2014 Article Excerpt About "Eeny Meeny Miney Mo", "Eeny Meeny Mackeracka", And Similar "Gibberish" Girls' Playground Counting Out Rhymes

Edited by Azizi Powell

Latest revision - September 30, 2025

This pancocojams post presents an excerpt from Kevan Bundell's 2014 online article entitled "Children’s Games – Eeny Meeny Miney Moe, Eeny Meeny Macka Racka Playground Rhymes".

This excerpt-but not the entire published article-focuses on The Shepherd’s Score theory about "Eenie Meenie Miney Mo", "Eeny Meeny Mackeracka", and some other playground counting out rhymes that largely appear to be gibberish. 

The content of this post is presented for folkloric, historical, socio-cultural, and linguistic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to Kevan Bundell for his research and writing. Thanks also to all those folklorists and researchers who are mentioned in this article.
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This pancocojams  post is part of an ongoing pancocojams series on the "eenie meenie miney mo" counting out/choosing it rhymes and on eenie meenie epsileenie" jump rope/hand clap rhymes (or similar titles).

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2025/09/links-for-pancocojams-posts-about-eeny.html for a post that includes links for all of the pancocojams posts that have been published as of this date bout "Eeny Meeny Miney Mo" rhymes and related rhymes such as "Eenie Meenie Macka Reenie".

The focus of those posts is to archive these examples and/or to document contributors' attitudes regarding the changes in these rhymes from racist wording/references to non-racist wording/references.

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ARTICLE EXCERPT
From https://bundellbros.co.uk/kevansmiscellany/2014/10/22/eeny-meeny-miney-moe-eeny-meeny-macka-racka/ "Children’s Games – Eeny meeny miney moe, eeny meeny macka racka Playground rhymes" written by 22 October 2014 by Kevan Bundell

"For anyone brought up in an English-speaking playground, the books of Iona and Peter Opie are not to be missed. Their subject is the world of children’s play – songs, games and rhymes found in street and playground, passed from child to child, a lost world, half remembered, mostly forgotten, and hardly noticed by much too busy and serious adults. The success of their first book – “The Lore and Language of Schoolchildren” (1959) – or perhaps just the pleasure of watching children play – set the Opies off on a lifetime’s career of observing, collecting and writing about children’s play.

[...] 

In “Children’s Games in Street and Playground” (1969) the Opies conclude that while the Eeny meeny macka racka ‘gibberish’ rhyme itself is of no great antiquity (they found no records of it before the 1920s), its origins and those of similar rhymes – especially those beginning Inty minti, Eenty teenty or Zeenty teenty instead – are old – possibly very old. The connection has been made between at least some of these rhymes and the “Shepherd’s Score”, a traditional way of counting sheep, fish, stitches, and so on, in a number of counties in the north of England. The Opies found children in Keswick (in Cumbria) still using this method in their counting out. The Shepherd’s Score in turn has been traced, speculatively, to medieval welsh drovers; to still more ancient Celts driven to the hills by invading Anglo-Saxons; or, as the Opies prefer, to the ancient British tongue of Cumbria.

This seems an ambitious claim at first glance, until you get to numbers three and four in the Shepherd’s Score. Here is the beginning of a counting-out rhyme from Edinburgh (for some reason Scotland seems to be particularly rich in this form of the rhyme) : Inty, tinty, tethery, methery [4]. Here are the first four numbers of the traditional counting system used by the children from Keswick : Yan, Tan, Tethera, Methera – which is identical to the Shepherd’s Score reported, for example, from the Derbyshire Dales, and very similar to those from elsewhere [5]. The similarity of these otherwise peculiar and unfamiliar words is striking. And there are more. The earliest of this family of rhymes found by the Opies is this from 1820 :

Zinty, tinti
Tethera, methera
Bumfa, litera
Hover, dover
Dicket, dicket
. . . [6]

The Shepherd’s Score, meanwhile, includes bunfit/bumfit (15), lethera (7), hothera (8), dovera (9) and dick/dik (10)[7]. Also noteworthy is that both the Shepherd’s Score and the gibberish rhyme words for five are usually something starting with a plosive ‘p’, such as pimp or pump or push. As the Opies note, the Shepherd’s Score seems to be the ‘starting point, or inspiration, or source of occasional words’ of various versions of the children’s rhyme.  However, while a connection between the Shepherd’s Score and some versions of counting- out rhymes does not seem to have been entirely dismissed, the idea that the Score itself is of a great vintage is no longer respectable. Steve Roud summarises the scholarly situation thus :

‘Unfortunately . . . there is no evidence to support the assumption that the ‘shepherd’s score’ is of great age. The earliest mention of it in Britain is about 1745. In fact, in the opinion of many post-war experts, internal linguistic evidence, such as these numeral’s affinity with modern rather than old Welsh, demonstrates that they were introduced into the areas they were found a great deal later than the period of Anglo-Saxon settlement.’ [8]

In other words (I think), the Score probably arrived with modern Welsh speakers moving into England during the 18th Century.

