# Airline sued for "eeny meenie miney mo" **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [February 11, 2003, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airline-sued-for-eeny-meenie-miney-mo/154352 "2003-02-11T15:10:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![RenMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecb155/32.png) [@RenMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RenMan)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2003, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airline-sued-for-eeny-meenie-miney-mo/154352/1 "2003-02-11T15:10:30Z")
Frivolous lawsuit #35,005,558!!! Did anyone else grow up learning that the thing you caught by its toe in “Eeny Meeny Miney Moe” was a tiger, and not… that other word, you know the “N” word? I don’t remember when I learned the true origin of the rhyme, but I was kind of horrified when I did. STILL, though. Can you really sue the airline if the stewardess says “eeny meenie miney moe, pick a seat, we gotta go” over the PA to indecisive passengers (who happened to be black)? [Link](http://www.abcnews.go.com/wire/US/ap20030210_2131.html) I believe the stewardess that she had no idea it was a racist poem. Most kids get taught the “tiger” version and I bet some people never learn about the racist origin of the poem. So, since we’re in the Pit, for FUCK’s sake, ladies!! The stewardess was not your enemy!! Repeat after me, she was NOT … BEING … RACIST! You hair trigger, way-wound-up, over-assuming race-card-playing CLODS!! You want to fight racism? There are some real live ones out there for you to fight against! ---
**Author:** ![cuauhtemoc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecb155/32.png) [@cuauhtemoc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cuauhtemoc)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2003, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airline-sued-for-eeny-meenie-miney-mo/154352/2 "2003-02-11T15:14:34Z")
I learned it as “Catch a _dragon_ by the toe.” But if all the woman said was that one line, then all she’s guilty of is being annoying. This is one of those lawsuits that will probably be thrown out _tout de suite_. ---
**Author:** ![tunabreath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/838e76/32.png) [@tunabreath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tunabreath)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2003, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airline-sued-for-eeny-meenie-miney-mo/154352/3 "2003-02-11T15:15:45Z")
I’ve only heard the tiger version. I guess I’ll have to be very carefull. ---
**Author:** ![Earthworm\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f07891/32.png) [@Earthworm\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earthworm_Jim)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2003, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airline-sued-for-eeny-meenie-miney-mo/154352/4 "2003-02-11T15:27:11Z")
> [@](#): > > Plaintiffs’ attorney Scott Wissel said the sisters also want Southwest to stop using the rhyme and provide employee training to prevent such incidents. Yeah, the training plan would be really short - **Do Not Speak** People like this really need some sense beaten into them. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2003, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airline-sued-for-eeny-meenie-miney-mo/154352/5 "2003-02-11T15:29:55Z")
Another instance of oversensitivity and zealousness. There is _real_ racism out there. Damaging and even dangerous racism. A lawsuit like this can only hurt those who have suffered from the real stuff. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2003, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airline-sued-for-eeny-meenie-miney-mo/154352/6 "2003-02-11T15:29:59Z")
I always learned “tiger.” ---
**Author:** ![Gorgon\_Heap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f475e1/32.png) [@Gorgon\_Heap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorgon_Heap)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2003, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airline-sued-for-eeny-meenie-miney-mo/154352/7 "2003-02-11T15:36:35Z")
I had no idea there was a “racist” version of this. I knew tiger - that is all. You guys think that’s bad, though … wait until they try to use “Duck Duck Goose”!!! ---
**Author:** ![RenMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecb155/32.png) [@RenMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RenMan)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2003, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airline-sued-for-eeny-meenie-miney-mo/154352/8 "2003-02-11T15:37:08Z")
> [@](#): > > _posted by RickJay_ > > I always learned “tiger.” Yeah, me too. Quite a shock really. Kind of like learning how “to gyp” was an ethnic slur very much like “to Jew”. Lots of my friends still say “what a gyp!”, without meaning any harm towards Gypsies in the slightest. Hopefully a situation will never arise where an uninformed stewardess will need to say “gyp” over the PA system. Note: I am not excusing the use of “gyp”. It is indeed an ethnic slur. All I’m saying is we to respond by educating, not suing. A lawsuit should be last resort. ---
**Author:** ![RenMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecb155/32.png) [@RenMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RenMan)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2003, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airline-sued-for-eeny-meenie-miney-mo/154352/9 "2003-02-11T15:38:30Z")
> [@](#): > > _posted by Gorgon Heap_ > > You guys think that’s bad, though … wait until they try to use “Duck Duck Goose”!!! Wait, are you pulling my leg? If not, I don’t get it. ---
**Author:** ![roadrunner70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e19b73/32.png) [@roadrunner70](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/roadrunner70)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2003, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airline-sued-for-eeny-meenie-miney-mo/154352/10 "2003-02-11T15:43:23Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Gorgon Heap \* > \*\* > You guys think that’s bad, though … wait until they try to use “Duck Duck Goose”!!! \*\* They’re gonna “google” passengers into their seats? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![auntie\_em](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5e9695/32.png) [@auntie\_em](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/auntie_em)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2003, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airline-sued-for-eeny-meenie-miney-mo/154352/11 "2003-02-11T15:47:20Z")
I learned “tiger”, too, but I think the jungle animal reference is meant to insult our African heritage. :rolleyes: And while we’re at it, what sense does it make for the flight attendant to be addressing the rhyme _to the Black people_??? Was she telling them to grab their own toes? Each other’s toes? How does that make sense? I think she was telling the good, seated White passengers to grab the two unseated Black women by the toes and pull them into some empty seats. That said, I hate the little songs and rhymes on Southwest Airlines. Once the flight attendant sang a little made-up ditty to the tune of “Rockin’ Robin” that was annoying as hell. But I didn’t sue, because I wasn’t sure if it was meant to insult Black people (Bobby Day) or White people (Michael Jackson). ---
