Mike wrote:
Hi Mamalisa,
In my family we have a nursery rhyme that we sing to babies… we have always been told that it means something to the affect of a chicken with his head cut off or something like that. This is at least two generations from anyone who could actually speak Polish, so who knows how badly we’re murdering the pronounciation!
Sounded like this:
Oushi Coushi Wapchee,
Oye Chendo Bapchi,
OpaChee Da Choochi,
Cuchee Cuchee Cuchee Cuchee (tickling baby).It looks somewhat like the rhyme you have called Kosi Kosi Lapci in that the first two lines follow the same rhyme scheme… Any help is much appreciated on where this rhyme might have come from and if we are pronouncing it even close to correctly!
Mike
There is a Polish nursery rhyme that involves a chick getting his head taken off – but to me it sounds different from the one above – click the link to read about it on another Mama Lisa’s World Blog post.
Otherwise, if anyone can help, please comment below.
Thanks!
Lisa
This article was posted on Saturday, May 26th, 2007 at 3:02 pm and is filed under Countries & Cultures, Languages, Nursery Rhymes, Poland, Polish, Polish Kids Songs, Questions, Readers Questions. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
17 Responses to “Can Anyone Help with a Polish Nursery Rhyme That Sounds Like “”Oushi Coushi Wapchee”””
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May 28th, 2007 at 3:36 pm
tosi tosi lapci pojedziem do babci
May 28th, 2007 at 3:38 pm
tosi tosi lapci pojedziem to babco at od babci to tati i znajdziemi kot kudlaty – I remember it but not quite – but I will try and remember the rest
June 5th, 2007 at 4:04 pm
tosi tosi lapci, pojedziem do babci, ad od babci do taty, tam jest piesek kudlaty
June 11th, 2007 at 5:35 am
There are some Polish rhymes on the Hamburg Buchstart website http://www.buchstart-hamburg.de/zuhause-kinderreime-international.php
June 13th, 2007 at 7:00 am
My mum sang this to my son when we were in poland in february!
Kosi,kosi lapki
pojedziem do babki
babka da nam maczki
upieczemy paczki.
Kind of translates to:
Clap hands!
we’re going to see gradma, she’ll give us some flour and we’ll make donuts
June 13th, 2007 at 3:41 pm
That’s a nice one! If anyone would like to send me a recording, I’d be happy to post it with the song.
-Lisa
August 10th, 2007 at 12:27 pm
Kosi, kosi lapki,
pojedziem do babki,
babka da nam mleczka,
a dziadek jajeczka
meaning something like
Clap hands!
we’re going to see gradma,
grandma will give us some milk, and grandpa some eggs ;-)
June 18th, 2008 at 11:50 pm
Actually is “ł” in the word “łapki” (like sound “w” in English “water”, “wife” etc. My version is “tosi, tosi łapci, pojedziem do babci; babcia da nam sera, dziadzio kawalera”. I have no idea why “kawalera”, my grandma used to sing like that.
August 13th, 2008 at 3:30 pm
kosi kosi lapki pojedziemy do babki a od babki do dziadka na gruszki i lablka. WHICH BASICALLY TRANSLATES TO clap clap we are going to grandma’s form grandma’s to grandpa’s for pears and apples.
October 2nd, 2008 at 9:17 pm
These are the two versions I am familiar with:
Kosi kosi lapki
pojedziemy do babki
a od babci to taty
tam jest piesek kudlaty
– that one’s basically about going to grandma’s, then to dad’s, where there is a fluffy dog
Kosi kosi lapci
pojedziemy do babci
babcia da gruszeczek
pelen fartuszeczek
– this one is about going to grandma’s and she’ll give us pears, a full apron of them
P.S. There really isn’t any melody to it, it basically goes rhythmically and its purpose is to teach babies to clap to the rhythm of the “song”
October 2nd, 2008 at 10:55 pm
Thanks! If anyone can provide a translation of Monika’s versions, that would be great.
-Mama Lisa
May 23rd, 2009 at 8:05 am
Hi,
I knew a similar rhyme when I was little and I think it involved grandpa milking the wrong animal, a bull instead of a cow. If anyone remembers it or can translate it for me it would mean a lot to me and my mother. My grandmother, the woman who sang it to us, passed on a few years ago.
Many thanks
Kitty
October 12th, 2009 at 2:07 pm
hey,
it “seems” that the version of the song you’ve heard went like that
kosi kosi lapci
pojedziem do babci
od babci do cioci
ciocia da lakoci
(we’ll go to grandma, from grandma to auntie she will give us some sweets :)
(Oushi Coushi Wapchee,
Oye Chendo Bapchi,
OpaChee Da Choochi,
Cuchee Cuchee Cuchee Cuchee )
there are many, many versions of this rhyme – all depending what part of poland you are from and where your family comes from. i am polish and just recently was talking to my friend about this song andm, even though we are both from the same town, we know completely different versions.
when it comes to the melody, there is some sort of melody to it. here just 1 of the links i found to give you general idea:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPWwc1TF760&feature=related
if you google kosi kosi or tosi tosi as some people know this song as, you will get hundres of results from youtube
good luck
May 19th, 2014 at 1:41 pm
My mother sang a similar song to my children. I’m not sure of the spelling, but it went like this:
kosi kosi lapci
pojedziem do babci
babci da pieroga
raz dwa trzy!
February 17th, 2018 at 6:55 am
Kosi kosi łapci
Clap, Clap, Little Hands
Hand Clapping Song
(Polish)
Kosi kosi łapci,
pojedziem do babci.
Babcia da nam mleczka,
a dziadzius pierniczka.
Clap, clap, little hands,
We will go to Grandma’s.
Granny will give us milk,
And Grandpa a gingerbread cookie.
June 28th, 2018 at 11:00 pm
Hi Id love you send you a recording. Let me know how you’d like me to send it.
June 29th, 2018 at 12:06 pm
Hi Maria, Would you like to email it to me? I’m at lisa@mamalisa.com. Thanks! :) Mama Lisa