Hop-scotch, gambos and levitation
Loved John's comments on the Opies and kids' rhymes. I love all that stuff and have blogged about some I remember:
omp-pomp-pee-and-lousianna
I went to junior school in Aberenfig, but when I went to Secondary school I was with children from Bridgend and Maesteg and realised they had different games, game words and rhymes despite being only two and eight miles away. When I went away to college in the big city - Cardiff(!) - a whole twenty miles away I found more differences. What I thought of as aeroplane hopscotch was simply hopscotch and the rhymes for playing two balls or skipping were endless. I particularly liked:
??????? had a fright
In the middle of the night
She saw a ghost eating toast
halfway up a lampost
And there were those naughty rhymes where you nearly/sort of swore:
Lily was in the garden playing with the cat
Down came a bumble bee and stug her on her...
Twice she went to the doctor's...
While I find it hard to remember poetry or lyrics to songs I can recite the whole of the piece of filth above!
The word gambo has caused me great excitement - I should get out more! - it was what we called home made go-carts in Aberkenfig but were buggies or go-carts in Cardiff. The word actually came up on"call my Bluff" many moons ago.
Wiki -Call My Bluff
The definition was a hay cart in the West Country.
Further excitement was caused when I saw the word on a cart wheel in the wonderful coracle museum in Cenarth in Cardigan:
coracle museum.
I wonder how many people attempted the levitation thing where you chanted to try and make a person weightless and the group attempt to pick the person up from a prone position supporting them with two fingers of each hand. There was a variation to make someone fall back as well where you pretended to make holes in their back and then thread and pull an imaginary string... Universal or just Aberenfig I wondered, but - as so often - the wonderful Wiki provided an answer:
wiki Light as a feather, stiff as a board
omp-pomp-pee-and-lousianna
I went to junior school in Aberenfig, but when I went to Secondary school I was with children from Bridgend and Maesteg and realised they had different games, game words and rhymes despite being only two and eight miles away. When I went away to college in the big city - Cardiff(!) - a whole twenty miles away I found more differences. What I thought of as aeroplane hopscotch was simply hopscotch and the rhymes for playing two balls or skipping were endless. I particularly liked:
??????? had a fright
In the middle of the night
She saw a ghost eating toast
halfway up a lampost
And there were those naughty rhymes where you nearly/sort of swore:
Lily was in the garden playing with the cat
Down came a bumble bee and stug her on her...
Twice she went to the doctor's...
While I find it hard to remember poetry or lyrics to songs I can recite the whole of the piece of filth above!
The word gambo has caused me great excitement - I should get out more! - it was what we called home made go-carts in Aberkenfig but were buggies or go-carts in Cardiff. The word actually came up on"call my Bluff" many moons ago.Wiki -Call My Bluff
The definition was a hay cart in the West Country. Further excitement was caused when I saw the word on a cart wheel in the wonderful coracle museum in Cenarth in Cardigan:
coracle museum.
I wonder how many people attempted the levitation thing where you chanted to try and make a person weightless and the group attempt to pick the person up from a prone position supporting them with two fingers of each hand. There was a variation to make someone fall back as well where you pretended to make holes in their back and then thread and pull an imaginary string... Universal or just Aberenfig I wondered, but - as so often - the wonderful Wiki provided an answer:
wiki Light as a feather, stiff as a board
Labels: Aberkenfig, Bridgend, Cardiff, childhood, gambo, games, hop-scotch, lore, lore and language of children, Maesteg, Opies, rhymes, skipping, South Wales, Wales
posted by Sheilagh Gunston | 5:03 PM
2 Comments:
In my mind was the sound of the playgrounds of primary/junior and secondary schools as I read your post. The rhymes and games went on being played well into middle teen years. Skipping rhymes and songs were a favourite, yet I cannot remember a single one. I can remember some of the songs and parts of songs we sang while a teacher accompanied our young voices with his or her piano playing. 'Men of Harlech' I found great fun, especially the chorus. I never thought about what the words were saying. The tunes and their dynamics enlivened me.
I remember loads of the rhymes and games. Also have memories of "Tongues of fire on Idris flaring,
News of foemen near declaring(?)..
...Call on Harlech men!"
Must check the real words...
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