Eenty Feenty Fickety Feg
Track Information
Original Track ID
SA1954.101
Original Tape ID
Summary
Children's counting-out rhyme.
Eenty feenty fickety feh
Ell dell domineh
Irkie birkie stole a rope
An tan Dublin Jock
I choice you out
For a dirty dish cloth
And you are out of this game.
The children would stand with their backs to the wall and be counted out one by one.
Item Notes
Scots 'clout' would fit the rhyme in place of 'dish cloth'. 'Choice' might be a mistranslation of 'chyse' meaning 'choose'. The Celtic sheep-counting numerals, which go up to the score in the traditional dialects of North-West England, only go up to ten in Scots, and usually only two ('eenty teenty' or similar) in children's rhymes, with no records in Scots earlier than the 18th c.
See:
'Doh Ray Me, When Ah Wis Wee' (E. McVicar, 2007) pp. 83, 90, 94
'The Scottish National Dictionary' (available online [[http://www.dsl.ac.uk]], accessed 26 January 2009), s.v. baombe
Recording Location
County - Aberdeenshire
Parish - Aberdeen
Village/Place - Aberdeen
Language
English
Genre
Collection
Source Type
Reel to reel
Audio Quality
Good