There was an insult I remember from childhood that was sort of a ditty. It went something like this:
____ is a friend of mine
He will do you anytime,
For a nickel or a dime
Twenty cents for overtime
And then there were a few more lyrics. I seem to recall that the words “fickle pickle” were in the forgotten lyrics.
Does anyone remember this childhood taunt, and the compete lyrics?
Sorry, but no! My childhood was much too sheltered to allow such a taunt!
Our taunt (to what must be the same tune) was:
_________ is a friend of mine.
He resembles Frankenstein.
When he does the Irish jig,
he resembles Porky Pig!
(I also learned “Eeny, meeny, miney, moe, catch a tiger by the toe” and for years didn’t know what the fuss was all about! )
I heard a guy who was young at the time of the Nixon elections talking about how he used to recite that with Nixon’s name in it.
Wait. What IS all the fuss about?
I also learned it with tiger. In fact, the whole neighborhood said that with tiger, and no one got upset. I didn’t learn about the other version until Jr. High sometime.
Lynne_kilii:
The old version used to replace tiger with n*gger.
Huh. Never heard that. Thanks.
Wow. I’m almost 27 years old and I’ve never heard it as anything but tiger. Must be that “Minnesota nice”, I guess.
Put me in the tiger crowd.
I grew up in the South (several states), and didn’t hear the other version until I was reading about racial issues in high school.
It was “tiger” in Philly where I learned it.
Why, I know at least one answer to your question.
'Gizmo is a friend of mine…
…
Now I have my credit card
Now he does it twice as hard"
I think the OP of
______ is a friend of mine
is a rather modern invention.
Growing up in the late 1940’s-50’s, I never heard it.
I’m 30, and I never heard of anything but “Catch a tiger…” until just now.
Also never heard the rhyme in the OP (grew up in L.A. in the 70’s/80’s.)
I heard the Irish jig version of the OP’s verse. It didn’t have a second verse.
I learned the unexpurgated version of ennie meanie, in the early fifties, when being racially prejudiced was pretty much unremarkable. I never used it much, though, because it made me uncomfortable.
The sad part was that it was speaking out against prejudice that made me feel uncomfortable, not prejudice itself. I knew it was wrong, but I also knew it was very common.
Tris
My childhood seems to be a bit rough around the edges. I learned the song along these lines:
(Person’s name; best if two syllables) is no friend of mine,
he will sock me for a dime,
50 cents for overtime,
he will sock me every time!
If I use my credit card,
he will sock me extra hard,
If I pant and rant and roar,
He will sock me through the door!
Ta rah rah boom de ay,
There is no school today,
The teacher passed away,
Because of tooth decay!
…and that’s all I can remember…
As an aside, do you remember the old “Comet” song?
Comet,
It makes your mouth so clean.
Comet,
It makes your teeth turn green!
Comet!
It makes you vomit!
So get some Comet,
and vomit,
today!
Wow, nearly 20 year old thread.
Hi @AttAtt
Welcome
I’m guessing most of the posters here weren’t kids in the early 60’s.
I didn’t hear the tiger version until I was almost a teenager.
Yeah, I was a kid in the Seventies, in liberal areas mind you, but I never heard of the non-tiger version before seeing this thread. 
As for the rhyme in the OP, I only know it from Stephen King, not from personal experience.
I DO, however, vividly remember the Comet song!
Probably depends on where you were.
I heard the tiger version back in the 50’s.
Wisconsin 37 miles north of Milwaukee.
What stands out in my mind is that kids used the “N’ version in front of teachers and parents and nobody blinked. My Pop said something about it once but I was so young it went over my head.
As kids I don’t think any of us had a clue what we were actually saying.
Here’s what I remember, 7th grade art class in 1977: When <boy’s name> was young, he had no sense. He took <girl’s name> behind a fence. He gave her a dollar not to holler. He gave her a nickel to grease his pickle. He gave her a dime for extra time.