This is a nonsense counting-out rhyme like "Eenie meenie miney moe". It can be found all over the Spanish speaking world…
De tin marín de dos pingüé*,
Cúcara, mácara, títere fue,
Yo no fui, fue Teté,
Pégale, pégale, al quien fue.
Tin Marin of two big ones,
Cockroach, mockroach, it was a puppet,
It wasn't me, it was Teté,
Smack, smack, the one who did it.
Notes
*The actual word is pingüe, stressed on the first syllable, it means big, fat.
Re. The translations of the first 2 lines: Given that they're nonsense, we either translated it to the closest possible meaning (i.e. de do pingüé = de dos pingües = of two big ones) or just used a meaningless phrase made up to give a similar effect as the original Spanish (i.e. cockroach, mockroach).
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Below are some variations of this rhyme…
Different versions of the 1st line of the rhyme:
1. De tin marín, dedo pingüé (Tin Marin, big finger)
2. Tin marín de do pingüé
3. Tatín marín de do pingüé
4. De tin marín de don pingüé (De tin marin from sir pingüe/mister big)
Different Versions of the last line of this rhyme:
1. Pégale, pégale, con la punta del pie (Hit him, hit him with the tip of your foot.)
2. Pégale, pégale, que ella fue (Hit her, hit her, because she did it.)
3. Pégale, pégale, que ella merita fue (Hit her, hit her, because she did it herself.)
4. Pégale, pégale, que él fue (Hit him, hit him, because he did it.)
5. Pégale, pégale, que él merito fue (Hit him, hit him, because he did it himself.)
6. Que ese cochino marrano fue (Because this dirty pig did it.)
Thanks and Acknowledgements
Translated by Monique and Lisa.
Many thanks to Monique Palomares for the mp3.
