# olly olly oxen free revisited **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [July 16, 2010, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olly-olly-oxen-free-revisited/546915 "2010-07-16T14:22:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![happy2bhere](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8e8cbc/32.png) [@happy2bhere](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/happy2bhere)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2010, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olly-olly-oxen-free-revisited/546915/1 "2010-07-16T14:22:57Z")
I recently took a German language course and came across some words that made me think that the old “Olly Olly oxen free” phrase is a result of the telephone game. “alle, alle, auch in frei” translates from German to English as: “all, all, also in free” and sounds like “ollie ollie oxen free”. And it makes a lot more sense to me than calling in the oxen. I know that Cecil covered this in 1990, but I think something got missed! Am I onto something, or just on something? [http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1102/whats-the-meaning-of-ollie-ollie-oxen-go-free](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1102/whats-the-meaning-of-ollie-ollie-oxen-go-free) -Richard ---
**Author:** ![Powers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Powers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Powers)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2010, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olly-olly-oxen-free-revisited/546915/2 "2010-07-16T18:11:02Z")
> [@](#): > > And it makes a lot more sense to me than calling in the oxen. Surely, but as Cecil notes, the original phrase was likely “All the outs in free”. “Outs in” became “oxen”. While “auch in” might sound superficially similar, I think you need something more than just “it sounds good” to convince anyone. (Note also that the pronunciation of “frei” is audibly different from “free”, and, as the last word of the phrase, less likely to be corrupted.) Powers &8^] ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2010, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olly-olly-oxen-free-revisited/546915/3 "2010-07-16T19:45:17Z")
> [@happy2bhere](#): > > Am I onto something, or just on something? Why can’t you be both? ---
**Author:** ![John\_W.Kennedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_w.kennedy/32/1031_2.png) [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2010, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olly-olly-oxen-free-revisited/546915/4 "2010-07-17T17:27:49Z")
There was _some_ German influence on US English about a hundred years ago. “Nit” (from _nicht_) for “not” lasted into the 1930s. But I grant an American origin seems more likely. ---
**Author:** ![qazwart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/5fc32e/32.png) [@qazwart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/qazwart)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2010, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olly-olly-oxen-free-revisited/546915/5 "2010-07-18T03:57:41Z")
> [@happy2bhere](#): > > I recently took a German language course and came across some words that made me think that the old “Olly Olly oxen free” phrase is a result of the telephone game. > > “alle, alle, auch in frei” translates from German to English as: “all, all, also in free” and sounds like “ollie ollie oxen free”. It’d be interesting to see if the same phrase is used in Germany when playing hide-and-go-seek. If the Germans say"alle, alle, auch in frei", you’re definitely on to something. Then, the question is why do we use a German phrase in hide-and-go-seek. Was the game originally from Germany? Did this come from Germany to England when the house of [STRIKE]Hamburg[/STRIKE] Windsor became the line of the crown?