Patricia wrote:
Wondering if you have heard the words to a 50’s skipping game we played using elastics?
I believe it was originally a Korean children’s game and the children of missionaries brought it back to Canada in 1939. Original words:
Rioyun, Kaiyo, Yaku navide etc.
This song was taught to commemorate the victory of Russian-Japanese war of 1905 and written by a Japanese poet (After this war, Japan occupied Korea).
The words we sang as children here in Ontario were:
Yoki and the Kaiser, Yoki addy ay, Tamba, so-ba, Sa-du, say-day. Yoki in the Kaiser, Yoki allee-ay, Kick him in the so-po, Sa-du, sa-day!
We had no idea what we were singing!
Patricia
Ontario Canada
It just so happens that Bill Conrad had asked me about this song last year. Here’s what he wrote:
In Montreal, in the 50’s, girls used to celebrate Spring with skipping ropes and elastics. While playing the elastic game they sung a “ditty” that went somewhat like this,”Yolem a Kaiser,Yokem addiay….” Do you know what I am referring to? Bill Conrod
I’m not familiar with this song. If anyone else can help out with the lyrics, meaning or origins of this song (or of the original song it comes from) please comment below.
Thanks!
Lisa
PS I have one question for Patricia and Bill: Does skipping ropes with elastics mean playing Chinese jump rope?
This article was posted on Friday, May 4th, 2007 at 10:57 am and is filed under American Kids Songs, Canada, Canadian Children's Songs, Children's Songs, Chinese Jump Rope, Countries & Cultures, Elastics, English, Games Around the World, Japan, Korean, Korean Children's Songs, Languages, Questions, Readers Questions, Skipping Game, South Korea, USA. 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.
May 8th, 2007 at 12:46 pm
I never knew this game to be called “Chinese jump rope”. We just called it the elastic jumping game! But on many sites, in researching the internet, I guess that this game really was and still is, called Chinese Jump Rope. It is mentioned as that through out all inquiries that I made when referring to my elastic game.
May 8th, 2007 at 2:26 pm
In France we call it “jeu de l’élastique” -elastic (jumping) game- too.
November 6th, 2007 at 11:08 am
This sounds more Japanese than Korean to me. I doubt Koreans celebrate the Japanese victory in this war, because absent the balancing Russian influence on the penisnsula, Korea had to endure the bitter experience of being slaves to the Japanese colonial masters.
March 24th, 2008 at 10:34 am
I found this citation (page 152) in a book called “Sally Go Round the Sun,” compiled by Edith Fouke (ISBN 0385025130), that’s now long out of print:
YOKI AND THE KAISER. This rhyme, in many forms, is very popular with Canadian children. It is used for a variation on skipping in which a long piece of elastic is raised and lowered while the player goes over or under it. It is said to be a Korean children’s game that the children of missionaries brought back to Canada. Margaret Burbidge, daughter of Reb. and Mrs. W. A. Burbidge, came home to Toronto from Korea in 1939 and introduced the game into Humewood public school. She says the original words in phonetic spelling were:
Riojun Kaijo Yaku naride
Deki no syo-koong Stetseru
Noki daisye-do Kai Ken no
Do Ko ro was Isko sui si ei,
and gives this rough translation: “After the agreement to open the gate of the castle (or stronghold) the place were General Nogi met General Stetseru, the general of the enemy was at Shi Ei.” That was the battle for possession of Port Arthur in the Russo-Japanese War of 1905, and a Japanese poet wrote a song to celebrate it. After that war, the Japanese occupied Korea, and this song was taught to commemorate the victory, and picked up by children for their game. It is now widely known throughout Canada, usually as “Yoki and the Kaiser.” A. East York children, 1959 (FO 232). B. Elizabeth Elms, 1960. Cf. McLean’s, July 6, 1963, 18, 42.
I hope this is helpful!
