Cyndi wrote asking about a rhyme from her grandmother…
Lisa,
My grandmother always said the same nursery rhyme. She has recently passed away and I would love to know what it means.
Words (I am not sure of the spelling), this was not an English rhyme. It is believed to have been Portuguese, but I am not sure.
Bo wo skee wat tin dot tin
wa dot tin chew
isk a diddly, diddly dee
isk a diddly, diddly dee
bo wo skee wat tin dot tin
wa dot tin chewAny help you can give on this would be much appreciated.
Thanks,
Cyndi
If anyone can help with the original words to the rhyme and/or an English translation, that would be great! Please let us know in the comments below.
Thanks!
Mama Lisa
This article was posted on Wednesday, February 18th, 2009 at 9:53 pm and is filed under Brazil, Countries & Cultures, Languages, Mama Lisa, Nursery Rhymes, Portugal, Portuguese, Portuguese Nursery Rhymes, 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.
26 Responses to “Can Anyone Help with a Portuguese Nursery Rhyme?”
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February 22nd, 2009 at 4:08 pm
Sorry, It does’t sound like portuguese.
May 4th, 2009 at 5:56 pm
I think it is Irish
May 22nd, 2009 at 11:09 am
Definelty not Portuguese.
September 9th, 2009 at 11:15 am
this is not portuguese
October 15th, 2009 at 3:35 pm
Oh my gosh it is so ironic that I came across this page. I was looking for a portuguese nursery rhyme to practice my portuguese. I didnt find one yet but I totally have heard this before. I worked at a scout camp last summer and those are words to a repeat-after-me song that was like my all time favorite. I am sorry to say but I have no idea what it means. I always thought it was just a bunch of nonsense words. This is how I remember it going.
Ottindottinlittledottin
Ittindittinlittledittin
Ishkabibblyottindottin
Boboskiddlyottin
Veedotenchew
December 11th, 2009 at 9:07 pm
im not sure about the spelling either but we use to sing it camp this way..
wa dot in chew
it skittley oat in doat in
wa dot in chew
boa doat skadeet in dot in
wa dat in chew
it in dit in little kitten
oat in doat in little boat in
it skittley oat in doat in
boa do skadeet in dot in
wa dat in chew
i think its irish too??
January 6th, 2010 at 12:52 pm
I leant it in boyscouts it goes
Wadotnchew
Itten bitten little bitten
Oaten boaten little boaten
Ish bittely oaten doaten
Bobo shpadeetendoten
Wadotnchew
January 6th, 2010 at 12:57 pm
I’d love to hear that pronounced! If anyone would like to record it – that would be great! We now have voicemail capability – where you can record by phone to an answering machine at a New York number… if anyone feels like helping out!
March 20th, 2010 at 9:58 am
Wha dot and chew
Bo doe ska deet en dotten wha dot and chew
Es skiddily oden doten Bo doe ska deet en dotten wha dot and chew
Etten ditten little ditten es skiddily oden doten bo doe ska deet en dotten wha dot and chew
Oden doten little doten Etten ditten little ditten es skiddily oden doten Bo doe ska deet en dotten wha dot and chew
September 25th, 2010 at 9:20 pm
bare:with:me:my:spacebar:is:broken…
i:am:also:looking:for:a:song:my:vavao:used:to:sing:to:me…
she:told:me:loosely:in:english:it:translated:to:….
mama:give:the:baby:the:bottle
mama:give:the:baby:the:bottle
so:the:baby:dont:cry
i:have:no:idea:how:to:write:in:portugese:but:to:the:best:of:my:ability:the:song:starts:like:this…
mamae:new:keto
mamae:new:keto
and:the:last:words:sound:like:this..:to:me…
baba:enshuda
i:would:love:it:if:someone:could:help:me:figure:this:out:cause:i:have:been:searching:all:over.
thanks.again
sorry.its.so.hard.to.read.and.my.spelling.and.grammer.doesnt.help.
October 5th, 2010 at 12:03 am
Denise..I think your song that your vovo sang you was by Carmen Miranda (a brasileira)
Mamae eu quero
Mamae eu quero
Mamae eu quero mamar..
Da lhe chupeta..da lhe chupeta…
Da lhe chupeta por bebe nao chorar..
Not sure..but it just might be…
March 19th, 2011 at 6:59 pm
For the music version see Boy Scout Songbook page 42, 2004 printing, or obtain Boy Scout Songbook CD.
Whadat-n-Chew is a “yell” for National Youth Leader Training.
February 1st, 2015 at 12:04 am
I learned this in Boy Scouts as well although not exactly like this. I found it while looking for a more complete version than was in my memory banks :-) I don’ think it’s any particular language, though.
