Playground Song- United States

“I see London, I see France, I see Andrew’s underpants; they’re not white, they’re not blue, they are filled with number two.”

Kai said he learned this in his playground at school. He said whenever he sees someone’s underwear; he would say this. He said kids at his playground say it a lot. He said he didn’t know who taught it to him. He thinks he learned it from kids on the playground.

As part time job, I tutor at this tutoring center in Korea Town, part of downtown Los Angeles. I guess as I was stretching, Kai had seen my boxer briefs. It was then when Kai out of no where says, “I see London, I see France, I see Andrew’s underpants; they’re not white, they’re not blue, they are filled with number two.” So I decided to ask him some stuff about this phrase and include it in my folklore collection. Just like most kids, Kai learned this on the playground from other kids. Even when I was younger, I learned most of my phrase from the playground from other kids. I feel like this phrase is a little different from my childhood. I remember the first part of the phrase: “I see London, I see France, I see “someone’s” underpants”. However, I do not remember the second part at all. I always thought it ended with underpants. Kai told me that a lot of them do stop at underpants but sometimes he likes to say the other part too. So I guess it is preference but still I was not aware of the second part until I learned it from Kai.