Ena, Mena, More, Mi

DESCRIPTION: "Ena, mena, more, mi, Pisca, lara, bora, bi, Eggs, butter, cheese, bread, Stick, stack, stone, dead. O-U-T spells out!" Perhaps a counting-out rhyme
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1975 (Deane/Shaw)
KEYWORDS: nonballad
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Withers-EenieMeenieMinieMo, p. 18, "(Eggs, butter, cheese, bread)" (1 text)
Sutton-Smith-NZ-GamesOfNewZealandChilden/FolkgamesOfChildren, p. 95, "(Call lummy koo") (several of the texts on this page look as if they might be remnants of this)
ADDITIONAL: Tony Deane and Tony Shaw _The Folklore of Cornwall_, B. T. Batsford, 1975, p. 52, "(Hewery, hiery, hackery, heaven)" (1 short text)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "One Two Three Four, Mary at the Cottage Door" ("O-U-T spells out" lyric) and references there
NOTES [62 words]: NorthCarolinaFolkloreJournal, Leonidas Betts, "Folk Speech from Kipling [North Carolina]," Vol. XIV, No. 2 (Nov. 1966), p. 40, has an interesting form beginning "Eeny, meeny, tipsy, teeny, Apple jack, John Sweeney" and proceeding for six more lines, then ending "O-U-T spells out, And out goes you"; this appears to be an unusual composite of several counting rhymes. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.6
File: DeSh052B

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