# Childhood rhymes **URL:** \ **Category:** Thread Games\ **Created:** [January 11, 2026, 8:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childhood-rhymes/1026557 "2026-01-11T08:58:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Hoopy\_Frood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hoopy_frood/32/8452_2.png) [@Hoopy\_Frood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hoopy_Frood)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2026, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childhood-rhymes/1026557/21 "2026-02-24T04:00:04Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > Hi Ho > Hi Ho > > It’s off to school we go > We’ll learn some junk > And then we’ll flunk. Hi Ho Ho Ho. > > Hi Ho > Hi Ho > The teacher bit my toe! > That dirty rat > I bit her back > Hi Ho, Hi Ho! Hi ho Hi ho It’s off to school we go The teacher looks like Frakenstein The water tastes like turpentine Hi ho, hi ho, hi ho, hi ho ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2026, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childhood-rhymes/1026557/22 "2026-02-24T04:02:20Z")
Whistle while you work Hitler is a jerk Mussolini bit his weenie Now it doesn’t squirt (Despite the fact that both of them had been dead for 20 years when my classmates and I were born, this was a popular one in about 5th grade.) ---
**Author:** ![Hoopy\_Frood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hoopy_frood/32/8452_2.png) [@Hoopy\_Frood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hoopy_Frood)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2026, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childhood-rhymes/1026557/23 "2026-02-24T04:03:08Z")
Joy to the world, the school blew up. And all the teachers died. Except for the principal Who’s hanging from the flagpole With a rope around his neck With a rope around his neck With a rope, a rope around his neck ---
**Author:** ![knoodler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ccd318/32.png) [@knoodler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/knoodler)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2026, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childhood-rhymes/1026557/24 "2026-02-24T06:39:08Z")
Here’s a campfire song we’d sing before retiring: Oh the counselors here at camp They say are mighty fine They came from Transylvania And built by Frankenstein Oh the coffee\* here at camp They say is mighty fine It’s good for cuts and scratches And tastes like turpentine Oh the biscuits here at camp They say are mighty fine But one rolled off the table And killed a friend of mine Oh the cabins here at camp They say are mighty good They were built in 1930 From quarter-inch plywood Oh, I don’t want no more of summer camp Hey ma! I wanna go home! \*we weren’t drinking coffee, but that’s how the counselors sang it ---
**Author:** ![themapleleaf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/themapleleaf/32/14349_2.png) [@themapleleaf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/themapleleaf)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2026, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childhood-rhymes/1026557/25 "2026-02-24T07:49:22Z")
Milly Molly Mandy went a-fishing for a whale Milly Molly Mandy went a-fishing for a whale Milly Molly Mandy went a-fishing for a whale But she didn’t catch a whale All she got was broken fishing line All she got was broken fishing line All she got was broken fishing line But she didn’t catch a whale Milly Molly Mandy went a-fishing for a shark Milly Molly Mandy went a-fishing for a shark Milly Molly Mandy went a-fishing for a shark But she didn’t catch a shark All she got was bitten fingers All she got was bitten fingers All she got was bitten fingers But she didn’t catch a shark Milly Molly Mandy went a-fishing for a clam Milly Molly Mandy went a-fishing for a clam Milly Molly Mandy went a-fishing for a clam But she didn’t catch a clam All she got was laryngitis / influenza All she got was laryngitis / influenza All she got was laryngitis / influenza But she didn’t catch a clam ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2026, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childhood-rhymes/1026557/26 "2026-02-24T16:18:34Z")
> [@knoodler](#): > > Here’s a campfire song we’d sing before retiring It looks like that would have been sung to the same tune as “[Gee, Mom, I Want to Go Home](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gee,_Mom,_I_Want_to_Go_Home)” (a.k.a. “I Don’t Want No More of Army Life”), which I’m mostly familiar with because it featured in an episode of _MASH_ (the one where they tried to watch the film _My Darling Clementine_, but the projector kept breaking). What I didn’t know until I looked it up is that it was apparently popularized by the folk singer Lead Belly in the 1940s, and that the writer apparently was a Canadian soldier, who later became an entertainer. ---
**Author:** ![knoodler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ccd318/32.png) [@knoodler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/knoodler)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2026, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childhood-rhymes/1026557/27 "2026-02-25T06:18:52Z")
That’s right. And I’m certain there are more verses that describe camp (“army”) life in comedic detail. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childhood-rhymes/1026557.md?page=1)