June 14th, 2008 at 1:46 am
i want to see the video of the korean song the young frog and the adult frog
August 14th, 2008 at 6:26 pm
If that is the correct phonetic pronunciation, the song is definately Japanese, not Korean. I also agree with Hanja Man. Koreans did NOT celebrate any Japanese victory, however children do quickly pick up songs.
May 23rd, 2009 at 1:13 pm
I remember that song well, but we made up the words as we went along. I thought It was Yokie on a Kaiser, Yokie 98 and the rest was just jibberish. LOL. We used to tie elastics together and put one leg over
July 3rd, 2009 at 11:46 am
The game you refer is called gomujul in Korean, meaning long elastic string. I do not know if the game is called Chinese Jumping Rope or not since I grew up in Korea. The elastic string is about 2 -3meters long. The game is mostly played by girls. There will be two people holding the ends at a certain height( at ankle, knee, hip, waist, chest, shoulder, top of the head and lastly at the tip of upwardly extended finger) and one person is in the middle performs series of movements using the elastic string. Each time the person in the middle completes the motions successfully to the end of the song, she will have advanced to the next level( height ). When the person messes up, she becomes the person holding an end of the string.
I played gomujul
July 3rd, 2009 at 11:48 am
I played gomujul a lot while growing up in Korea in 60’s but I do not know the song you want to know. Is there a music to go with this? I can ask around.
September 27th, 2009 at 7:38 pm
In Toronto (Downsview) in the late -50s we played a game with a string usually 3m in length, made of elastic bands looped together, which we called a yoki rope. Often the game involved two ropes which might even be held at different heights. I don’t recall any songs or rhymes, but we definitely called the game Yoki.
March 25th, 2010 at 11:54 pm
I remember playing this game in Port Credit at Tecumseh Public School in the late 50s. I took a course in Canadian folk music at the University of Calgary in the summers of 81-83 and one of the guest lecturers was the renowned Edith Fowke. The class consisted of about 125 music educators from across Canada and when mention of this song came up, Edith asked how many of us had ever heard it. 6 of us put up our hands and then she asked us where we had learned it. All of us were from in and around Toronto. Gotta’ love the oral tradition!
June 14th, 2010 at 2:20 pm
I am so happy to read that others know of this game and song. I always believed it to be a throw back to WW1 with a song dedicated to the Kaiser of Germany. How wrong. We played the game in Toronto 1946-8. And, we went to Humewood Public School so must have been in direct contact with Margaret Burbidge. The tune that I remember was similar to ‘Sweetly Sings the Donkey’.
Thank you for casting light on a puzzle I’ve mulled over for 60 years.
August 28th, 2010 at 3:06 pm
We played this endlessly in Leaside (Toronto) in the 1950s. I think we sang “Yokis in the kaiser, yokis oddy-ay. Tangus in the sobo, saw do, saw day.”
You got yourself all twisted up in the elastic, then had to untangle by the time the song ended. Some girls knew how to make intricate loops around their legs, which would come apart completely at the end with one snap of the elastic. I never figured out how they did it.
September 22nd, 2010 at 9:34 pm
Yes, I remember “Yoki” as Janet has commented. After the verse we added “double saw day saw day” and yes I could with one snap of the elastic be completely unwound. I’ve been teaching my 2 year old grand daughter the verse and she loves it. It’s very “catchie”. I grew up in Leaside as well.
February 9th, 2011 at 6:10 pm
I can confirm that this was introduced to southern Ontario by my aunt Margaret, and I could probably get her to recall the tune. However, my aunt was born in 1928, and by 1946 would have been out of Humewood for some time.
February 9th, 2011 at 7:23 pm
We would love to learn the tune James!
March 23rd, 2011 at 8:24 pm
So glad I have found this site! I remember playing this game endlessly as a kid growing up in Montreal in the 50’s.
We used the same words, but ended with “soldier, sailor, saw-do, saw-day.
