# Olly Olly Oxen Free **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 14, 2000, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olly-olly-oxen-free/25561 "2000-07-14T14:08:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Kate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f04885/32.png) [@Kate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kate)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2000, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olly-olly-oxen-free/25561/1 "2000-07-14T14:08:45Z")
Can anyone tell me the origin of this phrase? I’ve been running across it frequently in books lately. As far as I know, it’s something kids (in America) say when finishing a game of hide and seek. /Kate ---
**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:** [July 14, 2000, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olly-olly-oxen-free/25561/2 "2000-07-14T14:19:14Z")
There was an earlier thread dealing with EXACTLY this question – try the search feature and you should get it. For what its worth, I aways thought it was “All the, all the Out’s in Free”, which makes sense. Unfortunately, just because something makes sense doesn’t mean that it’s right. What I thought was “Hear ye, hear ye” turns out to be “Oyez, oyez” in courts. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2000, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olly-olly-oxen-free/25561/3 "2000-07-14T15:02:31Z")
[What’s the meaning of Ollie, Ollie oxen go free?](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a900622a.html) ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2000, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olly-olly-oxen-free/25561/4 "2000-07-14T20:40:46Z")
Cecil’s column engendered a thread in **Comments on Cecil’s columns** , [Ollie ollie outs in free free free](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=1974). As for me, I could have sworn is was a German phrase; something like, “Alles, Alles achtung freis”, “Hey watch out everybody out in the open.” Maybe not, but I could have sworn . . . ---
**Author:** ![panamajack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/47e85d/32.png) [@panamajack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panamajack)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2000, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olly-olly-oxen-free/25561/5 "2000-07-14T22:52:29Z")
Unfortunately I’ve never played Hide-and-Seek in German, but I could tell you that “frei”, German for “free” would not be pronounced as “free”. More like “fry”. And the meaning with that word order would be much like the English word order : “Everybody pay attention - [there are] free! [people]” as opposed to “everybody’s free”. Maybe I’m being pedantic here, perhaps you meant that it was a pidgin German phrase … Confusing note on German pronunciation of ie/ei for English speakers : These sounds take the _English_ long vowel sound of the second vowel written : Sie = Zee, sei = zigh. (The confusion comes in when you try to explain that the German sound ‘ie’ is pronouced like German ‘i’ and ‘ei’ is n’t represented by any single vowel.) This is in my name, and while I’d like people to know this, I don’t expect them too. panama jeick ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2000, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olly-olly-oxen-free/25561/6 "2000-07-15T01:21:11Z")
I should have read the link I provided more carefully. In it, **matthew7** says > [@](#): > > As a child in Austria I learned to use “Alle, Alle, In komm frei” As far as I know it translates to what you’d expect (everybody, everybody, come in free) and it seems to be the only version I’ve heard of that’s gramatically correct, and not gibberish.