Edited by Azizi Powell
This pancocojams post includes some examples of comments from YouTube comment threads for children's hand clap rhyme videos.
The content of this post is presented for folkloric, cultural, and recreational purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post. Thanks to all those who are featured in these videos and thanks to the publishers of these videos on YouTube.
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PANCOCOJAMS EDITOR'S NOTE
On February 28, 2019 YouTube turned off the comment feature for most of its videos that feature children under the age of 13 years.*
Although I kept seeing the "Comments are turned off" note at the bottom of many YouTube children's videos, it wasn't until November 6, 2019 that I did a google search about that message and then learned about that YouTube policy. Since then I've been revisiting the files that I've saved about children's recreational rhymes (particularly hand clap rhymes) to review comments that I had saved from those now deleted comment threads. I wish I had saved more examples from those YouTube comment threads, but for the folkloric record, I intend to share on pancocojams posts such as this one some of the comments that I did save.*
Many of the comments in this post document how children* write "I do it like this" or some similar statement before they share their version of the rhymes. I'm particularly interested in examples of comments in which this "I do it like this" statement is given without indicating that other versions are wrong. However, this post also includes some examples where the commenter says that other versions of this rhyme which are done differently (or have different words) are wrong. Those comments are followed by responses that "correct" those statements.
*I'm inferring that the commenters are children if they self-describe as such or if they write in present tense, for example "I do it like this"; "This is the way my friends and I say it".
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*Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2019/11/my-comments-about-youtubes-policy.html for a pancocojams post on this subject that is entitled "Information & My Comments About YouTube's Policy Enacted February 2019 Which Disallows Comments For Most YouTube Children's Videos".
Here's part of a note that I wrote in the above mentioned post that specifically refers to the topic of this post:
"In addition to documenting how certain children's hand clap rhymes were changing in relatively short periods of time, those YouTube discussion threads also documented how children and other commenters thought about those changes, and about the idea that there could be multiple versions of the "same" rhyme and rhymes with different words or rhymes that were played differently than the way they learned it weren't "wrong". Such openness to differences could be transferred to many other aspects of people's lives."...
Some of the comments that are found in this pancocojams posts are from YouTube video comment threads that I retrieved before those comments were deleted.
Other comments are from YouTube comment threads that are still open (as of November 8, 2019) for one reason or another.
**Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2015/09/youtube-comments-about-wrong-way-of.html for the pancocojams post entitled "YouTube Comments About "The Wrong Way" Of Saying Or Doing A Particular Playground Rhyme, Part I"
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2015/09/youtube-comments-about-wrong-way-of_25.html for the pancocojams post entitled "YouTube Comments About "The Wrong Way" Of Saying Or Doing A Particular Playground Rhyme, Part II".
These pancocojams posts were published in September 25, 2015. The latest updates to those posts were on November 7, 2019 after I included examples from my files which I had retrieved before the above mentioned YouTube ban on comments to children's videos. A few of the examples are found in Part II of that series are also included in this pancocojams post.
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SHOWCASE VIDEOS & COMMENTS
Video #1: Miss Sue Playground Song
Irene Kistler, Apr 7, 2011
Allison L., 2017
-snip-
This comment thread is still open (as of November 8, 2019)
Here are three of those comments (with numbers added for referencing purposes only)
1. HospiceRN Michelle, 2016
"I do this version, it is like no like this one but it called Miss Sue
Miss Sue Miss Sue Miss Sue from Alabama her real names Susianna
Chicka boom chicka boom chicka boom boom boom
Mamas in the kitchen making fried chicken
daddy's in bed, with his teddy ted.
brothers at school, trying be cool.
Momma says stop! Tick tock tick tock
(we put both of our hands on our knees and cross them and make them go parallel, crossed is girls straight is boy, if your hands are crossed and the other persons hands our straight, the person with the straight hands has to pick up the girl, and if they are the same you hug)"
-snip-
The screen name for this commenter is likely the name for her (or his) mother's or father's YouTube account.