**Author:** ![RenMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecb155/32.png) [@RenMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RenMan)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2003, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airline-sued-for-eeny-meenie-miney-mo/154352/12 "2003-02-11T15:53:57Z")
First of all, Auntie Em, the tiger is found in Asia, not in Africa to my knowledge. I disagree that the flight attendent was deliberately addressing black passengers with a racist poem. I think, like some of those who have already posted to this thread, she simply had no idea that the poem she was reciting had a racist origin. Or if she did know it, she may have realized it too late, and the sisters who are suing may not have given her the opportunity to apologize, or accepted any apology she did make afterward. The article does not say (it also does not say that the sisters were the only ones still standing). ---
**Author:** ![RenMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecb155/32.png) [@RenMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RenMan)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2003, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airline-sued-for-eeny-meenie-miney-mo/154352/13 "2003-02-11T15:56:17Z")
One final rebuttal to your remark, Auntie Em. The actual poem recited over the PA was: [quot]Eenie, meenie, minie, moe; pick a seat, we gotta go.[/quot] So it was not, in this context, a reference to grabbing anyone’s toes; it referred to the use of the “eenie meenie miney moe” poem as a tool to choose arbitrarily between two or more options. ---
**Author:** ![H8\_2\_W8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c77e96/32.png) [@H8\_2\_W8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/H8_2_W8)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2003, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airline-sued-for-eeny-meenie-miney-mo/154352/14 "2003-02-11T15:57:22Z")
“I think the jungle animal reference is meant to insult our African heritage.” auntie em * * * Since tigers are not from the jungles of Africa, maybe Southwest really meant this as an insult to those from India, China, Indonesia, Mongolia, or Siberia. ---
**Author:** ![auntie\_em](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5e9695/32.png) [@auntie\_em](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/auntie_em)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2003, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airline-sued-for-eeny-meenie-miney-mo/154352/15 "2003-02-11T15:58:33Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by RenMan \* > \*\*First of all, Auntie Em, the tiger is found in Asia, not in Africa to my knowledge. > \*\* Yeah, yeah, I know–but then how do you explain _Little Black Sambo_? 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2003, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airline-sued-for-eeny-meenie-miney-mo/154352/16 "2003-02-11T16:00:31Z")
**RenMan** , I believe **auntie em** was making a joke. I was gonna write “eeny meeny miney moe catch a whooosh, now there it goes” but I didn’t want to get sued. ---
**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2003, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airline-sued-for-eeny-meenie-miney-mo/154352/17 "2003-02-11T16:00:36Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by auntie em \* > \*\*Was she telling them to grab their own toes? Each other’s toes? How does that make sense? I think she was telling the good, seated White passengers to grab the two unseated Black women by the toes and pull them into some empty seats. > \*\* She said, “Eeny, meeny, miney, moe, pick a seat, we gotta go.” She didn’t mention grabbing toes at all. It’s just a cutesy way of telling people to find a seat and sit down. I’ve never flown Southwest, but I assume it’s used in Coach, where there’s no assigned seating. You just pick a seat and sit down. I’ve never heard the racist version, either. I think this is another case of Political Correctness gone overboard. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2003, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airline-sued-for-eeny-meenie-miney-mo/154352/18 "2003-02-11T16:02:46Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by auntie em \* > \*\*But I didn’t sue, because I wasn’t sure if it was meant to insult Black people (Bobby Day) or White people (Michael Jackson). \*\* I never laugh out loud. Stop it. So, am I the only one who learned the “n” version? In Virginia, circa 1963. It only lasted until my mother heard me the first time. Then not only was I not able to sit down for a week, I was not allowed to play with the kids I’d learned it from either. I think I like the way I was raised. ---
**Author:** ![auntie\_em](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5e9695/32.png) [@auntie\_em](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/auntie_em)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2003, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airline-sued-for-eeny-meenie-miney-mo/154352/19 "2003-02-11T16:02:49Z")
OK, apparently my sarcasm is not coming through, here. So for the record, I agree (wholeheartedly) that the lawsuit is ridiculous, and I know that tigers don’t come from Africa; I was just being silly. And here I thought that being Black would give me natural comic ability . . . 😃 Upon preview, I see I owe some thanks to **Biggirl**. . . ---
**Author:** ![RenMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecb155/32.png) [@RenMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RenMan)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2003, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airline-sued-for-eeny-meenie-miney-mo/154352/20 "2003-02-11T16:03:21Z")
> [@](#): > > _posted by Biggirl_ > RenMan, I believe auntie em was making a joke. Auntie Em, if you were joking I apologize. It wouldn’t be the first time I’ve been whooshed like that. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airline-sued-for-eeny-meenie-miney-mo/154352.md?page=2)