Children’s Rhyme

Children’s Rhyme

Miss Annie had a steamboat

The steamboat had a bell

Miss Annie went to Heaven

The steamboat went to

Hell-o

Operator,

Give me number nine.

If you disconnect me

I’ll kick your fat

Behind

The ‘frigerator

There was a piece of glass.

Mary sat upon it

And broke her big fat

As-k

Me no more questions

I’ll tell you no more lies.

The boys are in the bathroom

Zipping up their

Flies are in the meadow

The bees are in the park

Miss Annie and her boyfriend are kissing in the D A R K, D A R K, dark dark dark!

Mandy learned this rhyme when she was about ten years old from her other class mates in her school. It was a common rhyme she would say while playing a hand game where they would clap their hands together with another partner. She said they were especially fond of saying it when her school would have fire drills or earthquake drills and they would have an hour to waste. Generally, they would find a place on the grass during the drill grab their best friend and just start clapping their hands together and reciting this rhyme.

She described that this rhyme was used mainly to pretend as if they were saying bad words but in a very sneaky way so they couldn’t get in trouble for saying it. They would say it around adults but would then whisper it as if what they were saying was taboo since the words they were saying were meant to sound like curse words such as “ask” sounding similar to “ass” or saying “hell-o” but knowing it was meant to be “hell”. This rhyme continued to be used in her school even when she got older although it lost a lot of its appeal when they got older because they knew real curse words and used them regularly. Today I have heard the rhyme still used occasionally by friends but usually it is being used in a joking manner in order to reminisce about childhood times.

Something interesting about this rhyme is that it was used in my school a lot too. I believe we both knew this rhyme because we both attended school in the valley. While we did attend separate schools, our versions are exactly the same and having asked a few other people if they had ever heard this rhyme and had attended school in the same area, they always replied yes. While the name of the girl in the rhyme did change from Annie to Suzie depending on the person, it was always used in the same context. It was a rhyme we said in order to feel like we were older because we were using words that we might not necessarily ought to be saying.