Chitter and Chatter
I have another question for you today. It comes from Margie Bocko.
“I have a nine month old grandson. He is at that age that doesn’t like to get a diaper change. The other day I remembered a rhyme my mother used to use to calm the children. The rhyme went, while rotating your finger over their tummy moving downward, Bore a hole, bore a hole, stick a pig, and you poke their tummy. It still works. My mother would be 106 if she were still living. Do you know the origin of the rhyme. I would love to know what it means.”
—-
It’s been several years since Margie asked her question here on the Blind Pig. I made this post about her question, but somehow never got around to publishing it. If you remember the saying please share your memories of it and if you know the meaning behind it please enlighten Margie and me.
Tipper
With my grandmother, it was “bumble, bumble, bumble bee, bore a little hole in a hollow tree, RIGHT THERE.” It’s a really sweet memory.
So, my mom, who grew up in WV, as well as her mom and several others on her side of the family, said a weird version of this that never made sense to me. Trying to find its meaning led me here. They had different versions of other stuff, too, like, of all things, Patty Cake. Anyway, it went, “Bore a hole in mulie’s horn and tie it with a string. Lead her down to the river with a CHICKABOOMBOOMBOOM!(and tickling the baby.” Like, mules don’t have horns, what are you talking about?
I grew up in West Virginia. My family is of Italian and Russian descent.
My version was,
“Round and round the mountain, comes a big ol bear… bore a hole.. bore a hole.. right in there!”
I grew up on Maryland with Polish, German, and English decent and ours was “round the world, round and the world, came the big bear….bore a whole…bore a whole…right. in. There!” And then tickle the belly button. So silly but as kids we all loved it. So funny how it’s from all over and has so many variations
My mother was born in 1930. Scotch/Irish descent. Born in Mississippi.
She would say:
Way up yonder’s the crow (Pointing up)
Way down here’s the hole (Pointing towards the tummy)
How deep shall I bore? (Circling down towards the tummy)
How deep shall I bore? (Giggles!)
My mother was born in New Orleans in 1927. Her mother was born in Derry (Londonderry), northern Ireland, in 1889. We have no connection to Appalachia. My mother’s version of this song/game, which I believe she must’ve gotten from her mother, was:
Bore a hole, bore a hole,
I know not where.
I think I’ll bore it
Right in there!
During the first part of this rhyme, my mother’s hand would be making large circles in the air, at least a foot or two away from the baby. During the second part, her hand would go quickly down toward the baby and then on the word “there” a finger would poke the baby in the belly button.
This little game is very similar to one my mother played with me. She would make the same gestures, saying « if I were a bumblebee, I’d bore my hole in an old oak tree ». My mother who had Scotch Irish ancestry grew up in the piedmont area of South Carolina
As a child in West Virginia, my Pap-pap (russian/polish decent) would say a rhyme like this to us grandkids while trying to get us to eat. While circling a forkful of food in front of our face: “Round the mountain, round the mountain, comes the busy bear… bore a hole, bore a hole… right in there!”
I was born in 1982 and when I was probably 2 maybe 3 years old , my mother (Irish and Romanian decent(A.K.A GYPSY) …WOULD LAY ME ON MY BACK ON THE BED AND TAKE HER POINTER FINGER AND GO AROUND AND AROUND IN CIRCLES SINGING ” AROUND THE WORLD AROUND THE WORLD CAME A BIG BEAR..HE BUILT A HOLE HE BUILT A HOLE RIGHT IN THERE AND POINT TO MY BELLY BUTTON AND TICKLE ME TO DEATH( NOT LITERALLY..LOL)
I remember the poem as my father would repeat it to me.
Bore a hole, bore a hole, don’t know where
Think I’ll bore it right in there!
Then he’d tickle me… over sixty years ago now!
My father had a different version..
Bore a little hole in the telegraph pole and somebody stuck their finger in it!
Same thing around the belly button.
My grandson loves it.
My grandmother (born 1912) sang it to my kids, I sing it to my grandkids. She’s from Walker County, AL. Irish extraction.
“Boar a hole, (spin finger over belly)
Boar a hole,
Boar a hole,
STICK a hog!” (poke baby in belly)
Raised in maryland, my grandmother had a version that went (making a circular motion around the child) “round the world, round the world went the bear. Bore a hole, bore a hole right in there!” (Followed by tickling). I loved this as a child and it’s one of my fondest memories. That and she’d sing To me “bushel and a peck”… I sure do miss my grandmother.
I am from Walker County, Al as well, we are German/Irish/Scotish decent. My grandmother (1918) had a similar saying. Bumble bee, bumble bee, bore a hole in this pine tree, while spinning finger over baby’s belly button. I did this to my son and now my grandbabies. My 7 month old grandson thinks it hilarious!
This is similar to the only version I’ve ever heard. Mama is the only one I’ve ever heard recite it. Grew up in Jefferson Co, AL, but her people were all from Walker Co as well. Her mother was born in 1936.
“If I were a bumblebee, I’d bore a hole right in your pine tree.”
I’m 70 year’s old and I’m from Western Kentucky I have heard this sayin all my life and I have used it on my children,nieces,nephews,grandchildren and great grandchildren and it goes like this: Bore ah hole,bore ah hole,gettcha belly,gettcha belly,gettcha belly as you tickle there belly with your boring finger and get ready for lot’s of giggles.
