Classic counting rhyme used by children to pick who is "IT" in a game of tag or to make other decisions. The person singing the song would point at one person for each word in the song, rotating around the circle until the last word is reached. The person being pointed at then would be the one selected. The spelling of the nonsense words is variable. Also, sometimes the word "tiger" is replaced by the word "nigger", but this in generally frowned upon now for obvious reasons.

The most basic, core version goes like this:

eenie meenie miny mo
catch a tiger by the toe
if he hollers, let him go
eenie meeny miny mo

A second variation:

eenie meenie miny mo
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

A third variation:

eenie meenie miny mo
catch a tiger by the toe
if he hollers, make him pay
fifty dollars every day
my mother told me to pick
the very best one and
you are not it

This strange rhyme still used by children in English-speaking countries all over the world today used as a counting-out rhyme for games like tag actually have a very ancient magical and numerological origin. The very phrase "eenie meenie miney mo" harks back to a counting system older than the Romans, and possibly even older than the Celts. It is believed that the phrase was used by the Druids in pre-Roman Britain for precisely the same purpose: singling out an individual, but for a much more sinister and lethal end. Using exactly the same method, the Druids decided which of a group of candidates' number is up, and should be given as a human sacrifice to the gods.

Source: http://www.johnny.moped.btinternet.co.uk/origins/w/origins_whenyournumberisup.html

Log in or register to write something here or to contact authors.