We just twisted our leg under and over the elastic, with a jump at each twist.
Used to beg my Mom for the elastic out of her sewing box.. memories!
June 16th, 2011 at 10:18 pm
I remember this game very well from Wilmington PS in suburban Toronto in the late 1950s. It was played by girls – they had the flexibility for it, I guess. The words were sung to a tune similar to the old country song “Skip to my Lu”. The girls also played a lot of “double Dutch” skipping with a very long doubled up rope, I had no idea how they managed the trick of skipping inside two ropes being swung alternately/conversely against each other.
August 25th, 2011 at 9:48 am
What encyclopedia could ever have given me all of this wonderful information on “Yoki and a Kaiser?!” I just typed it in and voila! Well, I came to Toronto from England in 1952 and went to Rawlinson Public School, near Oakwood and Rogers Rd. I quickly learned two recess games, “Yoki” and “Ordinary Movings.” Our version of “Yoki” was: Yoki and a Kaiser, Yoke a noddy aye, Tank in a sobel, Sa do Sa day. I can’t name the melody, but can certainly sing it now, as I did then.
“Ordinary Movings…”, was played with rubber balls against a wall. As you threw the ball and said the verse, you made the motions–one, hand the other hand, clap at the front, clap at the back etc. You couldn’t wait to get out to recess and PLAY with your modest ‘equipment.’
August 25th, 2011 at 10:17 am
Thanks for sharing! If you’d ever like to sing it for us we’d love to post it! Cheers! Mama Lisa
October 14th, 2011 at 3:15 pm
I am so happy to have found this site! For years I remembered” Yoki” and thought that the words I remembered were nonsense words that I had conjured up because I couldn’t remember the proper words. Then, there in print were the exact words that I remembered singing during recesses at St. George’s P.S in the 50’s.I also remember playing “rounders” as well as loads of “double-dutch” …. all with dresses on!
January 3rd, 2012 at 8:21 pm
Wow, I have been looking for someone who remembers the elastic song for years! However, we sang a different version…
Yogi and a Keiser…yogi -on-ee-ay (yogi on the lake was the original wording)… (the)-lake…tank in a sew-baot….sewy, sewy..ay. (repeated)
So: Yogi and a Keiser….yogi on-ee-ay….tank in a sew(n) boat…sewy, sewy…ay.
See below:
Yogi – hindu, bhuddist, south Asian person
Kaiser (short for Kaiserreich)- A Slang for the German Empire
Tank – artillery tank
Sew (or sewn) boat – a type of wooden boat
Sewy, Sewy..ay – just a rhyme at the end
Karen
March 17th, 2012 at 12:07 am
What a delight to read about all the different versions! I played this in the 50s at Davisville P.S. near Davisville and Yonge Streets, and again at Maurice Cody P.S. when we moved closer to Leaside (Bayview & Eglinton) in Toronto.
The words for me, thanks to the “broken telephone” effect, were “Yogi and the Kaiser, Yogi audie-ay; Tanks in the So-Fah, Skiddoo, Skidday”.
With mention of the Kaiser and tanks, I thought for sure it had something to do with WWI as Carolyn did. Amazing to find out it was Japanese all along!
We played with a 2-3 meter elastic that was either single or double depending on the “degree of difficulty” we were trying to achieve. The elastic was wrapped around two girls who held it at ground, ankle, knee, etc., level. While singing the ditty, we’d bend our knee and touch the ground on the other side of the elastic (or between them). Then back on this side for the next phrase. At “Skiddoo”, we jumped over the elastic entirely, and jumped back on “Skidday”. If you touched the elastic or missed, you were out.
The tune was similar to the first lines of “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” ending at “what you are” which would have been the Skiddoo, Skidday.