Whadat-n-Chew
(Leader says line,
then everyone repeats)
whadat-n-chew
bodo skideeten aten
whadat-n-chew
its skittle-li oaten doten
bodo skideeten aten
whadat-n-chew
oaten doten little boaten
its skittle-li oaten doten
bodo skideeten aten
whadat-n-chew
itten ditten little kitten
oaten doten little boaten
its skittle-li oaten doten
bodo skideeten aten
whadat-n-chew
eatel leetel little beetle
itten ditten little kitten
oaten doten little boaten
its skittle-li oaten doten
bodo skideeten aten
whadat-n-chew
urdel lurdle little turtle
eatel leetel little beetle
itten ditten little kitten
oaten doten little boaten
its skittle-li oaten doten
bodo skideeten aten
whadat-n-chew
oodle loodle little poodle
urdel lurdle little turtle
eatel leetel little beetle
itten ditten little kitten
oaten doten little boaten
its skittle-li oaten doten
bodo skideeten aten
whadat-n-chew
There’s a guy doing a demo of it on YouTube but I think it’s supposed to be really shouted loud with a lot more enthusiasm.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtFujLWALmo
July 14th, 2015 at 5:01 pm
Hello,
We used to repeat the following lines right after the “worm song” at summer camp. “Bo do skadeetendatin what I can chew; itten bitten little bitten, what I can chew. – HEY!”
The worm song was “Nobody likes me, everybody hates me, guess I’ll go eat worms….. ”
So, I’m only familiar with those lines as a nonsensical camp song. ( It was a lot of fun though.) I never realized that it was borrowed from a Portuguese nursery rhyme.
Best wishes,
May 4th, 2017 at 8:59 pm
It isnt borrowed from Portuguese. It is a campfire/drill chant. It is based in english but most of it is gibberish; mostly made up words. It was designed to get you pumped up and excited to be doing whatever you are doing at the time and also to give you something to focus on instead of the boring task at hand (drill).
June 11th, 2017 at 1:53 am
I remember this as an American High School cheer that the cheerleaders sang and cheered to during football games. I have no idea what the meaning is. It was in the 1960s
July 18th, 2017 at 8:57 pm
Watch the movie M*A*S*H – it is done as a cheer during the big football game. I, too, learned it at Boy Scout Camp in the late 1970’s.
June 8th, 2019 at 3:28 pm
I came across this thread trying to find anything related to a little song my mom, brothers and I used to sing when I was young. None of us know where it’s from. It’s sort of similar.
Ish bibbly ōten dōten
Bobo ska deeten dotten
Wa ha and shay hay.
Actually, more like a fun thing to say than a song. I just googled it to see if anything popped.
June 9th, 2019 at 12:47 pm
Monica,
That song is called Whadat-n-Chew. Click the link for the lyrics.
Enjoy!
Mama Lisa
June 30th, 2019 at 10:50 pm
That darn thing popped into my head a couple of days ago and I phonetically put down the first couple of words and found your site almost immediately. It is definitely a camp song, did not know it was a boy scout song, and in our regular day camp usage back in the early seventies it was usually a “dis” chant, (though that term was definitely not in usage at that time) usually directed at one of the counselors, where the last two lines were:
“…One side, sis-boom-bah!
[ insert name here] ha-ha-ha!”
November 5th, 2019 at 1:40 am
My mother taught this to us and used it to help our diction. Apparently it contains a lot of the diphthongs and consonants of English. She made us memorize it. I think I learned it wrong as my version is slightly different from this.
Instead of chew, we were taught Shhhhh
March 18th, 2020 at 1:51 am
I learned a variation of this in summer camp in GA, USA when I was about 7 years old that would have been 1962. I learned it as : Oten botin, little dotin itin bit in little ditin, ish bili otin dotin, bo do skeditn dotin whatop n chew. I never saw it written down so I have no idea if this is even how it’s spelled but I remember saying it over and over and over and have taught to many nieces and nephew since then. I would love to know more about it. I don’t know anyone of Danish or Scottish descent so have no idea the meaning of this phrase at all. I just got curious and Googled it and your site came up
February 15th, 2021 at 7:09 pm
I came across this looking for the English translation. But it’s not Irish it’s an old German song. My mother in law heard it while she lived in Germany, but didn’t know the English translation.
March 8th, 2021 at 12:42 am
I sang this at Girl Scouts camp in Oklahoma when I was 10, around 1961. It was sung as a “repeat” song, something like, “oh, no, no not the vista / eeny meeny decimeeny, oo-ah, oo-ah a meeny / hexa-meeny, salla meeny/ oo-ah, oo-ah!
Be billy oaten-dotin, bobo skadit an dottin shhhhh!”
June 15th, 2021 at 1:56 am
I spell it how it sounds to me…
Itten bitten
Little ditten,
Ishka bidaly oten doten,
Bo bo skadeedle dotten,
Va da tin chew.
August 8th, 2021 at 7:53 pm
I have been singing a version of that song in Scouts for decades when another leader asked “when did you learn that Norwegian song?” He sent me a video of his grandfather reeling off the nonsense words he learned from HIS grandfather, starting with ‘Ish giddily open dopen bup bup a deeten Dotton’ or sounds to that effect.