# Little bunny foo foo **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 24, 2009, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-bunny-foo-foo/490567 "2009-03-24T12:02:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2009, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-bunny-foo-foo/490567/1 "2009-03-24T12:02:33Z")
You know, the old campfire song. Little bunny foo foo hoping through the forest, scooping up the field mice, and bashing 'em on the head… One of the chinettes, age 4, came home from her pseudo international pre school. Except she was singing a new version: Little bunny foo foo hopping through the forest, scooping up the field mice and \*kiss \*them on the head. Had me laughing my ass off. I wanted to correct her to bashing on the head, but decided actually “kissing” kinda worked in a cooties sorta way and probably was a better lyric for a 4 year old than “bashing” ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2009, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-bunny-foo-foo/490567/2 "2009-03-24T12:16:59Z")
So, down comes the good fairy, and does she have a problem with that? ---
**Author:** ![Baracus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/2bfe46/32.png) [@Baracus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baracus)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2009, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-bunny-foo-foo/490567/3 "2009-03-24T12:18:27Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > So, down comes the good fairy, and does she have a problem with that? The bunny obviously needs to be put on the sex offenders registry. ---
**Author:** ![Arglefraster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3bc359/32.png) [@Arglefraster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arglefraster)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2009, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-bunny-foo-foo/490567/4 "2009-03-24T12:44:32Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > So, down comes the good fairy, and does she have a problem with that? Maybe the good fairy is opposed to interspecies relationships? ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2009, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-bunny-foo-foo/490567/5 "2009-03-24T13:57:00Z")
“Bashing”? Pepper Mill and I always heard “Bopping Them on Their Heads” Now she’s cursing me out for reminder her of that damned song, and is singing “Love Potion Number 9” in an effort to scrub it from her brain. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2009, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-bunny-foo-foo/490567/6 "2009-03-24T14:14:30Z")
I must have led a very sheltered young life. I never heard that song. Edited to add: Now I have. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a84IowoW00w](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a84IowoW00w) ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2009, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-bunny-foo-foo/490567/7 "2009-03-24T14:26:52Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > So, down comes the good fairy, and does she have a problem with that? We always said “guardian angel” but it’s all good. Wonder if she still turns him into a goon? ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2009, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-bunny-foo-foo/490567/8 "2009-03-24T15:24:15Z")
> [@China\_Guy](#): > > You know, the old campfire song. Little bunny foo foo hoping through the forest, scooping up the field mice, and bashing 'em on the head… Bash? No No No. The correct version is Bop the on the head. It has to be because you can do the mouth Popping noise while saying bop!, and you can’t to bash. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2009, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-bunny-foo-foo/490567/9 "2009-03-24T15:32:12Z")
Bopping is definitely the “right” way to sing the song! My husband had never heard it, so after being informed, he changed the lyrics to “popping off their heads”! The hand motion he created was like you were holding a mouse upright in a closed fist, head pointing out the top (between thumb and forefinger), and the other hand does a finger and thumb rough “flick” motion as if popping the head off a daisy. :eek: Then again, “bopping” their heads probably wouldn’t be gentle, either. I’m also curious as to what the Good Fairy’s hang up was about the kinder, gentler mouse grabbing. Probably germs. ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2009, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-bunny-foo-foo/490567/10 "2009-03-24T16:20:21Z")
We have the book of this in our collection upstairs. “Little Rabbit Foo Foo” it’s called (yeah, yeah, I know…) Amongst other violences done to the canon, the good fairy turns him into a “goonie”. And of course misses the punchline. Drives me crazy. So then, of course, I drive the Small People crazy by reading it “wrong” ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2009, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-bunny-foo-foo/490567/11 "2009-03-24T16:38:42Z")
It’s bopping, which is much less violent than bashing. Besides, the good fairy punishes him for his wrongdoing, so changing it to “kissing” sort of defeats the life lesson, doesn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![grayhairedmomma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/47e85d/32.png) [@grayhairedmomma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grayhairedmomma)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2009, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-bunny-foo-foo/490567/12 "2009-03-24T16:45:56Z")
There was no life lesson in that song. It was just a giant setup for the terribly bad pun “Hare today, goon tomorrow.” ---
**Author:** ![legalsnugs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/45deac/32.png) [@legalsnugs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/legalsnugs)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2009, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-bunny-foo-foo/490567/13 "2009-03-24T16:49:25Z")
OMG! How have I lived my whole long life without ever hearing this song/story/joke/whatever? I’ve lived in the Southern US, but also lived three years in the UK. Is this a northern US thing? My grandsons have also been singing something about a baby bumble bee (and it’s ultimate squishing :eek: ) which I had also never heard until recently. I hope that’s not the nicened-up version! ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2009, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-bunny-foo-foo/490567/14 "2009-03-24T17:15:17Z")
> [@legalsnugs](#): > > My grandsons have also been singing something about a baby bumble bee (and it’s ultimate squishing :eek: ) which I had also never heard until recently. I hope that’s not the nicened-up version! No, that’s a different song. 😃 I know, so much violence towards wildlife… My sister claims that as a Girl Scout camp counselor, the counselors had a turnabout-is-fair-play song they’d sing about a bear eating all the Girl Scouts! ---
**Author:** ![filling\_pages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b9bd4f/32.png) [@filling\_pages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filling_pages)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2009, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-bunny-foo-foo/490567/15 "2009-03-24T17:20:50Z")
> [@legalsnugs](#): > > OMG! How have I lived my whole long life without ever hearing this song/story/joke/whatever? I’ve lived in the Southern US, but also lived three years in the UK. Is this a northern US thing? I don’t think so. My friends and I all knew it growing up in N. Florida (which is to say, in the south, as opposed to S. Florida, which is the north. Or something). ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2009, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-bunny-foo-foo/490567/16 "2009-03-24T17:22:09Z")
I never heard the song until I had kids of my own. Shari Lewis and Lamb Chop sang it on their show. ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2009, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-bunny-foo-foo/490567/17 "2009-03-24T17:38:32Z")
These child hoodthings remind me of something I have been wondering about since my friends looked at me like I was crazy when i absentmindedly did it one day. Did anybody else as a kid do the dandelion thing? When you walk by a dandelion you pick it up in your fist and chant “Momma had a baby, but its head popped off” and on “head” you pop the head of the flower off with an upward thumb flick, and see how far you can get it to fly? Was that done elsewhere? ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2009, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-bunny-foo-foo/490567/18 "2009-03-24T18:02:28Z")
> [@wolfman](#): > > Did anybody else as a kid do the dandelion thing? When you walk by a dandelion you pick it up in your fist and chant “Momma had a baby, but its head popped off” and on “head” you pop the head of the flower off with an upward thumb flick, and see how far you can get it to fly? > > Was that done elsewhere? Yep. ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2009, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-bunny-foo-foo/490567/19 "2009-03-24T19:26:49Z")
I used to always wonder what a “goon” was. I’m still confused as to why the Good Fairy turned Little Bunny Foo Foo into hired muscle. Oh, and **legalsnugs** - you’ve brought back memories. “I’m bring home a baby bumblebee, won’t my mommy be so proud of me…” ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2009, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-bunny-foo-foo/490567/20 "2009-03-24T19:33:39Z")
> [@grayhairedmomma](#): > > There was no life lesson in that song. It was just a giant setup for the terribly bad pun “Hare today, goon tomorrow.” Children are never too young to learn the horror of puns. Hopefully, once you’ve scarred them with that, you can gently guide them into the world of Witty Repartee. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/little-bunny-foo-foo/490567.md?page=2)