Thanks, Christine, for reminding me of “Ordinary Movings”! I got all nostalgic over those red, white and blue rubber balls. Between that, Double Dutch, Yogi, and Hopscotch, I had a lot of skinned knees in those years. :-)
–Beth
March 26th, 2012 at 11:13 am
Oh my Gosh! I was looking for the words to yogi in the kaiser, and saw Christine Roberts comment about ‘Ordinary Moving’s’ ball game.
I am now 65 yrs of age, and remember playing it against the slate wall at our house when I was 7-10. We used an India rubber ball instead of the red white and blue one. Not the best idea, as we broke quite a few slates over the years which my Dad relentlessly replaced. :-)
We would toss the ball at the house from a distance of about 5 feet. As we tossed it and caught it we would sing ‘ordinary movings,’ (then toss again) and sing ‘laughings, (couldn’t laugh) then, not aloud say ‘talkings’ (toss again) sing, ‘one hand’ (using one hand toss and catch) then ‘the other hand’ then, standing on first one foot the the other sing ‘one foot, ‘the other foot’ then, doing the appropriate moves sing ‘claps at the front’, ‘claps at the back’ ‘then front and back’ then ‘back and front’. Then, holding one hand in front of the other, twirl them over each other frontwards and sing ‘a tweedle’ then backwards sing ‘a twaddle’ then doing the appropriate moves as we tossed, sing ‘a curtsie’ ‘a bow’ then ” a right salute’ a left salute’, ‘a double salute’ and then we would twirl all the way around after tossing and we had to catch the ball singing ‘away she goes’
We whiled away the summer with that game and all the skipping and tree climbing, and soft-ball games on the street. So many delicious memories.
March 26th, 2012 at 3:55 pm
That’s neat Pat! Thanks for sharing.
March 27th, 2012 at 8:03 pm
@Marilou I also grew up in Downsview but in the mid-60’s. We played the elastic game but we called Yogi. After reading the comments above, I’m certain that we mispronounced the name. Many coloured elastics were tied together and we would jump over them without touching until the holders of the band reached their shoulders. At that point we would jump similarly to a high jumper and pull the band down with our feet…if you were good. This was called Sky High. Unfortunately we did not have a song.
Does anyone recall the game where a rubber ball was inserted into a woman’s single stocking? You would find a wide wall and with your back against it you would outstretch your arm and horizontally move the stocking from side to side while singing a song. The song was “Hello, hello, hello sir, are you coming out sir. Yes sir, no sir….I can’t remember the rest of it.
The other game was “Two balls”. Two rubber balls (the red white a blue ones) thrown against a wall in a juggling style, one ball thrown and caught as the other leaves your hand. Songs that were sung…Orange Crush (repeated over and over) or One, Two, Three O’Leary.
This site is wonderful. Thank you Mama Lisa.
April 12th, 2012 at 2:33 pm
Is this the one you’re looking for Pam…
Hello, Hello, Hello, sir
Are you coming out, sir?
Yes sir, no sir.
Why sir? Why sir?
‘Cause I’ve got a cold sir.
Where’d you get the cold sir?
At the North Pole sir.
What you doing there sir?
Catching polar bears sir.
How many did you catch sir?
One sir, two sir, three sir, four sir
Five sir, six sir, seven sir,
Eight sir, nine sir, ten sir,
That’s enough for me sir.
May 7th, 2012 at 7:53 pm
These are such wonderful memories. I have loved reading all of the comments. I think our generation had so much fun. Everything was so simple. I remember playing “Yoki” for hours with my best friend Caryl at Humber Valley Village School in Etobicoke, Ontario. Along with chocolate bunnies at Easter, there was always a brand new skipping rope peaking out from our baskets. Recess was consumed with Yoki and Double Dutch. I too am teaching my Granddaughter these wonderful games. We also bought a box of chalk and played hopscotch on my son’s driveway. Topped this off with 32 games of Tic-Tac-Toe.