Roud’s scepticism, meanwhile, is well trumped by Michael Barry[9]. In frustration at the unknowability of the origins of the Shepherd’s Score, he very nearly argues that it was only after folklorists started collecting and disseminating versions of the Score that they began to be known, but only ever second-hand and by repute. That is, no one is ever found who actually uses such a Score – for counting sheep, stitches, fish, or whatever ![10]

Roud’s summary of the scholarly situation is disappointing of course. However, while I am not qualified to comment on the linguistic evidence, I am not convinced that the lack of mention before 1745 is a clincher. A great deal of folk culture was not recorded before 1745. In fact most of what we know was not written down until the nineteenth century when collecting folklore and customs became fashionable.

Similarly, Roud also seems to suggest that counting-out rhymes are not so old either, on the grounds that the earliest recorded example is from 1759 (or possibly 1611 in France)[11]. On the one hand, the fact that childhood was, for most, a very different experience before formal education arrived – lots of work and no ‘rithmatic – could support Roud’s suggestion. But on the other, to suggest that children neither played together nor knew how to count even to five before the eighteenth century seems unlikely. It seems to me much more likely that we simply have no records.

[...]

These examples support the Opie’s report that they could not find examples of the ‘gibberish rhyme’ before the 1920s. However, it depends what you’re looking for. They specifically say that ‘Eenie, meenie, macca, racka’ was not known to Bolton, the author of one of the first collections of children’s counting-out rhymes, in 1888. But the following was known to Bolton :

Eenie, Meenie, Tipsy, toe;

Olla bolla Domino,

Okka, Pokka dominocha,

Hy! Pon! Tush![13]

It is clearly the `same’ rhyme, even though it lacks the macka racka. So the ‘gibberish’ is at least as old as the 1880s.[14]

Eeny meeny miny moe.

Historically speaking, the most well-known version of the eeny meeny family of rhymes is probably :

Eeny meeny miny moe

Catch a n—– by his toe

If he hollers let him go

Eeny meeny miney moe

As noted earlier, the offensive word has been replaced over time by tiger or tigger, or some-such. This seems to have happened during the 50s in the States and in the 70s in the UK, presumably reflecting the advance of awareness of racism in each country. Meanwhile, the rhyme is first reported from the late 19th Century, by Bolton again, who suggested that it probably originated in America. [15] The Opies agree, given the vocabulary.

[...]

Eeny meeny . . .

It is clear enough that eeny is simply a version of one – een in Dutch, ein in German, aan in old English, eena in a Shepherd’s Score from North Yorkshire[20], oan in Scottish Gaelic, un in Welsh. The addition of the y, that is, the ee sound, would then be just a bit of fun, playing with sounds, as in the more obvious onery, twoery way of counting (which was the most common way in Bolton’s day). Meeny would then be simply a fun rhyme to follow.  But we can go on : miney and mo alliterate with meeny; similarly, the  n occupies the same position and internally alliterates in eeny, meeny and miney ; the vowels go ee i o, which form a natural series produced from the front to the back of the mouth (as in fee, fi, fo fum, or ee eye o). David Rubin and colleagues point out these and other structural-linguistic features to explain how children manage to remember these rhymes.[21] My point is that they also help to explain why they are so popular and persistent. The fact is, they are fun !

It seems reasonable to conclude that the eeny meeny family of rhymes may have multiple sources. It certainly has multiple traditions and perhaps multiple occasions of semi-independent invention, when the need for a means of counting-out was (and is) required. Above all, it is the result of generations of children in countless playgrounds delighting in playing with the musicality of language – and with nonsense."...

Partial Bibliography
2. Roud, Steve The Lore of the Playground: One hundred years of children’s games, rhymes and traditions, Random House, London, 2010, p169 ↑

5.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yan_tan_tethera

6. ‘The Chatterings of the Pica’, Charles Taylor,1820, described as being old. 

