“Ollie, Ollie Oxen Free” and Other Hide-and-Seek Calls

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hi, this is Cheryl calling from Montevideo, Uruguay.

Oh, hello.

Uruguay.

So, Cheryl, what’s on your mind?

Well, the question I had, I was actually listening to Fresh Air the other day on the podcast. That’s how I get your show as well.

Awesome.

And her guest, Terry Gross’ guest, said, olly olly oxen free. Now, of course, I don’t know if I’m actually saying that right or not. But, of course, it’s what I remember yelling when I played hide-and-seek as a child.

Now, where was that?

Either you have a really great accent or you grew up in the United States.

I’m originally from Portland, Oregon.

Oh, okay. All right.

As I said, when I was a kid, I always thought it was olly olly oxen free. If you spelled in my head, I spelled it O-L-L-Y, O-L-L-Y, O-X-E-N, free, F-R-E-E.

Mm—

And eventually, I remember, I think I was about seven or eight, I asked my grandmother, why are there oxen in hide-and-seek? And she said she remembered it as all the outs in free.

-huh.

All the people who were out hiding got to come in free, and I guess the game started over again.

-huh.

And where was she from?

She was from Austin, Texas, and it surrounds.

Mm—

So my question is, what was the original phrase, and did some sort of elision happen with all the to become Ollie, and oxen from out’s in? What was the original, and does it vary over English-speaking North America?

Absolutely it does, and your instincts are quite correct there. The Dictionary of American Regional English has lots of entries on this phrase.

As I recall, the original phrase was, all who are out may come in free.

Wow.

Which, of course, is, yeah. I mean, that’s a mouthful for a little kid to say.

It’s a lot longer.

Yeah, no kid’s going to say that for more than a minute before they change it.

Yeah, now, Cheryl, I will tell you that growing up in Kentucky, the way I heard it was not the way you heard it. You heard it, ollie ollie oxen free. When I was really young and we were playing this game, my friend Susan, who used to spend summers in the Deep South and then come back to Kentucky, came back from the Deep South saying, ollie ollie ump free.

Oh, I’ve never heard that one.

Ollie ollie ump free, like umpire. Ollie ollie ump free. And because she was more forceful than the rest of us and we thought she was really cool, all of us in my little group in Kentucky started saying ollie ollie ump free.

That’s one example of how that kind of thing can change.

But Grant, I mean, you’re a big fan of children’s games.

Yeah, this is something I love reading about this kind of folklore.

But we didn’t use that phrase. I only know it from the Charles Schultz Peanuts comics. Lucy uses it in one of those. I’ll see if I can dig that up to post on the website.

But you know, Cheryl, Martha’s right. In D.A.R.E., I counted 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. There are nine different uses of this term.

Nine.

And one of my favorite ones of all time, though, is the one that spelled O-L-E-O-E-L-E-O-L-S-E-N all in free. Ole, Ole Olsen all in free.

Olsen. Where is that? In Minnesota or someplace?

No, no. It was actually, well, southern Illinois in the north central Pacific states and a little bit in the northeast. So it was just that’s how far it got corrupted.

And your instincts about how it changed are exactly right. Things that are shouted just tend not to hold their form.

Here’s another great one from Utah. Olly Olly Oxford all in free.

Interesting.

Well, thanks for answering my question, and it’s really been a pleasure talking to you both.

Shell, thanks so much for calling from Montevideo.

All right.

Well, I’ll say saludos del Uruguay, and hasta luego.

Saludos, besotes a todos.

Beso.

Ciao.

Bueno, ciao, ciao.

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