September 19th, 2012 at 2:04 am
I remember playing what we called Yogi, it was in the 60’s in Toronto. Pam, we must be from the same neighborhood..lol . I am just now talking to some friends from the 60’s and the games we played, and the ball in the stocking came up. Lyrics and all. Such great memories.
February 9th, 2013 at 3:51 pm
Loved that game, only part I remember of that song is ‘Yogi in the Kaiser – yogi yogi yeah!’ (2 times) drawing a blank for the rest…probably come back to me as I get older, and start to relive my childhood lol. Grew up in Montreal in the fifties.
March 28th, 2013 at 7:37 pm
My friend and I were discussing the Yoki game recently. The topic came up because I have a lot of elastics that come on the newspaper. I guess that growing up in the 50’s taught me not to throw anything away. I was wondering if she could remember the words to Yoki so that I could make an elastic rope and then teach my granddaughter the game. Between the two of us, we came up with most of the rhyme. It is nice to be able to confirm what we were saying by reading all of these great memories.
I remember playing the ball game Ordinary Movings on the wall of Borden Avenue Public School in North York.
Thanks for this interesting article.
April 3rd, 2013 at 11:28 pm
I loved playing the yogi game at Queen Mary Public School in Peterborough, ON, in the mid to late 1950s. Here was the ditty we sang: Yogi in the kaiser/yogi idee-ay/catch a batch of soda/sewy sewy say. Jane, Toronto
April 21st, 2013 at 7:45 am
I grew up in Toronto in the 50-60s in the Moore Park area and I remember all these games! Hours and hours of fun with ALL the kids from the neighborhood…about 15 of us. Those were the baby boom years, after all. Our moms would just say “go out and play”, and we did. Every day after school, and again after dinner until the sun set. Those were the days!
I have no idea what we were saying, but our lyrics were:
Yogi in the kaiser
Yogi audy ay
Tankee in the sobo
Sadu, saday.
Sung to the tune of “twinkle twinkle little star”.
Great memories!
June 26th, 2013 at 3:20 pm
I went to Harrison Road Public School near York Mills Rd and Bayview Ave. we could hardly wait to get outside and play Yoki!! I absolutely remember the tune, it was the last two lines that I couldn’t remember because they were pretty much gibberish. Also played ordinary movements and the ball (India rubber), in the stocking game as well as double dutch. Good memories – and I’m teaching my granddaughter. No hand-held, battery operated sitting toys at this house!!
July 29th, 2013 at 5:24 pm
I grew up in the 60’s early 70’s and we called it Yogi. I grew Windsor Ontario
And now live in the US. Nobody here had ever heard of Yoki or Yogi
I played the game with the ball in the ladies stocking so many times. We also played with the really bouncy balls and definitely did some
Great moves while singing one to three oleary four five six oleary. The rest of the words are buried in these great memories. Being outside all day coming home for supper and then during the summer playing more. We were never inside…,even with snow or a normal rainstorm.
I’m glad I grew up in Canada and have such great memories.
July 29th, 2013 at 5:30 pm
Thanks for sharing! Does the yogi rhyme have a tune to it?
October 12th, 2013 at 6:52 pm
I grew up in Don Mills Ontario in the 60s. I played the ball-in-the-stocking game, and the words cited here were EXACTLY the same (I am surprised.)
My friends and I played Yogi. The basic game sounds just like the original Korean version, but the words we used were way off! It was just gibberish:
Yogi in the Kaiser
Yogi addy-ay
Dance in the soda booth (!!!)
Sa-doo Sa-day
Regular jump-rope was very popular, too, with some interesting songs to accompany various intricate jumps.
Does anyone remember jumping double-dutch? ‘High low medium slow jolly old pepper’? ‘Apples peaches pears and plums, tell me when your birthday comes’?
November 5th, 2013 at 3:56 pm
I played Yoki in Toronto in the 1950’s at King George School and after our family moved at Sir Adam Beck School. It was a very popular game and I remember the verse we used but I can’t remember the foot work. My granddaughters are waiting patiently for me to teach them.I have the elastics ready. Could someone please help with a clear description of the movements. Thanks so much.
