2 Y's U R (Too Wise You Are)
DESCRIPTION: "2 Y's U R, 2 Y's U B, I C U R, 2 Y's 4 me." Supposedly a written acknowledgment that one person has been more clever than the other.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1831 (American Girl’s Book: or, Occupation for Play Hours)
KEYWORDS: wordplay
FOUND IN: New Zealand US
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Sutton-Smith-NZ-GamesOfNewZealandChilden/FolkgamesOfChildren, p. 138, "(2 Y's U R)" (1 text)
ADDITIONAL: Miss [Eliza] Leslie _American Girl’s Book: or, Occupation for Play Hours_, Munroe and Francis, 1831, p. 110, "(2 yy u r 2 yy u b)" (1 text, see NOTES)
NOTES [74 words]: Who says the Internet invented keyboard shortcuts?
Credit to Jim Dixon for locating this item in American Girl's Book (available on Google Books):
Decypher the schoolmaster's answer to the boy:
2 yy u r 2 yy u b
I c u r 2 yy for me.
This is the explanation:
Too wise you are, too wise you be,
I see you are too wise for me.
[And just above it is a similar conundrum, beginning: "2 + u r ..." deciphered as "Too cross you are...."] - JD, (RBW)
Last updated in version 6.3
File: SuSm138A
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