# "Mable, Mable if you're able . . " children's trick **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 23, 2017, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mable-mable-if-youre-able-childrens-trick/787294 "2017-05-23T18:20:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2017, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mable-mable-if-youre-able-childrens-trick/787294/1 "2017-05-23T18:20:49Z")
Does anyone remember a children’s game - actually it was more of a magic trick - that went something like “Mable, Mable if you’re able, take the quarter from the table”. I’m not talking about the rhyme meant to teach kids manners, or at least I don’t _think_ that’s what I’m half remembering. It seems like it had something to do with having syrup or something sticky on you hand and you could make the coin “appear” and “disappear”. Does that ring anyone’s bell? I was just talking to a coworker, trying to remember the games we used to play at slumber parties (the pillow fights stopped when we were about 8, you pervs). She vaguely recalls some version of the Mable on. I also remember playing _Light as a Feather, Stiff as a Board_ and of course _Bloody Mary_. Can anyone remind me of some others? ---
**Author:** ![delphica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2017, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mable-mable-if-youre-able-childrens-trick/787294/2 "2017-05-24T12:52:18Z")
Another one we used to do was Black Magic. At least two of the kids (the asker and the guesser) had to be in on the trick and I think the point was to play until you figured it out. The guesser would leave the room, the rest of the girls would silently pick an object in the room, and then the guesser would return. The asker would then start “is it the vase? is it the book? is it that picture on the wall?” The guesser would answer no, until the asker came to the correct object, at which point the guesser would say yes. Amazement! ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2017, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mable-mable-if-youre-able-childrens-trick/787294/3 "2017-05-24T15:42:59Z")
My recollection with Black Magic was that the asker would point at random things and the guesser would say now and then the asker would point at something black and that was the hint to the guesser that whatever was pointed at next would be the secret object. A similar game that I remember driving people to distraction with was Johnny Johnny Whoop. You’d tap the fingers of one hand with the index finger of the other hand starting from the pinky and moving toward the thumb, saying Johnny with each tap and sliding your finger down the index finger to the thumb saying “Whoop”. “Johnny, Johnny, Johnny, Johnny, Whoop, Johnny, Whoop, Johnny, Johnny, Johnny, Johnny”. And at the end of the sequence, touch your hair or scratch your ear or fold your arms or whatever pre-determined signal you come up with that doesn’t look like part of the sequence. Other kids are challenged to repeat what you did and if they don’t end with your same secret sign, they did it wrong. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2017, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mable-mable-if-youre-able-childrens-trick/787294/4 "2017-05-24T16:19:13Z")
I’ve never heard of those two but now I feel like having a slumber party! I just remembered how a person would stand in a doorway and extend the arms out to the side, exerting as much force as possible against the door frame. After 30 seconds or whatever they’d walk out of the doorway and their arms would involuntarily raise out to the sides. I still don’t know how that one works. I mean, I _kind_ of do but . . . And don’t forget the magic that is chomping down on wint-o-green Lifesavers in front of a mirror in a dark room. Green sparks! ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2017, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mable-mable-if-youre-able-childrens-trick/787294/5 "2017-05-24T16:20:44Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > My recollection with Black Magic was that the asker would point at random things and the guesser would say now and then the asker would point at something black and that was the hint to the guesser that whatever was pointed at next would be the secret object. > > A similar game that I remember driving people to distraction with was Johnny Johnny Whoop. You’d tap the fingers of one hand with the index finger of the other hand starting from the pinky and moving toward the thumb, saying Johnny with each tap and sliding your finger down the index finger to the thumb saying “Whoop”. “Johnny, Johnny, Johnny, Johnny, Whoop, Johnny, Whoop, Johnny, Johnny, Johnny, Johnny”. And at the end of the sequence, touch your hair or scratch your ear or fold your arms or whatever pre-determined signal you come up with that doesn’t look like part of the sequence. Other kids are challenged to repeat what you did and if they don’t end with your same secret sign, they did it wrong. And then they’d have to drink a shot?😛 ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2017, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mable-mable-if-youre-able-childrens-trick/787294/6 "2017-05-24T16:33:21Z")
> [@WOOKINPANUB](#): > > And then they’d have to drink a shot?😛 Heh. It indeed sounds like a drinking game from my youth. The thing in the OP sounds a little familiar. A puts a coin on the palm of their hand and B would pick it up by placing their hand palm down over A’s and lifting the coin up with it. Then C is challenged to try the same with coin in B’s hand and C can’t do it. The trick was as you say a bit of something sticky on B’s palm to help lift the coin from A’s palm that now holds it more tightly in B’s palm. ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2017, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mable-mable-if-youre-able-childrens-trick/787294/7 "2017-05-24T17:47:42Z")
I always heard “Mabel, Mabel” as “Mabel, Mabel/Set the table/Don’t forget the salt and PEPPER/1, 2, 3…” It was a jump rope rhyme. ---
**Author:** ![Backwater\_Under\_Duck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ba8739/32.png) [@Backwater\_Under\_Duck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Backwater_Under_Duck)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2017, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mable-mable-if-youre-able-childrens-trick/787294/8 "2017-05-25T01:13:35Z")
\*Mabel, oh Mabel You know I love you girl, But I’m not able. Mabel. Oh, oh, oh Mabel, Please get off the kitchen table.\* Wait, that was Procol Harum. On the other hand, it’s nice to know that this otherwise 60s psychedelic musing actually came from somewhere. ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2017, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mable-mable-if-youre-able-childrens-trick/787294/9 "2017-05-25T02:39:32Z")
I just remember: _Mable, Mable, young and able; Get your elbows off the table. This is not a horse’s stable._