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2. Allison L., 2016
"I do:
Miss Sue (Clap clap clap)
Miss Sue (Clap clap clap)
Miss Sue from Alabama, her name is Suzianna
Sitting in a rocking chair, eating butter crackers
Watching the clock go
tick tock, tick tock
walawala
tick tock, tick tock
walawala
ABCDEFG
Wipe those boy germs off of me
I bet 'cha, I bet 'cha
I bet 'cha can't freeze, first one to move is the black eyed pea,
second one to move is the beauty queen,
between, between, between you and me,
starting... NOW."
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3. Victoria Golden, 2018
"Me and my friends do it this way
"Miss sue, miss sue
Miss sue from Alabama, Alaska, Nebraska
Sittin' in a rocker eating Betty Crocker watching that clock go tic toc, tic toc chiwawa, tic toc, tic toc chiwawa
A b c d e f g, wash those cooties off of me
I betcha, I betcha, I betcha can't freeze as long as me!"
And then who ever freezes the longest wins"
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Video #2: How to play Apple on a stick clapping game
Kidspot, May 23, 2013
-snip-
This video's summary includes the words to this version of that rhyme as well as performance directions. [That summary is still available, but all comments have been deleted.]
-snip-
Examples Of comments from this video's discussion thread:
1. Florence S, 2017
Never knew there were so much different ways to sing it till i scrolled through the comments, lol. Mines
"Apple on a stick, makes me sick. Makes my heart beat 2,40,6. Not because you're dirty not because you're clean. Not because you kissed a boy behind a magazine. Boys, girls, having fun. Here comes a lady with a pickle up her bum. She can do the cartwheel she can do the splits, but i bet ya, i bet ya, she can't do this. Close your eyes and count to 10 if you muck it all up your not my friend.
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2. Latifa Yakubu, 2018
"I do it like this: apple on a stick makes me sick makes my heart beat 2/4/6 not because you're dirty not because you're clean just because you kissed the boy behind the magazine. Boys boys having all the fun here comes Mike with his tie undone he can do the wibble wobble he can do the splits but I bet you 10 dollars he Canne dae this close your eyes and count to ten if you mess up you have to start again
1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10
You didne mess up so you're ma best friend
BTW I live in Scotland so we use slang in ours"
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3. Esther LeClaire, 2018
"I sing it this way:
Apple on a stick,
it makes me sick,
it makes my heart go 2 4 6!
Not because I'm dirty, not because I'm clean,
not because I kissed a frog behind a magazine!
So come on girls, lets have some fun,
here comes a lady with a big fat bum!
She can do the wiggle waggle, she can do the splits,
But I bet you ten bucks she can't do this!
Close your eyes and count to ten,
If you mess up, start over again!
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 8 9 10!
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4. Paul Somerville, 2018
"I say it like this
Apple on a stick it makes me sick. Makes my heart beat 2.46. Not because your dirty not because ur clean. Not because you kissed a boy behind a magazine. Boys girls having fun now here comes the lady with the big fat bum. She can wibble it and wobble it and do the splits but I bet ya I bet ya she can’t do this. Close your eyes and count to ten if u muck it up ur not my friend. 12345678910. You didn’t muck it up so ur still my friend and that’s the end of chapter ten amen"
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Video #3: Down Down Baby (Hand game)
dlgordon2083, Oct 13, 2013
Munirah & Kayla play "Down Down Baby" with a little following from Anisa.
-snip-
All comments for this video have been deleted and the comment option has been turned off. Here are some of the comments that I retrieved prior to February 2019 (with numbers added for referencing purposes only)
1. Brittney Colwell, 2016
"You do not do it the right way and do not sing it the right way"
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REPLY
2. Jaylen Wilbourn, 2016
"Brittney Colwell there are many different variations of how to sing and do these hand games because they are apart of a culture and not everyone learned them the same"
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3. Jocelyn Gonz, 2017
"That is not how you play down down baby"
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REPLY
4. jan flig, 2017
"You mean, it's not your version!"
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5. CLarcholey, 2017
"This is exactly how we did it in Northern Illinois in the 90s"
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6. Allie C, 2017
"there is more than one way to do a hand game song. enjoy :)"
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Video #4: Miss sue, double double! Hand clapping games.
