Edited by Azizi Powell
This is Part I of a three part pancocojams series on the English language recreational rhyme "Dr. Knickerbocker Number Nine" (and similar titles).
This post presents information about the origin and meaning of the word "knickerbocker".
That post also includes information about the meaning of the phrase "number 9" in British culture and in United States' culture.
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2025/10/examples-of-dr-knickerbocker-number.html for Part II of this pancocojams series. That post presents some (word only) examples of the rhyme "Dr. Knickerbocker Number Nine".
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2025/10/doctor-knickerbocker-number-9-videos.html for Part III of this pancocojams series. That post showcases some YouTube videos of the rhyme "Dr. Knickerbocker Number Nine".
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The content of this post is presented for historical, cultural, and folkloric purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post.
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THE ORIGIN AND MEANING OF THE WORD "KNICKERBOCKER"
From https://www.nba.com/knicks/history/knickerbocker NBA presented by Chase
[This is a complete reprint. No publishing date is given. I retrieved this post on Oct. 9, 2025.]
"The term "Knickerbockers" traces its origin to the
Dutch settlers who came to the New World - and especially to what is now New
York - in the 1600s. Specifically, it refers to the style of pants the settlers
wore...pants that rolled up just below the knee, which became known as
"Knickerbockers", or "knickers".
In 1809, legendary author Washington Irving solidified the
knickerbocker name in New York lore when he wrote the satiric A History of New
York from the Beginning of the World to the End of the Dutch Dynasty under the
pseudonym Diedrich Knickerbocker. Later known as Knickerbocker's History of New
York, Irving's book introduced the word "knickerbocker" to signify a
New Yorker who could trace his or her ancestry to the original Dutch settlers.
With the publication of Irving's book, the Dutch settler "Knickerbocker" character became synonymous with New York City. The city's most popular symbol of the late 19th and early 20th centuries was "Father Knickerbocker", complete with cotton wig, three-cornered hat, buckled shoes, and, of course, knickered pants.
At the same time, the term "Knickerbocker" became indelibly linked to anything and everything New York...from Jacob Ruppert's Knickerbocker Beer to the 1938 Broadway musical Knickerbocker Holiday (which starred Walter Huston and featured the haunting "September Song") to famed society gossip columnists Cholly Knickerbocker (the nom de plume used by Maury Paul and Igor Cassini) and Suzy Knickerbocker (Aileen Mehle).
The Knickerbocker name had its first use in the sports world in 1845, when Alexander Cartwright's Manhattan-based baseball team - the first organized team in baseball history - was named the "New York Knickerbockers" or the "Knickerbocker Nine." The Knickerbocker name stayed with the team even after it moved its base of operations to Elysian Fields at Hoboken, NJ in 1846. (The baseball link may have prompted Casey Stengel to joyously exclaim, "It's great to be back as the manager of the Knickerbockers!" when he was named pilot of the newborn Mets in 1961).
Thus, the Knickerbocker name had been an integral part of the New York scene for more than a century when the Basketball Association of America granted a charter franchise to the city in the summer of 1946. As can best be determined, the final decision to call the team the "Knickerbockers" was made by the club's founder, the legendary Ned Irish.
The late Fred Podesta, the longtime Garden executive who passed away in 1999, once recalled, "The name came out of a hat. We were all sitting in the office one day - Irish, (publicity man) Lester Scott and a few others on the staff. We each put a name in the hat, and when we pulled them out, most of them said Knickerbockers, after Father Knickerbocker, the symbol of New York City. It soon was shortened to Knicks."
In keeping with another New York tradition, the team's colors have always (except for the years from 1979-80 through 1982-83) been orange, blue and white...the official colors of New York City.
So now you know."
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MY THOUGHTS ABOUT THE PHRASE "NUMBER NINE" IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE CHILDREN'S RECREATIONAL HYMES AND IN OTHER ENGLISH LANGUAGE SONGS
I
think the reason why there are so many songs & rhymes that mention the
number nine is that there are a lot of other English words that rhyme with
"nine".
Here's some of those words
-wine
-fine
-shine
-line
-mine
-behind (the direction)
and
-behind (the part of
the body also know as "butt", "bum", and "ass")
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There are also English language words that are near-rhymes with "nine" (words that nearly rhyme with the word "nine". Off the top of my head I can think of the words "time", "lime". and "rhyme".
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THE HISTORY OF THE PHRASE "NUMBER NINE" IN BRITSH AND/OR AMERICAN CULTURE
QUOTE #1 - "CLOUD NINE"
From https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2iy68n/eli5_where_did_the_saying_im_on_cloud_nine_come/ "Where Did The Saying "I'm On Cloud Nine Come From?"
[deleted], 2014
"Whenever a phrase includes a number, like the whole nine
yards, at sixes and sevens etc., then attempts to find its derivation usually
focus on the number. 'On cloud nine' is no exception. A commonly heard
explanation is that the expression originated as one of the classifications of
cloud which were defined by the US Weather Bureau in the 1950s, in which 'Cloud
Nine' denotes the fluffy cumulonimbus type that are considered so attractive.