November 7th, 2013 at 6:49 pm
At last!!! I almost gave up hope of finding someone who remembered the Yogi game. We played it in public school at Avenue Rd./Wilson Ave. in the 1970s. Our version, though, had no song, and it was a single elastic rope that the end holders moved in height increments (ie. ankle to knee to hip, etc.). there was a required move for each level. The only one I remember is “butterflies” which required a certain twisting of the rope around the hands. And, there was a move where you lightly held down the elastic with the right foot and hopped over with the left, without the right touching the ground. Anyone remember the other moves?
December 2nd, 2013 at 11:27 am
1954-8 Elmlea PS, Rexdale (Toronto):
We played “jump-rope” (emphasis on the first word) with a single line of linked elastics–sometimes even the odd paperclip, to hold it together– (the other prime activity was simply called “skipping”. We would “play skipping”, not “skip”. Or we would “play Double-Dutch”.) The verse we used for “jump-rope” was as follows; I was always embarassed to chant it because it seemed to be a degenerated version of something in a foreign language, and that it had come to this seemed to me disrespectful of the original language and whoever spoke it. I would have preferred to know what words I was uttering. (Yes, I later studied languages.)
Yoki in the caysa
Yoke-in notty-eh
Tank in the sobo
Suhdu, suhday
(caysa pron. like kaiser, but no ‘r’)
Chanted in a tune very similar to Twinkle Twinkle Little Star but definitely not that, and faster than that.
December 2nd, 2013 at 11:32 am
We also called “jump-rope”, “yoki”.
January 10th, 2014 at 9:31 pm
I grew up in Stratford and remember all of the above games well. Played them for hours. Those were the days of freedom. Out from morning to night with little parent supervision.(not a bad thing)
January 24th, 2014 at 12:11 pm
I went to Charles E. Webster P.S. (Keele and Eglinton area of Toronto in the 1950’s. It is great to remember these fun games. I remember playing many hours of Yoki and was pretty good at it – so good I actually put my hip out of joint clearing the elastic at shoulder height. This required a few days of bed rest. I have just retired from teaching and am proud to have taught my students the proper way (as I remember it) to play hopscotch, Yoki and many skipping rhymes and double dutch during our gym classes. It is very exciting to see my students actually want to grab a skipping rope at recess rather than stand around with a cell phone in their hands.
March 31st, 2014 at 12:29 pm
I went to Gooderham Public School in Scarborough back in the 50s and I loved playing the Yoki game! We sang… Yoki and the Kaiser/ Yok-a-nidy-eh/ ten in a sailboat/ ska-do , ska-day. One girl broke her leg playing it. She slipped in some sand while jumping at the shoulder height level. I also remember the other games mentioned above. While playing the ball and stocking game, did anyone ever have the end of the stocking wear through and the ball would go flying off into space….hopefully not hitting anyone! Thanks for all the great memories!!
May 29th, 2014 at 11:21 pm
Wow, this is great!! My sisters and I were trying to remember words, tunes, etc. to these games, and this is the first I searched online, so am thrilled to have found this site with all the memories! I went to St. Raphael’s school in Burlington in the early 60’s for 1st thru 3rd grades, and yes, the ball in the stocking swung back and forth against the wall while singing..
Have a cup of tea sir.
No sir.
Why sir?
Because I have a cold sir.
Where’d you get the coke sir?
At the North Pole sir.
What were you doing there sir?
Catching polar bears sir.
How many did you catch sir?
One sir, two sir, three sir…. etc. With each time sir is said, the leg on that side is lifted so ball can be swung under to hit the wall. Then you just count until you mess up. And the yogi or yoki game, I did not remember the words, but we do remember the same as others.. Begging mom for the elastic in her sewing basket. What fun times!!
