GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW) | ||||||
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15:12 Dec 26, 2010 |
Polish to English translations [PRO] Art/Literary - Idioms / Maxims / Sayings / wyliczanka | |||||||
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| Selected response from: Caryl Swift Poland Local time: 04:09 | ||||||
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Summary of answers provided | ||||
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3 +3 | Eeny, meeny, miny, mo... // One potato, two potato, three potato, four... |
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3 | one, two, three, out goes he |
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Summary of reference entries provided | |||
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Ip dip |
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one, two, three, out goes he Explanation: :) |
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Eeny, meeny, miny, mo... // One potato, two potato, three potato, four... Explanation: "Eeeny, meeny..." http://tinyurl.com/pzf56 "One potato, two potato..." http://tinyurl.com/32hpm8a; http://tinyurl.com/35rubnk -------------------------------------------------- Note added at 6 hrs (2010-12-26 22:06:20 GMT) -------------------------------------------------- Hi, Rafał, Well, without seeing the cartoon, it's rather difficult. Perhaps I've misunderstood what the caption's saying? -------------------------------------------------- Note added at 17 hrs (2010-12-27 08:58:50 GMT) -------------------------------------------------- Great! I didn't misunderstand! That's exactly what I thought! So - to me, if I saw that cartoon, captioned "Eeny, meeny, miny, moe..." I think I'd understand it exactly as you've said. The whole thing - as I knew it - goes: "Eeny meeny miny moe Catch a spider by his toe If he hollers let him go Eeeny, meeny, miny mo. You're it!" When we used it in the playground, the "You're it" child would be the one counted on the last 'moe' - and thus, the one selected - singled out - for whatever purpose it was that we had in mind - being the one who had to catch us all in a game of chase, or being 'Grandma' in 'Grandma's footsteps'(http://tinyurl.com/36o5hma), or being 'Mr Wolf' in 'What's the time, Mr Wolf' (http://tinyurl.com/c67csj), and so on. My brother and I also used to use it when we were told, e.g., "You can have ONE biscuit each" - but which one to choose? "Eeny, meeny....". We'd use it with our friends to decide who'd get to use the swing first. Or who was going to be James Bond this time. My best friend and I would use it to decide who got which bit if dressing-up finery... So - it's a way known to that famous 'postać' of 'Every Child' for (sort-of) arbitarily selecting one thing from a group of things or one person from a group who are all involved on the same activity... And because 'Every Child' knows it - well, so do the grown-ups. Which is why I suggested it - because we all know it and because it's a kid's thing - and that's part of Mleczko's irony, isn't it? Juxtaposing a children's fairy tale and a children's selecting game with the outcome of somewhat less childlike games...? (And given the teenage pregnancy rate in the UK, the whole thing takes on another layer of ironic social comment...) The link I posted tells us that 'Eeny meeny..." has also been around in the US for a long time. Australia? http://tinyurl.com/3227qmp; http://tinyurl.com/35t4ymn Canada? http://tinyurl.com/3a54gvz; http://tinyurl.com/35bo2y9 New Zealand? http://tinyurl.com/34srp9n South Africa: http://tinyurl.com/3yfksrp; http://tinyurl.com/335992o So, IMHO, a caption reading "Eenie, meenie, miney, moe..." would absolutely do the trick... (BTW, my apologies for misspelling 'mo' in the <Answer> box) -------------------------------------------------- Note added at 17 hrs (2010-12-27 09:10:35 GMT) -------------------------------------------------- P.S. The same thing applies to the potatoes, of course. However, I've just had a look and it seems that several hundred authors and TV producers have had the brilliant idea of using it for the title of cookery books/blogs/recipes/programmes - so I think "Eeny meeny..." might, perhaps, be a more clear-cut association for your purposes. -------------------------------------------------- Note added at 4 days (2010-12-31 10:09:05 GMT) Post-grading -------------------------------------------------- My pleasure :-) |
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