# Does "Eenie Meenie Miney Moe" have racist origins? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 3, 2003, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-eenie-meenie-miney-moe-have-racist-origins/158864 "2003-03-03T22:54:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2003, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-eenie-meenie-miney-moe-have-racist-origins/158864/21 "2003-03-06T03:32:58Z")
When I was little, I learned the rhyme as “catch a MONKEY by the toe.” But I guess “monkey” could be a euphemism for “nigger.” I also remember one of the Mary Poppins novels where it was “catch an INDIAN by the toe.” ---
**Author:** ![RiverRunner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/977dab/32.png) [@RiverRunner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RiverRunner)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2003, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-eenie-meenie-miney-moe-have-racist-origins/158864/22 "2003-03-06T15:30:34Z")
> [@](#): > > Since the earliest version uses the word tiger and considering the time frame, barring other evidence, I would have to conclude that it was orginially racist. You lost me on that one. The earliest version uses the word “tiger,” so it was racist? I think maybe I don’t understand what you meant. Could you elaborate just a tad? Thanks, RR ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2003, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-eenie-meenie-miney-moe-have-racist-origins/158864/23 "2003-03-06T15:38:18Z")
Bizarre twist- in the New York neighborhood where I grew up, kids always said “Catch a NICKEL (???) by the toe.” Now, obviously, “nickel” makes no sense, but none of us thought much about it- after all, MOST childish rhymes didn’t make much sense to us. It was only years later that I figured out “nickel” was simply a sanitized version of the older, more offensive rhyme. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2003, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-eenie-meenie-miney-moe-have-racist-origins/158864/24 "2003-03-12T19:40:32Z")
On a related topic: Remember “Ten Little Indians”? A few years ago I saw the classic Peter O’Toole film “Kind Hearts and Coronets” – dates some time from the 1930s or '40s, I think – and there’s a bit toward the end where two of the protagonists mention “Ten Little Niggers.” I guess somewhere along the way the song got bowdlerlized, at least to the extent that “Ten Little Indians” sounds less offensive, unless you’re a Native American. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2003, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-eenie-meenie-miney-moe-have-racist-origins/158864/25 "2003-03-12T20:35:09Z")
Ten Little Niggeres was the original title of the Agatha Christie novel, published in the U.S. as Ten Little Indians. At the end of [This review of the book (under its current title _And Then There Were None_](http://www.deliciousdeath.com/34/34e.html)), there are the 1868 lyrics to _Ten Little Injuns_ by the American composer Septimus Winner followed by the 1869 lyrics to _Ten Little Niggers_ by Frank Green (about whom I found no information in a quick search). I do not know whether Green “borrowed” and Briticized Winner’s song or whether Winner and Green each put their own names on a rhyme that was already making the rounds with regional differences. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2003, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-eenie-meenie-miney-moe-have-racist-origins/158864/26 "2003-03-13T05:20:27Z")
> [@](#): > > ago I saw the classic Peter O’Toole film “Kind Hearts and Coronets” – dates some time from the 1930s or '40s, I think Would you believe _Alec guiness?_ , 1949. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2013, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-eenie-meenie-miney-moe-have-racist-origins/158864/28 "2013-09-06T00:28:09Z")
> [@Thonjohn](#): > > Niger is a country bro, Nile is the river. I wish I could report this as spam and kill the post. Welcome to the SDMB! > **[Niger River](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niger_River)** > > This is an accepted version of this page > (Period: 1971–2000)7,922.3 m3/s (279,770 cu ft/s) > The Niger River (/ˈnaɪdʒər/ NY-jər; French: (le) fleuve Niger \[(lə) flœv niʒɛʁ\]) is the main river of West Africa, extending about 4,180 kilometres (2,600 miles). Its drainage basin is 2,117,700 km2 (817,600 sq mi) in area. Its source is in the Guinea Highlands in south-eastern Guinea near the Sierra Leone border. It runs in a crescent shape through Mali, Niger, on the border with Benin and then through... ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2013, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-eenie-meenie-miney-moe-have-racist-origins/158864/29 "2013-09-06T00:30:28Z")
The Niger is one of the largest rivers in Africa. Sneaky little ninjas. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2013, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-eenie-meenie-miney-moe-have-racist-origins/158864/30 "2013-09-06T00:38:22Z")
> [@Thonjohn](#): > > Niger is a country bro, Nile is the river. You realize you responded to a ten year old post? And while you are correct that there is a country named the Republic of Niger, Niger is also the name of a river, Africa’s third-largest. Edit: Those ninjas are sneaky, aren’t they? ---
**Author:** ![JBDivmstr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b4bc9f/32.png) [@JBDivmstr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JBDivmstr)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2013, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-eenie-meenie-miney-moe-have-racist-origins/158864/31 "2013-09-06T00:39:23Z")
I can recall hearing this as a child growing up in Houston, Texas in the mid to late 60’s, and what I first remembered hearing was "catch a n\*\*ger by the toe, if he hollers let him go’. My SO says that she recalls hearing the exact same wording as a child in the late 40’s, while growing up in Washington state (Pacific Northwest). ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2013, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-eenie-meenie-miney-moe-have-racist-origins/158864/32 "2013-09-06T00:49:18Z")
In any case, the person he was responding to will never know about it, sadly. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2013, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-eenie-meenie-miney-moe-have-racist-origins/158864/33 "2013-09-06T01:47:08Z")
Since this is old and was raised pointlessly, I’m going to close it. Colibri General Questions Moderator [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-eenie-meenie-miney-moe-have-racist-origins/158864.md?page=1)