Kayla bug, Mar 28, 2015
-snip-
All comments for this video have been deleted and the comment option has been turned off. Here are some of the comments that I retrieved prior to February 2019 (with numbers added for referencing purposes only)
1. Adam Flanders, 2017
"I do miss sue miss sue miss sue from Alabama Siting on a rocker eating Betty Crocker Watching the clock go tick-tock. Tick tock fanna mana tick tock tick tock fanna mana wipe those black spots off of me moon shine moon shine moon shine freeze"
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2. Gamer virus, 2017
"i do miss sue miss sue miss sue from alabama alaska nebraska sitting in a rocking chair chewing on her underwear watching the clock go tic tok banana rock tic ock banana rock a b c d e f g wash these cooties off of me wish wash wish wash frezze inky binky bongky daddy had a donkey donkey died daddy cries inky binky bonkey"
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3. Holly Bailey, 2018
"I do it differently I do it like this
Miss Sue, miss Sue
Miss Sue from Alabama, Alaska, Aribaska she was
Sitting on her rocking chair,
Chewing on her sock
Watching the clock go
Tick tock tick tock balabala x2
ABCDEFG
Wash those groodies of me
Wishka wishka wishka freeze.
Inky dinky donkey Daddy had a donkey donkey died
Daddy cried inky dinky donkey"
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REPLY
3. Jahana Vlogs, 2018
"Your doing it wrong it’s double double ice ice double double cream cream double ice double cream double double ice cream"
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REPLY
4. Janelle's channel and squishies, 2018
"Unicorn Fire345 there is different kinds that is the original version."
-snip-
There's actually no documentation that the version in the video is "the original version". However, I've included comment #3 and #4 in this post to further serve as examples of some exchanges that occurred in these now deleted comment threads in which one commenter shared with another person (and therefore all those reading that discussion) that there are different versions of particular rhymes and an example wasn't "wrong" just because it was different from the one that you learned.
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Thanks for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
I intend to publish additional comments that I retrieved from YouTube's children's videos' discussion threads prior to those comments being deleted.
ReplyDeleteClick the YouTube comments threads disallowed for children's videos for these posts.
Here's a copy of a comment that I wrote on December 27, 2013 for the comment section of this pancocojams post: "I Am A Pretty Little First Grader (a variant form of "I'm A Pretty Little Dutch Girl") " https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/12/i-am-pretty-little-first-grader-variant.html
ReplyDeleteAzizi Powell, 12/23/2013:
"It occurs to me that the changes in the words to "I'm A Pretty Little Dutch Girl" and the topical changes that have been made in the text of a number of other contemporary American playground rhymes suggest that children consider it normal to change things in their environment to better fit them. Instead of considering the words of rhymes or songs as being incapable of change, American children (and probably other children throughout the world) take a flexible approach to those words, and act on the belief that those words can be changed -at least as far as their group is concerned - to better fit that group.
I hasten to say that I think that most children probably don't recognize that they are making changes in the words of rhymes- unless those rhymes call for different words with each iteration like the soloist's portion of some foot stomping cheers. But when children, pre-teens, or teenagers are shown [on YouTube viewer comment threads or elsewhere] that other people have different versions of the rhyme that they recite/d, it's become increasingly common for them to say something like "This is the way I learned it" instead of "Your example is wrong. Here's the right way to say that rhyme."
The notion that there are multiple versions of rhymes and no one version is the right version is actually a revolutionary concept which is reflective of the normalization of multiple choices that people experience and can make up for themselves in everyday life - from their internet screen name and screen saver to the ring tune that they chose or make up for their telephone.
This flexible, expanding the boundaries of what is standard approach to life is also evident in more "heavy duty" ways in the increased acceptance of people of different races, ethnicities, religions, and sexual orientations, and the recognition that there are different definitions of "family" and all of those ways of making a family are acceptable.
This flexibility also is reflected in the recognition that there are multiple standards of beauty ... and the recognition that a Black man or Latino or Native American man or man of another race/ethnicity besides White can also be Santa Claus.
It occurs to me that this flexible way of experiencing the world may be one result of multiculturalism instead of the so-called melting pot theory where there was only one right way of looking and worshiping, and experiencing life.
Congratulations to children for rejecting that world view, perhaps without even knowing that they are doing so."