Wordchains form the past! :)

Remember when you were a kid and you and your friends cheerfully played while chanting those intriguingly twisty-turny rhythmic verses, often nonsensical but always gripping in a hypnotising rhythm that had its own momentum? :) And the clapping and tapping and elaborate manoeuvres that went with these! Wah, wah! :D

You probably remember a few verses, right? And the others have no doubt long been smushed under the careless feet of years past.

Such wordchains are fascinating memes. They usually spread like wildfire soon after they're born and undergo many, many ingenious mutations, but most eventually disappear as memes are wont to do.

I've always wished someone would record these fragments of childhood somewhere and this post is my attempt at freezing some of these fascinating wordchains in blogspace. Here I've classified them under language headers.

Read on, and after you're done, do contribute as a comment the wordchain-memes you remember from your own childhood! :)

And this post's title doesn't have a typo, folks, in case you were wondering. :)

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Tamil

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Biscuit biscuit, jam biscuit,
Enna jam? Rajam,
Enna ra? Cora,
Enna co? Teaco,
Enna tea? Rotti,
Enna rotti? Bun rotti,
Enna bun? Ribbon,
Enna ribbon? Pachha ribbon,
Enna pachha? Maa pachha,
Enna maa? Amma,
Enna amma? Teacher amma,
Enna teacher? Kankku teacher,
Enna kanakku? Veetukkanakku,
Enna veedu? Maadi veedu,
Enna maadi? Motta maadi,
Enna motta? Tirupati motta!

Alternative Möbius-strip-ish loop:

Enna Tirupati? Mél Tirupati,
Enna mél? Maadi mél,
Enna maadi? (continue with Motta maadi...)
:D

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Oh onnara doovara dakkara dun,
Yaaval kaaval maski dun,
Kallan kullan twenty one,
Yaa oo mé duck!
Ducka thooki méla pota chettiyar veetu nandu,
Nanda thooki méla pota naagarathna paambu,
Paamba thooki méla pota panjavarna kili,
Kiliya thooki méla pota Krishnanoda konda,
Kondaya thoki méla pota raja,
Rajava thooki méla pota rani,
Raniya thooki méla pota shaani!

Alternative ending:

Shaaniya thooki méla pota?
Dhoppunu keezha vizhum!
*insert much laughter and giggles*

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Bengali

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Ikiri mikiri cham chikiri,
Chamé kaata mojumdar,
Dé élo damodar,
Damodarér handi kudi,
Taité boshé chaal kudi,
Chaal kudithé holo béla,
Bhaat khabiaai jamaai shaala,
Bhaaté podlo maachi,
Kodal diyé chanchi,
Kodal holo bonta,
Kankshiyalér maata!

How to:
The kids sit in a circle and place their hands in the centre with fingers spread out. The song is sung with great gusto and one kid touches every finger in turn, progressing in a clockwise direction. The finger that gets touched when the last word of the song is sung is tucked under the hand it belongs to and the game goes on, with the song being sung anew. A kid who "loses" all his fingers is out of the game. The last kid standing (sitting, rather) wins! :D

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Gujarati

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Vaarta re vaarta,
Bhabha dhor chaarta,
Chapti bor laavta,
Chhokra samjaavta,
Ek chhokro risaano,
Kothi paachhal santano,
Kothi padi aadi,
Chhokrae chees paadi,
Araaa-rarrrr maadi!

(Courtesy: Tingi's Kaka)

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Laal laal taametu,
Nadiye naa'va jaatu'tu,
Ghee-gol khaatu'tu,
Us mus ne dhus!


(Courtesy: Tingi's Kaka)

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Popat khaato nathi,
Popat peeto nathi,
Popat aamba ni daal,
Popat sarovar ni paal,
Popat lherrr kare!


(Courtesy: Tingi's Kaka)

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Adako dadako dahi daduko,
Pillum paake sarvan gaaje,
Ool mool daatedi nu phool,
Saakar sherdi khajur,
Kahoji tamara chhaiya chhokra jaage chhe ke unghe chhe?


(Courtesy: Tingi's Kaka)

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Ek hata kaka,
Emnu naam Mankodi,
Khaava emne joie,
Saathe puri pakodi,
Saat laadoo saathe pese evdu modhu faade,
Aakha gaamni bhookh jaane emne lidhi bhaade!

(Courtesy: Tingi's Kaka)

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Ek bilaadi jaadi,
Ene pehri saadi,
Saadi pehri farva gai,
Kankariya ma tarva gai,
Kankariya ma maggar,
Billi ne aavya chakkar,
Saadi no chhedo chhuti gayo,
Maggar na moma aavi gayo,
Maggar billi khaai gayo!

(Courtesy: Tingi's Kaka)

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English

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Yam cheese yam butter,
Sauce potato chip-chip-chip,
Sauce potato chip-chip-chip,
Cream roll, butter roll,
Chicken roll, yammmmm!
(Courtesy: Subbulakshmistoned)


I remember another (more nonsensical) version of this:


Supacaroni macaroni
Ham and cheese, ham and cheese,
Sauce potato chip-chip-chip,
Sauce potato chip-chip-chip,
Chiros, firos, gems!

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Language unknown! :P

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Quacka dilly ozo,
Quack quack quack quack,
Senorita,
Rita rita rita,
Yellow,
Yellow,
Yellow yellow yellow yellow,
Ye-ll-low,
1-2-3-4!

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Aam chori chappa chori,
Garam masala pani puri,
S-T-O-P comma comma,
(Pulli) fullstop,
STATUE!

(Courtesy: Subbulakshmistoned)

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Do correct, add, contribute other chains from your memories in the comments! I'll add them to the post and credit them to child-you! :) These HAVE to be documented somewhere and I'll be glad to house as many as I can in my blog! :)

PS: Tam folk: Tell me if you know the rest of the one that goes: Gopala! Aen saar? Enga pora? and so on... :) Nyabagam irukka?

Babumoshais, do you remember the one that goes Togor bogor ghee kochudi? I've got a few links missing in that one! :( Do help!