Yesterday, I talked a bit about finding out that some of my childhood rhymes had overseas roots and the surprise that it was. Today, I’d like to share some more rhymes; these should be more local, and I’ve categorised them according to when they were heard/shared.

The original rhymes are presented with the English translation in italics next to it. As far as possible, I’ve tried to organise it according to when it was first played, starting from the 1970s.

The (mysterious) Sally Long Chiam Pass

一二三 (one two three)
我们上我们下 (we’re up, we’re done)
我们后前脚 (we’re front, back, leg)
我们四五六 (we’re four, five, fix)
我们七八九 (we’re seven, eight, nine)
我们好朋友 (we’re good friends)
我们Sally Sally long chiam pass pass pass

This was contributed by someone who started school in the mid-2000s, but the last part is a game with a very long history.

While this version is a clapping game, the “long chiam pass*” part is also a way of playing “scissors paper stones” but using stone, water, and bird (stone kills bird, bird drinks water, water sinks the stone). The Singapore Broadcasting Video that I mentioned in the previous video also made a recording of long chiam pass/lom chiam pas but the game definitely existed in the 1970s, since it was mentioned in the newspapers. If you’re interested, you can look for the article “If only Jimmy and Gerry had lorn chiam passed” from New Nation, 6 February 1977 edition, Page 20. There’s also a 1991 mention in Weekend East, under the heading of “Days when it is play, and more play”, but somehow I didn’t find any other mentions between those 15ish years.

There is one theory on reddit that “long chiam pass” is a mispronunciation of “Rochambeau”/Roshambo as that is an alternative name of the game “scissors paper stone” (see this post for a deeper look at Rochambeau/Roshambo connection) and while it is compelling, I’m not sure how/when it would be introduced and then connected to a Chinese variant instead of us just using the Chinese name all along. If anyone has a clue, please contact me!

*it can also be “pas” instead of “pass” and I’ve also seen it as “lom”, although my friends and I pronounce it with more of a “long” sound.

Or a Bei A

Or a bei a (hokkien: black or white)
Som balik ya (not sure about “som” (maybe hokkien?) but “balik” is Malay for “again”, the phrase means “count again”)
Roti prata (local dish)
Char kway Teoh (local dish)

Contributed by multiple people who went to primary school from the early 2000s to 2010s. This covers at least a decade and apart from being a rhyme, was also a way of picking someone/playing a game of odd one out.

I had the impression that this rhyme was common to both Singapore and Malaysia, but I also just remembered that they call our roti prata ‘roti canai’, and suddenly, I’m not sure. But it’s definitely very local to this region given the mix of languages and mentions of food. From what I can find, its roots date back to at least the 1980s, given the Singapore Broadcasting Corporation took a video of it then!

My house my chicken

我家的小鸡我家的check (the small chicken of my house, the check of my house)
我家的母鸡我家的check (the hen of my mouse, the check of my house)

Absolutely no idea what it means apart from the literally translation, but I’m told it was a game used to play “rock paper scissors” in the 1980s.

Apple on a Stick

Apple on a stick
Makes me sick
(It)makes my heart go two four six

Contributed by someone (female) who started going to school in the early-2000s and who refused to give me the rest of the rhyme because “it becomes questionable after that”.

Vampire Cat

Vampire vampire vampire chat
Vampire copy cat (worth the same)
Vampire chat
Vampire ding dong (one wins the other)
Vampire chat

Contributed by two people (both male) who started going to school at the end of the 1990s/start of the 2000s and who were insistent that this was a game. I’m still not too clear on this, if you’ve played it, again, let me know!

Copy Cat

Copy cat
Chase the rat
Go home let your mother smack
Mother say never mind
Father say go and die

Contributed by someone (female) who went to primary school in the mid-2000s to 2010s (2005 to 2011).

This one is SO ubiquitous I’m sure it’s also overseas but I haven’t properly checked – please chime in if you also had this surprisingly dark rhyme! I also think it’s interesting how we have two cat-related rhymes.

How to write the word 照

一个日本人, 拿着一把刀， 站在大门口， 杀了四个人 (One Japanese person, holding a knife, standing at the door, killed four people)

This is a weird one – I’ve got people who grew up in the 70s-80s and people who were born at the tail-end of the 90s tell me they know this rhyme (which is really a quiz if you can figure out the word), but I’ve people who also grew up in the 70s-80s and who were born in the early 90s tell me they’ve never heard it! It is, unfortunately, quite a popular guessing game so I can’t figure out when this came about – the dark Japanese bit makes sense because of the Japanese occupation but still, without a date on when it appeared, it’s hard to make any guesses!

Takoyaki Game

Takoyaki takoyaki o ki ki (wave your hands, which are placed together, like a fish while saying this)

After this, you’re supposed to count in order without communicating who is going to count next.

This was contributed to someone born in the early 2000s, and who told me that “this game has been around forever”. Needless to say, I’ve got absolutely no memory of it and neither do the people born at the end of the 1990s, so I suspect the game came about in the 2010s. The earliest mention of it that I can find is from a June 2011 blogpost, but that’s about it!

Concluding Call

And there you have 9 local-ish Singaporean rhymes, spanning a period of 40 to 50 years. If you’ve got any additional information on any of the rhymes, or any rhymes to contribute, please let me know. I think it would be pretty cool if we could collect all the local rhymes in one place for everyone to remember.

To end on a “tenth” game/rhyme, I’d like to ask if anyone has heard of a “charging game” that was played in the early 2000s? I’ve been told that it was popular but I cannot find any information about it (as with so many of these!)

For now, this ends my mini-series on the folklore-related books I’ve been reading, which has in turn inspired me to write these two posts!