camille c, Dec 24, 2011
old school hand games from way back.. can u remember any
more??? i got like 10 of them
1.bo bo seantin tatin
2.miss mary mack
3. i dont want to go to mexico 4.tweet tweet tweet 5.my mother your mother 6. down down baby
7. little sally walker 8.double double this this 9. ini mini
sicilini
10. i went to a chineese restaurant 11. ce ce my play mate
-snip-
Rhyme #10 includes the Chinese, Japanese, Dirty Knees." verse. That rhyme is found at .3:37-3:58 in that video.
-snip-
Statistics for this video as of October14, 2025 as of 1:52 PM EDT:
total # of views- 668,356
total # of comments -314
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Edited by Azizi Powell
This is Part III of a three part pancocojams series about the children's mocking rhyme "Chinese, Japanese, Dirty Knees, Look At These".
This post showcases a YouTube video of two young Black American women demonstrating several hand clap rhymes that they remember from their childhood. One of those rhymes- "I Went To The Chinese Restaurant" includes the "Chinese, Japanese, Dirty Knees, Look At These" verse.
This post includes the transcription of that version of "I Went To The Chinese Restaurant" as well as a few comments from that video's discussion thread (including three comments that I wrote.)
**
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2025/10/information-about-childrens-mocking.html for Part I of this pancocojams series. That post presents information from several online sources about that rhyme.
**
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2025/10/comments-about-childrens-mocking-rhyme.html for Part II of this pancocojams series. That post presents some comments from several online discussion threads about the children's rhyme "Chinese, Japanese, Dirty Knees, Look At These".
**
Click __ for Part IV of this pancocojams series. That post presents an excerpt of an essay a mother wrote about her young daughter chanting "Chinese, Japanese, Dirty Knees, Look At These" rhyme. That post also includes a few comments from that essay's discussion thread (include a comment that I wrote.)
****
The content of this post is presented for folkloric and socio-cultural purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post.
-snip-
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/07/anti-asian-rhymes-i-went-to-chinese.html for the closely related pancocojams post "Offensive Children's Rhymes: " I Went To A Chinese Restaurant".
****
WARNING- I consider this rhyme to be racist and don't recommend chanting it under any circumstances except for sociological or other educational purposes.
****
TRANSCRIPTION OF THIS VERSION OF "I WENT TO THE CHINESE RESTAURANT"
[with the motions that are done along with this chant]
"I went to a Chinese restaurant [Do a hand clap routine while standing facing your partner]
To get a loaf of bread bread bread
They asked what my name was
This is what she I said said said
My name is...
I can do karate [Do wide karate kick motion]
I can shake my body [shake your hips]
Oops, I’m sorry [each partner tries to slap the other person on the forehead]
Chinese [stretch sides of eyes
Japanese [touch eyes]
Dirty knees [bend down and pat your knees
Look at these! [pinch your shirt up to draw attention to your breast]
****
SELECTED COMMENTS FROM THIS VIDEO'S DISCUSSION THREAD
Numbers are added for referencing purposes only.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0KMFSj-FrQ "Fun hand games"
"I love these! Great
job!! my only complaint is to have wished you to have changed the ending of
"Chinese Restaurant" so that the stereotyped Asian faces part was
excluded or better yet, changed to something that was celebratory and not
derogatory. Otherwise, so glad that you
shared."
**
Reply
2. @fatcat123455, 2012
"well the chinese restasurant was how i sang it as a kid...
we didnt kno any better back then to kno if we were singing offensive things...
but thx for the comments anywho :)"
-snip-
This comment is from camille c, one of the Black American women who demonstrated these rhymes.
**
Reply
3. @faeriefirefly917, 2012
"No way! Stop being so PC! Changing them would ruin them.
Don't be so sensitive. This is in no way derogatory."
**
Reply
4. @azizip171, 2013
"Actually, there are alot of derogatory words (& in this
case accompanying mimicking actions) in children's rhymes. And the words to
playground rhymes change all the time accidentally because of mishearing or
misremembering or not recognizing a word or phrase & substituting that
unfamilar word/phrase for another one. So there's nothing wrong with purposely
changing a word/phrase that is offensive & hurtful. And if you were Asian,
it's likely you'd fine that version offensive & hurtful."
**
Reply
5. @azizip171, 2013
"Part 2 of my comment
Just like the "eenie meenie" rhyme was changed on
purpose, that Chinese Restaurant rhyme has been & can be.
That said, I congratulate the two girls who made the video
for documenting the way the rhymes were when they learned them. It's one thing
to document the way rhymes were for the "folkloric record" &
another thing to encourage children nowadays to
perform them in the exact same way you remember."
**
Reply
6. @azizip171, 2013
"Part 3 of my comment
For the folkloric record, I featured this video & selected comments found here (including my own comments) in a post on my cultural blog. Google Pancocojams Various Playground Rhymes Performed By Two African American Women.
My sincere thanks to the young women who performed in this
video for their interest in encouraging interest in these rhymes. My sincere
thanks also to those whose comments I re-published in my blog post.
-snip-
In 2025 I revisited that discussion thread and added the title and the link to the above mentioned pancocojams post: https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2012/10/ten-playground-rhymes-performed-by-two.html "2011 YouTube Video Of Ten "Old School" Hand Clap Rhymes That Are
Performed By Two African American Women"
-snip-
No comments were written on that discussion thread in response to these comments, and no other comments were written in that discussion thread except for this commenter who shares another version of "I Went To The Chinese Restaurant"
@djprimalphøenix, 2012
"The " I went to a Chinese resturaunt " game has combined 2 games lyrics Idk the name but this is it. I can do karate I can call my
mommy oops I'm sorry. You better be sorry I'm not sorry. Icky bicky soda pop. Icky bicky boo Icky bicky soda pop a boy loves you"
-snip-
I wish there were more discussion in that discussion thread about the "Chinese Japanese Dirty Knees" lines in that "I Went To The Chinese Restaurant" rhyme.
I understand that the original poster of this video was a child when she chanted that rhyme and didn't know what those words meant, but now that she is an adult, I would have liked her to be less dismissive of the racism in that rhyme.
Racist children's rhymes impact us all, whether or not we are the race or ethnicity that is targeted by those rhymes, and whether or not there are any members of the targeted population who hear us chanting those rhymes.
****
This concludes Part III of this pancocojams series.
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
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