English, Irish, German, French

DESCRIPTION: Jump-rope rhyme. "English, Irish, German, French, Little Annie Rooney with a ruffle in her pants."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1927 (Journal of American Folklore, according to Abrahams-JumpRopeRhymes)
KEYWORDS: jumprope | languages Annie Rooney
FOUND IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Abrahams-JumpRopeRhymes, #137, "English, Irish, German, French" (1 text)
NOTES [117 words]: Abrahams-JumpRopeRhymes believes that the Little Annie Rooney referred to here is not the character from the song of the same name but the comic strip that used the name to compete with Little Orphan Annie, which (according to Wikipedia) was published from 1927 to 1966. If that's so, it didn't take long for her to be co-opted into a jump rope verse! But there was also a 1925 movie, "Little Annie Rooney," with Mary Pickford.
Curiously, the movie stills I've seen show Pickford in skirts, and the early comic strips also seemed to show her in skirts (or, somewhat later, shorts), so the "ruffle in her pants" doesn't seem very accurate. Of course, there are thousands of panels I have not seen. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.5
File: AJRR137

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