12. https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=47148#701914 [Read this comment in the Addendum of this pancocojams post]

13. Bolton, Henry Carrington, The Counting-out Rhymes of Children: Their Antiquity, Origin, and Wide Distribution. New York: D. Appleton & Co. (1888). 
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"Catch a n____ by his toe" is the way this line is given in this rhyme. "n___" is a way of writin the derogatory referent for Black people that is commonly given in the United States as "the n word".
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Regarding the sentence starting with the words "These examples support the Opie’s report".: that sentence refers to several "Eeny Meany" rhymes that are quoted from the online Mudcat folk music forum. Kevan Bundell didn't include links to those examples or specific information about the date that each rhyme was added to any Mudcat discussion thread. However, read the Addendum for a Mudcat comment about these rhymes. That is the only Mudcat comment whose link is included in this article's bibliography.
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Kevan Bundell, the writer of this article, recommended "Children's Games In Street & Playground" by Iona Opie and Peter Opie, but didn't include it or any other book edited by the Opies in this article's bibliography: "Children's Games In Street & Playground" was first published in two volumes in 1969. 

Here's a partial review of that book from https://www.amazon.com/Childrens-Games-Street-Playground-Iona/dp/1782500324:
"It records games played in streets, parks, playgrounds and wastelands by more than 10,000 children across the UK from the Shetland Isles to the Channel Islands, although the majority of the information comes from children living in big cities such as London, Liverpool, Bristol and Glasgow."

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ADDENDUM- THE COMMENT GIVEN AS #5 IN THIS ARTICLE'S BIBLIOGRAPHY

Subject: RE: eena meena mackeracka

From: masato sakurai

Date: 01 May 02 - 08:43 AM

"There's a good collection: Roger D. Abrahams and Lois Rankin, eds., Counting-Out Rhymes: A Dictionary (University of Texas Press, 1980). I'll quote the entry (no. 120).

Eena meena macker racker

Rare, ro, domino,

Juliacker, alapacker,

Rom, Tom, tush.

Opie (1969) [Children's Games in Street and Playground], 40-41, 53 [Scotland, England, Wales, Australia, New Zealand, since 1920's]. Eighteen variants, beginning "Eeny, meeny," "Eeni, meeni," "Iney, memey," "Ina, mina," "Eany, meany," "Ena, mena," "Eanie, meenie," "Eani meani," "Eny, meeny," and "Eena, mena." Discussed in relation to other gibberish rhymes. The rhyme is sometimes introduced with "I went to a Chinese laundry / To buy a loaf of bread; / They wrapped it in a tablecloth / And this is what they said." Three embryo forms of the rhyme are given: "Ena dena, dahsa, doma" (1909); "Eener, deener, abber, dasher" (1910); and "Haberdasher, isher asher" (1916) (see 123).

Turner (1969), 11 [Melbourne, 1920, 1962]. Two variants: "Eena, meena, micka, macka" and "Eeny, meeny macka racka."

Daiken (1949), 2.

Ritchie (1965), 45 [Edinburgh]. Two variants.

Those Dusty Bluebells (1965), 22 [Ayrshire]. "Eenie meenie macaracha, / A M dominacha, / Cheek-a-pop-a, lolly-pop-a, / Am bam bush."

Fowke (1969), 111 [Canada]. "Eeny meeny macker racker, / Rear ride down the racker. / Chicka poppa lollipop, / A rum tum trash."

 ~Masato
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Click https://dokumen.pub/counting-out-rhymes-a-dictionary-9780292711037.html for an complete copy of this Counting Out Rhymes Dictionary. That online copy includes lots of other examples of these "Eeny Meeny"/ Eeny Meeny Mackeracka" and similar "gibberish" rhymes. However, in my opinion, the layout of that dictionary is quite difficult to follow.
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Information about Masato Sakurai (shared by Azizi Powell; corrections are welcome)
I was an active member of Mudcat's folk music forum from September 2004 to November 2014. This time period coincided with some of the time that Masato Sakurai  was very active on that Mudcat forum* 

Masato Sakurai was described by other Mudcat members as an older Japanese male who was affiliated with at least one Japanese university. Masato was very knowledgeable about and/or very skilled at researching European folk music, including European children's recreational rhymes. I don't recall Masato ever sharing any personal information about himself or engaging in informal exchanges on Mudcat's public discussion threads. Also, for what it's worth, I don't recall Masato ever posting any comments about Japanese folk songs/folk culture. However, he was THE go-to person when someone was seeking information about the history and word meanings of European folk songs and European folk rhymes.  

*Mudcat has a way of identifying the links to members' posts [published comments.]. Based on that feature, Masato Sakurai published comments as a member of Mudcat from  08-Aug-01 to 16-Mar-11. His last post [comment] referred to him experiencing an earthquake in Japan, but not bein injured at all.

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