by L Wiles - 2008-08-01
This is a common rhyme children often use to select an “It” for many popular games. The spelling can vary as does the exact lyrics, but the basic idea is the same for all versions.
Everyone huddles around in a circle and puts a fisted hand in the center. With his or her free hand, the chanter lightly taps the top of each player's fisted hand (including his or her own "in" fist) while chanting the eeny-meeny-miny-moe rhyme. As each word of the rhyme is chanted, the chanter moves clockwise from one player's fist to another. The person whose hand is tapped on the last word of the rhyme is “It” or, in some cases, eliminated from being “It” depending upon the variation.
The rhyme has been around in various forms since at least the 1850's and is still common today in most countries. There are many different versions, but the one I remember from childhood is:
Eeny, meeny, miny, moe / Catch a tiger by the toe / If he hollers let him go / My mother told me to pick the very best one and you are not it.
In my version the person's fist that is tapped on the word “it” is eliminated from the next round and you keep going until there is only one person left in the circle and they, of course, are “It”.
A shorter variation is to leave out the second to last word “not” and the person's fist that is tapped on the word “it” is, of course, “It”.
You can also substitute the tapping of the fisted hand method with a simple pointing method (which can be a good idea if you have older, tougher brothers and cousins whose idea of a tap is not the same as your own.
I don't remember exactly how we decided who the chanter would be, but I'm guessing it had something to do with being the oldest or strongest ;-)