Dark Stuff

Today's post is another example of the darkness behind seemingly innocent childhood counting out rhymes, this time Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Moe is on the chopping block. This rhyme is commonly used to determine the undesirable position in children's games such as "it" in hind and seek. Though the exact origin of the rhyme is unknown it is agreed that it was used as a way to decide on human sacrifices. There are variations of the rhyme in many languages and mostly the differences don't change the meaning though what gets caught by the toe varies from tiger, tinker and piggy not to mention other endings that don't have anything being caught but are still the same rhyme such as the Cornish version where the last two lines are: 

Eggs, butter, cheese, bread,
Stick, stack, stone dead.” 

  I also tacked on a few renditions from other language for your enjoyment. 

French	“Une, mine, mane, mo, Une, fine, fane, fo, Maticaire et matico, Mets la main derrière ton dos.”
German	“Ene mene miste, Es rappelt in der Kiste Ene Mene Meck Und Du bist weg.”
Danish	“Ene, mene, ming, mang, Kling klang, Osse bosse bakke disse, Eje, veje, vaek.”
Dutch	“Iene miene mutte Tien pond grutte Tien pond kaas Iene miene mutte