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.”
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
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.
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.
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), 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.
Would you believe Alec guiness? , 1949.
I wish I could report this as spam and kill the post. Welcome to the SDMB!
The Niger is one of the largest rivers in Africa.
Sneaky little ninjas.
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?
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).
In any case, the person he was responding to will never know about it, sadly.
Since this is old and was raised pointlessly, I’m going to close it.
Colibri
General Questions Moderator