# "Catch a ??? by the toe." A survey. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 11, 2004, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catch-a-by-the-toe-a-survey/228549 "2004-02-11T00:28:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![notquitekarpov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@notquitekarpov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notquitekarpov)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2004, 7:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catch-a-by-the-toe-a-survey/228549/61 "2004-02-11T07:53:16Z")
“Nigger”, never heard any alternatives - although probably go along with the views that it was not used as too easy to fix who was “it”! Male, white, prod. 39, SE England. ---
**Author:** ![Astra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f14d63/32.png) [@Astra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Astra)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2004, 8:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catch-a-by-the-toe-a-survey/228549/62 "2004-02-11T08:02:56Z")
20, Missouri/Florida/Mississippi (MS only recently though) I NEVER heard anything but tiger until I was 18 or 19 and read a thread similar to this on the Snopes MB. ---
**Author:** ![voguevixen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5ac83/32.png) [@voguevixen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voguevixen)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2004, 8:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catch-a-by-the-toe-a-survey/228549/63 "2004-02-11T08:12:16Z")
Curious (and tipsy)…Why would you catch a tiger (or other) by the toe? ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2004, 8:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catch-a-by-the-toe-a-survey/228549/64 "2004-02-11T08:28:44Z")
Growing up in western Minnesota, as a child I remember: catch an **injun** by the toe. Never heard the n… version until one Thanksgiving at Grandma’s house, from cousins in the the Twin Cities. But then, we hardly had any blacks around my home town in western Minnesota, but quite a few indians. Seems to be generally whatever group is disrespected in the neighborhood. I had a friend in college tell me that growing up they said: catch a **farmer** by the toe. He was from cattle ranching country in western Dakotas, where ranchers & farmers had been feuding for a hundred years or so. ---
**Author:** ![Phelan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a183cd/32.png) [@Phelan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phelan)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2004, 8:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catch-a-by-the-toe-a-survey/228549/65 "2004-02-11T08:57:26Z")
I always used Tigger. I’m not sure if it was from hearing other people say that, or if I misheard something else. 27 Scarborough Ontario ---
**Author:** ![Aro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b3f665/32.png) [@Aro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aro)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2004, 9:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catch-a-by-the-toe-a-survey/228549/66 "2004-02-11T09:21:22Z")
28, Northern Ireland. Always heard it as ‘nigger’. Had no idea as a child of the conotations or meaning of the word. Most kids probably still don’t. ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2004, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catch-a-by-the-toe-a-survey/228549/67 "2004-02-11T12:47:42Z")
> [@voguevixen](#): > > Curious (and tipsy)…Why would you catch a tiger (or other) by the toe? I don’t know, but at least it made more sense than the one I grew up with. “catch a nickel by the toe” All my friends and I used it (although “tiger” was an occasional substitute), never really questioned the meaning. It wasn’t until I was in my late teens that I heard from a neighbor who was in her 70’s what the rhyme used to be (and she would have given me hell if she’d heard me use it back when I was little). 32, Boston suburbs ---
**Author:** ![SkeptiJess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea666f/32.png) [@SkeptiJess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkeptiJess)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2004, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catch-a-by-the-toe-a-survey/228549/68 "2004-02-11T12:50:08Z")
43, ‘tiger,’ San Diego I never heard the ‘N’ version until long after I was grown – I think I was already married with kids before I heard it. I just spoke with my dad, who is 67 and was raised in Northern California and he used the ‘N’ version, as did my mom, 64 and also rasied in San Diego. My mom claims she didn’t even know what a ‘nigger’ was – there were black people around San Diego at the time, of course, but she didn’t call them ‘nigger,’ never heard them called ‘nigger’ and never made that connection. She said she figured a nigger was just something you caught by the toe during ‘eenie, meenie, minie, moe…’ – and, after you caught them, apparently you ate their toes – she also grew up with Brazil nuts called ‘nigger toes.’ Anyway, by the time she had kids she knew what the word meant and taught us to use ‘tiger’ and ‘brazil nut’ instead. And, so schooled herself against the use of the original versions that all three of us kids (my brother is 42 and my sister, 41) grew up completely unaware of the uglier versions. And, how the hell do you catch a _pickle_ by the toe? Pickles don’t _have_ toes! ---
**Author:** ![williamweigand](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b3f665/32.png) [@williamweigand](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/williamweigand)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2004, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catch-a-by-the-toe-a-survey/228549/69 "2004-02-11T13:13:30Z")
46,Central New York,“n” word. I’m curious…those of you who said tiger,nickel or pickle–how did you say the third line? We said “If he hollers,let him go” - which doesn’t seem to fit with your versions. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2004, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catch-a-by-the-toe-a-survey/228549/70 "2004-02-11T13:40:32Z")
