticus xxiii, 10, and following verses, and introduced by the early Hebrew settlers in Britain. A long correspondence was carrried on in August, 1898, in the Western Morning News, on this ceremony, from which I glean that the practice is identical in every part of the county, but there are differences in the mode of its performance."

Hewett 1900

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

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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

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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

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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

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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.

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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.

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A pinch and a punch 

for the first of the month

Bristol, 1980's

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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...

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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

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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

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Order in the court,

The judge is eating beans,

His wife is in the bathtub,

Playing with submarines!

Plymouth - 1990's?

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"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?

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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

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"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

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Parley

Truce word  - Bristol 1980's

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Mercy Peanuts

Truce word - Pill Juniors, nr Bristol 1980's

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Mercy

Truce word - Twerton, Bath 1980's

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Time out

Temporary Truce word - Bristol 1980's

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Failance (Fingers crossed)

Truce- Parkstone area Poole, Dorset 1940's

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Knock knock Ginger

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

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Knock out Ginger

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

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Mooching

Truanting - Bristol 1930's

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Bunking off

Truanting - Bristol 1990's

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Skiving

Truanting - Bristol 1990's

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Mitching off

Truanting - Torquay, Totness, 1980's

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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

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Scabbing

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

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Wicked, Sick, Dark, Well good

All words for good things in 1990's in Bristol

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Lush

Bristol 1980's

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Gert Lush

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

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Well Good

Good stuff - Bath 1990's

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Ace

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

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Dark

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

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Gay

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

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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...

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

Telling a teacher about someones misbehavior, Bristol 1980's

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He grassed you up

 Telling a teacher about someones misbehavior, Bristol 1990's 

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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

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Scabbing, A Scab

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

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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!