How is it that kids of all ages from all over the states say things like, "na-na-na-boo-boo?" I find it interesting that things like this are so ingrained in society that we pass them on. Remember when you had to pick who was going to be IT, you said, "eenie-meenie-minie-mo?" What's that supposed to mean and why did we say it? There are even longer chants and sayings that kids pick up that every kid knows by the time they're in elementary school. We all know the same tunes and the same words (with only slight variation). Just yesterday, I heard someone (who is 12 or 13 years older than I and from a different region of the country) say, "U-G-L-Y, you ain't got no alibi. You're ugly!" Hearing her say that took me back to when I was a kid. I'm sure I got in trouble more than once for saying that one. Of course, you don't want you're kids saying things like that, but somehow, we all learn that sort of thing.
I think girls learn more of these chants than boys. Sometimes, I think girls are born knowing these things (sort of like we're born knowing how to make a towel into a turban when our hair is wet). Even my friends from thousands of miles away knew the same songs I did. Remember the old favorites: "Cinderalla, dressed in yella, went upstairs to kiss a fella. Made a mistake and kissed a snake. How many doctors will it take?" or "Miss Mary Mack (mack, mack), all dressed in black (black, black), with silver buttons (buttons, buttons), all down her back (back, back)..." or "Miss Lucy had a baby. His name was Tiny Tim. She put him in the bath tub to see if he could swim. He drank up all the water, he ate up all the soap. And now he's just a baby with some bubbles in his throat. Miss Lucy called the doctor. The doctor called the nurse. The nurse called the lady with the alligator purse."
I also find it fascinating that a kids' song about the black death has been passed on for hundreds of years: "Ring around the rosies" is probably one of the most well known kids folk songs around. I wonder if kids in Europe still sing about it or if it's just an American thing. Or how about "London Bridge is falling down"? Now there's something to sing about!