July 5th, 2014 at 1:37 am
I remember playing all those games, yoki, double Dutch and two balls played with tennis balls. I went to Humbercrest school in Toronto in the fifties now live in the US. We all wore drill slips in school, I loved that uniform, with the black stockings.
Thanks for reminding me of fond memories.
October 9th, 2014 at 9:53 pm
This is amazing! The game we just called “Yogi” was really big in the 50s (and, I guess, tailed off in the 60s) in Toronto and S.Ontario in hundreds of school yards — including my school, Summit Heights P.S. in Downsview.
Obviously, just as in the game “Telephone”, the words were shared verbally and passed on with each girl’s translation of what were (to us) nonsense-words. In MY version, they were “Yogi on the Kaiser – Yogi oddy-aaay – Tankanda soda – Sadoo! Saday!” ALL the versions have cross-over similarities. I bet each school yard had its own version!
And,
I remember “Ordinary Movings”, the ball in the stocking and “One O’Leary” (slurred into “One a larry”). But this last one was chanted while bouncing a ball and lifting your leg over it on the down-stroke.
And Yogi’s Korean origins are fascinating. :)
October 15th, 2014 at 3:48 pm
My sister Carol and I went to Deer Park Public School in Toronto, Yonge and St. Clair area, 1950s. I remember “Yogi in the Kaiser” with elastics strung together. Words never made sense to me: Yogi in the Kaiser/ Yoga-nogga-nay / Yogi in the Kaiser / something like sadu-saday. Started on the ground, then ankle, knee, waist, shoulder height. You had to hook your foot over it and pin it down. I was terrible at it. Also played ball for hours, bouncing it off the side wall of our house or at school, where there was a kind of ledge and you would sometimes get pop-ups. You had to bounce the ball against the wall and then go through a progression of clap-front, clap-back, front-and-back, back-and-front, under one knee, under the other, and so forth. Don’t remember ever playing the ball-in-the-stocking game. Hopscotch, yes. Also a game called, simply, “Hog,” which involved two teams and getting the ball to the one person who would hang onto it for dear life no matter how many people piled on top. And double dutch, of course, though nothing as skilled or sophisticated as some of the double-dutchers I have seen here in the U.S. And in winter we built two snow forts in the back of the schoolyard — one for girls and one for boys — and we would throw snowballs at each other. But ice balls were against the rules. Anyone who walked between the two forts was fair game because that was no-man’s-land. And I remember in grade 8 for a brief period all the girls were seized by a kind of madness, linking arms in a long row and dancing around the schoolyard singing “I’ve Got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts” over and over. We also went through a period of playing marbles, which I was very good at for some reason — not generally good at games. I ended up with a great pile of beautiful marbles that I discovered my mother had kept for years.
I’m sending this to my sister in Italy who has much better recall than I have. She’ll love it.
November 22nd, 2014 at 7:40 am
Cathy B’s post reminded me of a similar ball game. You put a tennis ball in stocking, and stood again a wall with your legs apart. You would swing the stocking-and-ball back and forth (starting on the right), at each count hitting to one side of you, then to the other: “one, two, three a-larry [at each “a-larry” you’d lift your left leg as high as it would go and hit the ball under your leg but on the wall], four, five, six a-larry, seven, eight, nine a-larry; ten a-larry, catch the ball [you didn’t catch the ball, cause there was nothing to catch; but you’d continue until recess bell rang]” This tended to exercise the left leg more than the right, so you could switch hands and start the count again on the left instead of the right. I cannot believe how much time I spent playing this game that had no rules! Nobody won or lost. It was just a way to spend time.
January 12th, 2015 at 3:05 am
I can still sing the tune and I thought the words were as follows:
Yogi on a kaiser
Yogi on a bay
Sampson in a sail boat
Skidoo skiday
You jumped over the elastic rope from one side to the other for the last 2 lines
Where you only put one leg over for the first 2