Susan from Virginia Beach, Virginia, remembers a toe-counting game from her childhood that goes “This toe tight / this penny white / this toe tizzle / this penny wizzle.” She doesn’t recall the rest and has no idea where it came from. There are many versions of this kind of rhyme, particularly in the traditions of Scandinavia and Germany. Among them are the one that goes “Peedee / peedee loo / loodee whistle / whistle nobble / and great big hobble tobble!” And another that goes “Little Pea / Penny Rou / Judy Whistle / Mary Tossle / and Big Tom Bumble.” Susan remembers another one that involves gently slapping the bottom of the child’s foot: “Shoe the old horse / and shoe the old mare / and let the little colt go bare, bare, bare.” The blog Mama Lisa’s World has a multitude of other versions. Henry Bolton’s 1888 book The Counting-Out Rhymes of Children, which is available in its entirety online, is another good source of these, although some of the rhymes may be offensive to modern readers. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Counting-Out Rymes for Toes”
Hello, you have A Way with Words.
Hi, this is Susan in Virginia Beach, Virginia.
Hi, Susan. What’s up?
When I was a young child, my grandmother was mostly raising me because my mother was working. And, well, she used a saying that I have never heard before. And she used to take my toes and instead of this little piggy, she would say, this toe tight, this penny white, this toe tizzle, this penny whizzle. And that’s only four toes. So I never did figure out where the, until I was older, of course, because you don’t know when you’re a child. But it was something that stuck with me and I have no idea where it came from.
Okay, let’s hear that again.
This toe tight?
This toe tight, this penny white, this toe tizzle, this penny whizzle.
Okay. And then there was a missing toe somewhere.
Oh, dear.
But you had all 10 toes, is that right?
Absolutely, yes.
Okay. Well, I think this is a new one from the look on Grant’s face. This is a new one for both of us. But there are so many different versions of this, particularly among people who are of Germanic or Scandinavian heritage.
That’s really interesting. I’m looking at a list of them now. Here’s one that goes, P.D., P.D. Lou, Ludie Whistle, Whistle Nobble, and Great Big Hobble Tobble.
Wow. You know, it’s almost like a game of telephone. You know, that party game where you whisper in somebody’s ear and then they whisper what they think you said to somebody else? Because there’s so many different versions of this because it’s not really the kind of thing you write down. It’s just something that you pass on from generation to generation. And a lot of these end up with the big toe being something like great big hobble-tobble. Like here’s another one from a family of German heritage, Heedy Peed Penny Rue, Rudy Rissell, Minnie Tossel, and Big Tom Bumble.
Well, that sounds a little familiar on that.
It does, right?
Yeah, it does.
Okay. It does.
Yeah, and there are, of course, all kinds of sound effects. And you can start with Tom Bumble and go down to Fod Hassell, Mary Whistle, Penny Rue, and Auntie P. You’re supposed to extend the P out there.
Well, I thought I would check it out because I have two twin grandsons that are four. But ever since they’ve been little, you know, I do these same things that my grandmother did. And I don’t know. Who knows? One day they may wonder where all this came from.
Susan, did you add a rhyme for the big toe?
I did not add anything else. She used to do another one with slapping the bottom of my foot. Shoo the old horse and shoo the old mare and let the little colt go bear, bear, bear. And that one I do with the kids a lot. Well, I did when they were babies. And they just love it. I mean, they’re fascinated with it.
This is really great, Susan. And you know what’s funny is when we touched on this once or twice, and the thing that I remember besides being utterly charmed by these rhymes is how many show up in our voicemail. We’ll get people doing these rhymes for weeks. And we’ll try to share a bunch more of them. But thank you for sharing this from your family.
Well, we really appreciate it.
Well, thank you so much for including me on your show. I really appreciate that.
Oh, it’s our pleasure. By the way, I want to leave you with two resources you can check for some more of these. There’s a site called Mama Lisa’s World, and she has an article from 2006 called The Origins of Some Scandinavian Finger and Toe Naming Rhymes. And her article’s good, but the comments really shine. There’s hundreds of comments from people sharing their versions of toe counting and finger counting rhymes.
Really?
Yeah, it’s wonderful. So Mama Lisa’s World, just Google Mama Lisa’s World toe naming rhymes. And then there’s a book called Counting Out Rhymes because these are usually called Counting Out Rhymes. The Counting Out Rhymes of Children. It’s by Henry Bolton and it’s from 1888. And you can get the whole book on Google Books or archive.org. Some of it is offensive to the modern ear and eye. So you want to read it first before you share it with your children or grandchildren. But it’s very wonderful. It’s got a ton of this stuff.
Susan, thank you so much.
I will. Thank you.
All righty. Take care. Have a great day.
Bye-bye.
Bye-bye.
Bye-bye.
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