Eight Egotistical Egotists Eating Eggs and Other Cumulative Tales

Welcome to A Way with Words.

Hi, this is Heidi calling from Reno, Nevada.

From Reno, Nevada.

Well, Heidi, we’re glad to have you here.

What’s on your mind?

Well, a long time ago, back in 1988, 1989, I learned a bar game, and it had to do with, can you remember to say 10 things in a row? And it starts off easy, but then it gets a little harder.

Oh, you’ve got to share this.

Okay, are you ready?

Yeah, yeah, fire away.

Yep, bring it.

It goes, one fat hen, a couple of ducks, three brown bear, four running hare, five fickle female, six simple Simon, seven Siamese sailors sucking swan, eight egotistical egotists eating eggs, nine nymphading nymphs nibbling on a gnat’s nucleus and ten Turkish tykes swiftly sailing down the Swanee River while singing Old Lang Syme.

Wow.

Oh my gosh.

And this is a bar game?

Yeah.

This is an example of what’s known in folklore as a cumulative tale or a formula tale. And you can find examples well back into the 19th century, that is the 1800s, as parlor games or kind of just oral amusements where you’re challenged, as you said, to recall an expanding series of phrases.

And so there are lots of these more common cumulative tales that probably more people know are the 12 days of Christmas or the old lady who swallowed a fly because they just keep building. Each verse you add a little bit more and you’ve got to remember what came before.

And in the bar context, did you have to drink when you got it wrong?

We drink anyway.

Gotcha.

It didn’t matter. But typically as a bar game, there’s a penalty for making a mistake.

And then there are some versions of it. There are lots of versions of this, as you might expect. That’s often the case with folklore. There’s some versions that are so cleverly worded that if you mess them up, you’re going to be swearing. You’re going to say naughty language. And so we can’t share those versions on the show.

Yeah, Heidi, is this bringing back memories?

Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. This was sometimes put forward as early as the 1920s as an announcer’s test. And comedian Jerry Lewis used to do a version of this as part of his comedy routines where you just cycle through it. And when you see somebody do it well, it’s kind of astonishing because it’s pretty great. And you see why they’re a professional actor.

Yeah, there’s some modern versions that are very modern. And you can tell by the time you get to the T’s. For example, one of them has this line. And you’ll hear all these modern words in it. Ten two-tone, ten-ton transcontinental tanker trucks with tandem trailers traveling from Tyler, Texas to Tallahassee, Tennessee, trucking 12 tanks of Texaco 2 tests with tech row line on 22 tires with terrible dreads.

Oh, my God.

But Tekro line and tires and Texaco True Test, these are all modern concepts. So it definitely undergoes kind of a rehabilitation or re-upholstering every time it gets barred into a new generation.

I love it.

Well, Heidi, thank you so much for calling. This was a lot of fun.

Well, thank you. I love listening to you guys every single week. I just find it so much fun. I love it.

Thank you.

Yay.

Another one, another one.

We got another one.

All right.

Take care of yourself.

Thank you.

Bye-bye.

Thank you.

Bye-bye.

Bye-bye.

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