# playground song nonsense lyrics

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/playground-song-nonsense-lyrics/297302>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [April 1, 2005, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/playground-song-nonsense-lyrics/297302 "2005-04-01T21:07:02Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![skippercollector](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/54ee81/32.png) [@skippercollector](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/skippercollector)\
**Post date:** [April 1, 2005, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/playground-song-nonsense-lyrics/297302/1 "2005-04-01T21:07:02Z")

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When I started grade school in the late '60s, there was a hand-clapping/slapping game that the girls did on the playground while singing nonsense lyrics. The lyrics went something like:

“Om i nama, cue mi nama  
Cue mi nama feast day  
Om i nama, cue mi nama  
Cue mi nama feast day  
Oh, no, no, no, no feast day  
Oh, no, no, no, no feast day  
Itsy bitsy teen weeny yellow polka dot bikini  
Itsy bitsy teeny weeny I mean you!  
Oh, no, no, no, no feast day  
Oh, no, no, no, no feast day.”

(Considering that I went to Catholic school, that may have been where the words “feast day” came from.)  
In 1989 a group called Guadalcanal Diary performed the song on the album Flip-Flip, with slightly different lyrics. They went something like:

“Vista!  
Coo ma lotta, coo ma lotta  
Coo ma lotta vista!  
No, no, no lot of vista!  
Eeny meeny ex a meeny  
Ool all a lot of meeny  
Ex ee meany zol a meeny  
Doo wop a dop  
Beep billy oop did dod a dip dop."

I have wondered if maybe these lyrics weren’t originally nonsense, that perhaps they were the bastardization of a language other than English. If that’s the case, what language is it, and what do the lyrics translate to?  
I know you’re tempted to make a comment about (a) the 1960s, (b) Catholic school, or © children slapping each other on the playground, but first, they aren’t my question, and secondly, I’ve heard all the jokes about those three topics before.

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**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\
**Post date:** [April 1, 2005, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/playground-song-nonsense-lyrics/297302/2 "2005-04-01T21:57:07Z")

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Here’s a similar lyric in a Boy Scout camp song:

[http://www.scoutsongs.com/lyrics/flea.html](http://www.scoutsongs.com/lyrics/flea.html)

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**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\
**Post date:** [April 1, 2005, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/playground-song-nonsense-lyrics/297302/3 "2005-04-01T22:04:40Z")

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There’s some discussion of the song here:

> **[Songs to sing with Children](https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=2667&threadid=2667)**
>
> Looking for new songs to sing to (and with) my kids. I have searched and browsed through digital traditions and plucked out many