Another explanation is that the phrase derives from Buddhism and that Cloud
Nine is one of the stages of the progress to enlightenment of a Bodhisattva
(one destined to become a Buddha).
Neither of these explanations holds water. To begin with, both the cloud classifications and the Buddhist stages to enlightenment have ten levels. To single out the last but one stage of either is rather like attributing the source of the 'whole nine yards' to American Football, where it is ten yards rather than nine that is a significant measure. Also, the fact that nine is far from the only number that has been linked with clouds, argues against those origins. Early examples of 'cloud' expressions include clouds seven, eight, nine and even thirty-nine.
It seems that it is the clouds themselves, rather than the number of them, that were in the thoughts of those who coined this phrase. The imagery was originally of a 'cloud cuckoo land' or 'head in the clouds' dreaminess, induced by either intoxication or inspiration, rather than the 'idyllic happiness' that we now associate with the phrase. The early references all come from mid 20th century USA and the earliest that I've found is in Albin Pollock's directory of slang, The Underworld Speaks, 1935:
"Cloud eight, befuddled on account of drinking too much liquor."
'Cloud nine' comes a little later, for example, in The
Oxnard Press-Courier, August 1946:
"I think he has thought of everything, unless the authorities pull something new on him out of cloud nine."
Around the same period we find clouds seven and thirty-nine,
in The San Mateo Times, April 1952 and Ross’s Hustlers, 1956, respectively:
"Mantovani's skilled use of reeds and strings puts this disc way up on Cloud Seven."
"That stuff is way up on Cloud Thirty-nine."
The early favourite was 'cloud seven' and many of the oldest
citations use that form, as in this piece from The Dictionary of American
Slang, 1960, which was the first printed definition of the term
"Cloud seven - completely happy, perfectly satisfied; in a euphoric state."
This early preference for seven as the significant number
may have been influenced by the existing phrase 'seventh heaven'.
Since the 1980s or so, 'cloud nine' has become predominant. That has probably been influenced by the use of 'cloud nine' in popular music - George Harrison adopted the term as the title of his 1987 album and, more notably, The Temptations' 'psychedelic soul' album of the same name, in 1969."
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QUOTE #2 - 'SOUL SISTER NUMBER 9"
From AI Overview (as a result of my October 13, 2025 Google Search question "What does Soul Sister #9 mean?")
"Soul sister number nine" means a
"superlative soul sister" in playground rhymes, suggesting the person
is the best of the best. The phrase combines "soul sister," a term
for a close female friend, with "number nine," a spiritually powerful
number that represents enlightenment, universal love, and completion. The
implication is that she is an exceptional soul sister with the highest
qualities.
Soul sister: Originally used to describe a Black woman, the
term has evolved to mean a close female friend who deeply understands you and
shares a deep connection, similar to a soulmate but without a romantic
connection.
Number nine: This is considered a spiritually significant
number across many cultures and religions, symbolizing completion, spiritual
enlightenment, universal love, and inner strength.
"Number nine" in rhymes: In the context of
playground rhymes, "number nine" is used to show a superlative or
exceptional quality. It's a way of saying that the person is the ultimate or
the best."
-snip-
Click https://cocojams2.blogspot.com/2014/11/soul-sister-number-9-in-childrens.html for the 2014 post " "Soul Sister Number 9" In Children's Playground Rhymes". Here's one example of the words "Soul sister number 9" in children's playground rhymes:
"I'll be. be
Walking down the street,
Ten times a week.
Un-gawa. Un-gawa {baby}
This is my power.
What is the story?
What is the strike?
I said it, I meant it.
I really represent it.
Take a cool cool Black to knock me down.
Take a cool cool Black to knock me out.
I'm sweet, I'm kind.
I'm soul sister number nine.
Don't like my apples,
Don't shake my tree.
I'm a Castle Square Black
Don't mess with me."
- John Langstaff, Carol Langstaff Shimmy Shimmy Coke-Ca-Pop!, A Collection of City Children's Street Games & Rhymes {Garden City, New York, Double Day & Co; p. 57; 1973}
-snip-
Another widely known children's recreational rhyme that includes the phrase "number nine" is "Engine Engine Number Nine". However, in that rhyme, it appears that the words "number nine" are the train or trolley's name and don't refer to how exceptional that train or trolley is.
Here's an excerpt from a page that features several examples of the rhyme "Engine, Engine Number Nine"
https://www.firstcry.com/intelli/articles/engine-engine-number-9-nursery-rhyme/ "Engine Engine Number 9 Nursery Rhyme For Kids" by Angela Naik, November 19, 2022
"Here’s the most popular version of the Engine Engine Number
Nine poem used by kids to pick an ‘It’:
Going down Chicago line,
If the train goes off the track,
Do you want your money back?
Yes, no, maybe so!
Y-E-S Spells Yes And You Are It!
Or
N-O Spells No And You Are It!"
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This concludes Part I of this pancocojams series.
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