# Eeny, meeny, miney... **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 28, 2001, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eeny-meeny-miney/63610 "2001-04-28T05:52:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![spooneye1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/34f0e0/32.png) [@spooneye1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spooneye1)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2001, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eeny-meeny-miney/63610/1 "2001-04-28T05:52:35Z")
We all know the drill from 4th grade: “Eeny meeny miney moe Catch a tiger by the toe If he hollers let him go Eeny meeny miney moe.” ``` In my social circle, however, stopping the divinatory process here was considered the height of gaucherie; there was also a mandatory second half, ignored only if the person doing the eenying was very very big and whoever ended up "Moe" was either very very small or very very unpopular. Having been moderate in both size and popularity, I still know it by heart: ``` “My mother said to Pick the very best one And you are it Y-O-U spells you!” ``` There's still nothing that turns my guts to jelly quicker than having someone yell "YOU!" while pointing directly at me. Except, I imagine, for having someone yell "YOU!" while pointing directly at me with a gun. But I digress. Being singled out is rarely fun, especially when it means that you've just been chosen for some distasteful and/or dangerous task, such as stealing all of the teacher's chalk, seeing if aerosol hairspray + lighter = recess flamethrower (answer: yes, if you're not particularly attached to that whole "having eyebrows" look), or talking to a member of the opposite sex. The point of the story, such as it is, is that I eventually decided to break down the pattern so I'd never get "Moed" again, and that's how I taught myself the concept of "mod", even though I didn't realize it at the time. Anyway, I was trying to use this example to explain patterns, divisibility, and remainders to one of my math students today, though, and we got sidetracked by...well, by whether you count "eeny", "meeny", etc., as (my position) one syllable/point or (his position) two. I seem to remember it being pretty clearly one discrete unit, but then again, 4th grade was a lot more recent for him than for me. So which is it, people? And any other "eeny" stories that you care to share? ``` ---
**Author:** ![JillGat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9fc29f/32.png) [@JillGat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JillGat)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2001, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eeny-meeny-miney/63610/2 "2001-04-28T06:16:04Z")
Eeny, Meeny, Miney, MPSIMS. ---
**Author:** ![Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Speaker_for_the_Dead)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2001, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eeny-meeny-miney/63610/3 "2001-04-28T07:02:00Z")
The second half I use/d was “My mother says to pick the best one And you are now it!” ---
**Author:** ![Whammo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8dc957/32.png) [@Whammo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whammo)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2001, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eeny-meeny-miney/63610/4 "2001-04-28T07:11:08Z")
Nooooo… its “My mother says to pick the very best one and you are NOT it!” …but then we would always argue whether we were really IT or not… I lived in a stupid neighborhood I guess… 🙂 and in my dads childhood (30’s) it was not tiger but an extremely racial slur as he tells me. Thank goodness I never learned it that way. ---
**Author:** ![Pammipoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/87869e/32.png) [@Pammipoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pammipoo)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2001, 8:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eeny-meeny-miney/63610/5 "2001-04-28T08:26:34Z")
LOL, i’m 19, and I still solve complex issues using the “einie meenie miney mo” technique. Course, me and my sister also bicker like 4 year olds, so I guess it’s fitting… ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2001, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eeny-meeny-miney/63610/6 "2001-04-28T15:21:02Z")
eeny,meeny,etc are 2 syllables, 1 point; unless you are south of the mason dixon line. then i’m not sure how many syllables eeny, meeny, can become… personally i prefer paper, rock, scissors, or hands behind the back methods. ---
**Author:** ![Arden\_Ranger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b487fb/32.png) [@Arden\_Ranger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arden_Ranger)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2001, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eeny-meeny-miney/63610/7 "2001-04-28T15:28:10Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Whammo \* > \*\* > and in my dads childhood (30’s) it was not tiger but an extremely racial slur as he tells me. Thank goodness I never learned it that way. \*\* It was like that in the Sixties, when I learned it. Of course, I learned it from my Grandmother.