My great-grandmother (of German ancestry, raised in Southern Indiana) used to say this to me when I was a child. She was born in 1918. She sang hers (drawing out the words and adding emphasis at the end):
“I booooore around, and boooooore around, and get. your. bel-ly but-ton!” She did the swirling finger on the tummy and said “button!” when she landed on the belly button. We all grew up doing this to babies to make them laugh. I never knew where it came from. Could it be a translation from a German rhyme?
I heard it as a child and used it with my daughter and many other children for more than seventy years. I never thought about the origin until today. I guess it is one of the many things passed down through generations.
My Daddy recited this anytime he was bouncing one of us and later his grandbabies on his knee making us giggle. He was NOT about to change a diaper! My Mama and others would do so as a distraction perhaps when changing. I never heard the ‘a’, just bore hole, bore hole, stick a peg (rather than pig). Fun memories.
Bore a hole, bore a hole, poke him/her in the belly! I adapted this when my son was learning spelling, etc. He was nicknamed Critter and I called it the critter getter–whole hand with opening & closing fingers!
I remember my momma doing that motion and saying when changing a babys diaper, or maybe drying from a bath, but have never heard anything of the origin.
Never heard of that one, but one passed down from my mother went like this: bumblebee comes out of the barn with a bagpipe under his and goes “BZZZZZ”, all while circling the index finger toward the bellybutton and ultimately tickling the little one into fits of laughter. Worked every time and still does on my 2-1/2 yr old granddaughter.
Tipper,
I’m afraid I’m no help for Margie. Never heard of that saying. …Ken
I have never heard that. We always used “This Little Piggy” as we wiggled their toes. I have yet to see even a crying baby/toddler who wouldn’t pause that crying and try to smile a bit with that. What really mystified me was a young man at a home who had chosen a crying baby for his cell phone ring. His Mom and I agreed we had heard quite enough of that. I always felt sad instead of annoyed at the sleepy hungry crying little ones who were being dragged about by their Mom when they were obviously sleepy or hungry. I am a firm believer that when that baby cries something needs to be corrected. As a young and inexperience Mother, I once had two layers of heavy clothing on my baby on a very warm day. The crying ceased when a more experienced person pointed out I had her dressed too warm. You sure had your hands full with two. Will await to see if anyone knows the origin of your baby soother.
We passed it down several generations except we say stick a peg in. I think that makes more sense.
My mother and my grandmother always played this game when changing diapers. They would poke their finger in the tummy and say slowly “Bore a hole, bore a hole, bore a hole in the belly” and then poke in the belly button. The baby would lay there just focused in the rhyme and the finger in anticipation and then giggle when the hole was bored! My grandmother was Scotch Irish ancestry raised the the mountains of Eastern KY. She was heavily steeped in a lot of folklore and sayings.
What we did was circle the pointing finger down toward the baby’s tummy, chanting,
“Bore a hole, bore a hole, where, where, where?”
Then wiggle the finger around in the baby’s tummy button, saying,
“Bore a hole, bore a hole, there, there, there!”
The “hole” is the baby’s navel. You waited until your finger was all the way down before you said the word “there.” I never saw a baby who didn’t love this game!
I just remembered my mother’s saying when she was calming my baby brother: “If I was a bumblebee I’d bore me a hole in a hollow tree–and go ‘boom!’.” While speaking she would make circles with her finger above his belly, then give him the expected poke. It was the anticipation of the poke that made him smile.
I never heard that one but I’m not a player at diaper time. This RN has never played concerning activities of daily living. Being clean is serious good health! Oh I’ve been known to hold a baby down with my legs across his or her legs and arms for a firm, business hold. Believe me, it’s not pleasurable but neither is nasty business all around a room while a toddler dances. Bore a hole? I think not. We have too many as it is and just about all of them leak. Yuk and yuk. Chatter and Chitter were adorable babies!!!! Too precious they were! I awoke this morning to all my favorite pots of flowers flung across the yard so my heart is sad and I’m a bit frustrated. Every year it happens and every year I swear it’s the last….
I think it is simply one of those delightful nonsense sayings that people come up with. It means nothing in particular.
Hi Tipper, I don’t know for certain the origin…but I found a eBook on Google in the Michigan University library entitled:”The Folk-Lore Journal” Volume IV, Jan – Dec 1886, that makes reference to the nursery rhyme “Heat a Womle” Pg. 151
https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Folk_lore_Journal/mgcNAQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=bore+a+hole+nursery+rhyme&pg=PA151&printsec=frontcover
…on this page there are three other references to other sources of the rhyme…
Interesting! I also noticed at the bottom of that page a version of one of my other favorite baby games: “This is the way the farmer rides.” Then the lady, the gentleman, and finally the name of the baby. The horse’s gait (bouncing of the baby on your knees) gets stronger with each name, and when you get to “And this is the way that Chitter rides,” you bounce as high as you dare. Such fun. “Trot, little horsie, go to town. . .” and “Triddy, troddy, Boston to buy a baby cake. . .” are two other good baby games (but not when changing diapers!).
I’ve never heard of it but I’ll be interested to see if anyone else has heard it.