I always heard and used “tiger”. I never heard of the racist version until I was in my late 30s… ---
**Author:** ![Sparrow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Sparrow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sparrow)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2004, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catch-a-by-the-toe-a-survey/228549/71 "2004-02-11T13:44:40Z")
It was always “nigger” when I was growing up in NW London in the 50s (I am 50). In all innocence - we didnt know any better. ---
**Author:** ![Eolbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d07c76/32.png) [@Eolbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eolbo)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2004, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catch-a-by-the-toe-a-survey/228549/72 "2004-02-11T13:50:46Z")
37 yo, rural Australia, nigger Oddly enough its not a word in common usage in Australian English and that ditty is the only context I heard it in. ---
**Author:** ![peasea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bc79bd/32.png) [@peasea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peasea)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2004, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catch-a-by-the-toe-a-survey/228549/73 "2004-02-11T13:57:15Z")
> [@williamweigand](#): > > I’m curious…those of you who said tiger,nickel or pickle–how did you say the third line? We said “If he hollers,let him go” - which doesn’t seem to fit with your versions. Fit fine with ‘tiger’. One may not usually consider a tiger’s voice a ‘holler’, but there was no question that, were a tiger to holler at us, we would certainly let him go. ---
**Author:** ![tempest2\_2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4bbf92/32.png) [@tempest2\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tempest2_2)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2004, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catch-a-by-the-toe-a-survey/228549/74 "2004-02-11T14:07:13Z")
It was the “N” word. 33 F Houston Our version was more of a conglomerate, probably stuck together to make it last longer: eeney, meeney, miney, moe catch a “n” by the toe if he hollers make him pay 50 dollars every day. My mother told me to pick the very best one but I was naughty and chose this one! ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2004, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catch-a-by-the-toe-a-survey/228549/75 "2004-02-11T14:08:54Z")
> [@GorillaMan](#): > > I learnt it from a kid at school as ‘nigger’, when I was about 6. This was swiftly corrected by my parents to ‘monkey’. Ditto. I’m 47 and from suburban Chicago. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2004, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catch-a-by-the-toe-a-survey/228549/76 "2004-02-11T14:11:25Z")
> [@voguevixen](#): > > 33, NE Indiana, Tiger. > > I did hear one of my hillbilly relatives refer to cashews as “nigger toes” once though, and was appalled. I thought they were Brazil nuts…not cashews. ---
**Author:** ![peasea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bc79bd/32.png) [@peasea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peasea)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2004, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catch-a-by-the-toe-a-survey/228549/77 "2004-02-11T14:15:38Z")
> [@peasea](#): > > Fit fine with ‘tiger’. One may not usually consider a tiger’s voice a ‘holler’, but there was no question that, were a tiger to holler at us, we would certainly let him go. And for the record, if a pickle were to holler at me, I would let _it_ go, too. ---
**Author:** ![N.Sane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f19dbf/32.png) [@N.Sane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N.Sane)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2004, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catch-a-by-the-toe-a-survey/228549/78 "2004-02-11T14:22:04Z")
Tiger or Injun. Spent most of my childhood in Georgia. I’m 40 now. I’m trying to remember the whole rhyme– Eenie meenie minie mo Catch an injun by the toe If he hollers, let him go. My mother told me to pick the very best one and you are NOT it Repeated ad infinitum until there was just one person left. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2004, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catch-a-by-the-toe-a-survey/228549/79 "2004-02-11T15:06:14Z")
28, grew up in Michigan, always heard it as “tiger” until this message board covered that airlines thing. ---
**Author:** ![lachesis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@lachesis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lachesis)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2004, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catch-a-by-the-toe-a-survey/228549/80 "2004-02-11T15:28:42Z")
> [@minor7flat5](#): > > I learned it in the mid 70s in Michigan as “piggy” > The new kid on the block said “tiger” and I thought he was weird. > From the responses so far, it appears that my friend was the normal one and we were weird. > > I heard the N-word one from certain ne’er-do-well types that my mom told us not to hang around with. don’t feel bad, **minor**. i grew up in Cleveland, OH (approaching 49 at light speed), and _ **i** _ learned “piggy” as the standard. yes, the “n” version eventually roamed into my orbit sometime in grade school, but that was soon understood to be a frowned-upon alternate. (although my Grandma, rest her soul, was unenlightened enough to use the alternate name for Brazil nuts once or twice.) overt racism in language was being pushed out in my formative years. unfortunately, the elderly had a harder time catching on (or up). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catch-a-by-the-toe-a-survey/228549.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catch-a-by-the-toe-a-survey/228549.md?page=5)