Folklore: Origin of skipping rhyme - K-I-S-S-I-N-G (2024)

GUEST,Jyoti_M, since K-I-S-S-I-N-G is a folk rhyme, it probably is impossible to figure out where it came from. The best you might be able to do is find out the earliest publication date such as the information NH Dave provides.

I have different versions of this children's rhyme but no clue as to its earliest publication dates.

My interest is more in how rhymes are used and what they say about the children reciting them. K-I-S-S-I-N-G is often used as a jumprope or handclap rhyme. It is often used as a midly taunting rhyme that is directed at the children named in the verse as KT posted. However, I think that the last line is more often {insert girl's name} "with" a baby carriage. Or at least, "with a baby carriage" makes more sense than "in a baby carriage."

One thing you can say about this rhyme is that is at least girls are being socialized to expect that love & marriage should come before having babies. And that's good.

I'm wondering if an earlier version was {girl's name} and {boy's name} behind a tree. K.I.S.S.I.N.G. [not in a tree].

Maybe it was and maybe it wasn't. I'll have to do some research, and maybe I'll find out some more info. And maybe I won't, but it will be fun doing so.

Best wishes,

Azizi

I double checked with my daughter this morning about her memory of this rhyme {Pittsburgh, PA 1980s}. What she remembers conforms with the "in a baby carriage" last line. She said she doesn't remember jumping rope or doing handclaps with this rhyme. Her memory was that it was just said "to tease somebody".

But Alice C's version from Cleveland conforms with my memory of that line:

Subject: RE: Naughty kids'greatest hits
From: Alice C. (of Cleveland) - PM
Date: 24 Sep 97 - 10:18 PM

Hi there--and especially to Jerry ___ who does indeed remember the same local versions as I do! How delightful. I was at Fairfax Elementary 1971-76. And you?

Hey, does anyone else remember this playground taunt -- let's say you want to embarass two other kids named Richard and Kathy:

Kathy loves Richard,
Sittin' in the tree,
K-I-S-S-I-N-G.
First comes love,
Then comes marriage,
Then comes Kathy with the baby carriage!
Suckin' her thumb,
Chewin' her pants,
Doin' the hootchy-kootchy dance!

-snip-

I hope that I didn't commit a cardinal sin by reposting this.
If so, please accept my apologies.

Mo the caller, if I understand the first part of your guess, you are suggesting that maybe the name of a 3rd child is called, and that child "in a baby carriage" represents the offspring of the first two children.

Hmmm. From the examples that I've seen thus far-on Mudcat and elsewhere-there's no indication that 3 different children's names are called.

Also I don't think that your guess that "[when the 3rd child jumps in the rope]the first child steps out and 2nd & 3rd are KISSING" is likely given the fact that these jump rope rhymes are most often performed by girls only. Besides, for the most part girls of jump rope age {5-12 years or so} wouldn't dare kiss a boy in public {or in private?}..Not to mention that the two childrenyou have in your guess who are kissing are not the "mother and father" but the parent and baby...which seems to go against the mild naughtiness-if not mild taunting//teasing nature of the rhyme.

But as an esteemed person reminded me {us?} upthread, these rhymes don't have to make sense, so, in some corners of the world, there may be children who chant this rhyme and perform it just as you guessed.

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There are a number of other examples of K-I-S-S-I-N-G on Mudcat threads that have the last line "with a baby carriage"-not that this is "the right" last line for this rhyme, but it's not an uncommon line....

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BTW, Joe Offer, or Joe Clones-would you please post a listing of other Mudcat children's rhyme threads below this thread's title?

Thanks.