Tipper and The Deer Hunter sitting in a tree
K – I – S – S – I – N – G.
First comes love
Then comes marriage,
Then comes The Deer Hunter with a baby carriage.
—————–
Are you familiar with this rhyme? Kids were teasing each other with it when I was in elementary school, and it was still being said when Chatter and Chitter were in elementary school.
I assumed it was created in the 70s by children hanging around the playground. The book Miss Mary Mack all Dressed in Black by Scott E. Hastings documents the rhyme being used as a hand clapping game or jump rope rhyme as early as the 1930s-so it’s been around much longer than I thought.
Tipper
Tipper,
You and the deer hunter make such a lovely couple. You were so beautiful in your wedding dress and the deer hunter made a very handsome groom. I know that photo must bring back some very happy moments of your young lives. How many years have y’all been married now?
I love the wedding picture!
Tipper, such a nice wedding looks like.Your deer hunter is handsome and I know he is proud of you and the girls.
A beautiful picture of a beautiful bride and handsome groom on your day. And yes, we all experienced that annoying little rhyme as we first felt those attractions in those early years. Looking back it is cute, but not so at the time. Thanks for the memory!
If it could be real that a children’s rhyme and a jump rope would predict the future, is it preposterous to think that to jump the rope in reverse could rewind time and we who have failed could retreat to a happier time and start the journey anew.
Awe, yes I remember it so well. That is a beautiful pic of ya’ll.
That rhyme has been around forever. I am 85 and remember waaaaaay back in school we use to tease everyone or were teased with that little rhyme.
“Thanks for the Memories”
70s!! i was in college in the 70s, and it was old when i was in elementary school. and since it wasn’t foreign to my mother…she would have been in elementary school in the ‘teens.
Lovely picture!!
On a more morbid note:
Mother, mother, I am sick
Call the doctor, quick, quick, quick
Doctor, doctor will I die?
Yes my child but don’t you cry.
How many cars will be at my funeral?
Can anyone remember the one that ended
Boys & girls & hot peppers. Then the rope was turned as fast as possible.
I REALLY love this picture, and the beautiful comment from Miss Cindy is such an affirmation of your lives. As for the rhyme, I can’t remember NOT hearing it all through school in the 60’s, as well as from my aunts, sister, etc.
I love coffee
I love tea
I love the boys
and the boys love me.
How many boys love me?
Jump rope till you miss and that tells you and the others how many boys love you! LOL
Hey Tipper,
Beautiful picture of you both! Oh, Happy Days!
We used K-I-S-S-I-N-G- rhyme as a tease sometimes but always as a jumprope rhyme..The last line being..”How many babies will there be?” Then the person would jump and count til there was a miss. That would tell the number of babies, usually more than two or three and a lot of laughter would ensue.
I also like this jumprope rhyme..
Down in the valley
Where the green grass grows
There sat Tipper
Sweet as a rose
She sang, she sang
She sang so sweet
Along came Matt
And kissed her on the cheek
How many kisses did he give her?
Jump the rope and when you miss, you find out how many kisses!
Thanks Tipper,
Great post, great picture!
What a quaint and old-timey concept that love and marriage should precede the baby carriage.
I don’t think I ever heard this in anything OTHER than a teasing way. Of course what boy would ever get involved in jumping rope with silly girls?
The injury heaped upon indignity was putting the boy in the baby carriage driving role. Did you clear this with the Deer Hunter before posting;-)? Looking back and perhaps revealing early chauvinistic ways, I always thought that the teasing was strictly directed at the mentioned boy, not the girl.
One thing is for sure – the expected response from the boy was to at least act mad, even if he thought the girl was mighty cute.
Tipper,
What a beautiful Picture!!! I Thank
God often for my friends and Family,
and feel blessed to have your whole
bunch come into my life…Ken
Oh, Heavens, yes! One of the first rhymes I remember, and that was definitely prior to the 70s.(My but y’all are young!)
What a beautiful bride and equally handsome groom! It’s no wonder the girls are so gorgeous.
love your wedding picture — beautiful bride and handsome husband with all the world just ahead for you. Did you ever have an inkling that it would “double” 🙂
I’ll bet you broke your daddy’s heart on that day! Great photo!! I remember the rhyme and as a kid those were usually fighting words to a young lad.
You and the Deer Hunter do make a lovely bride and groom!
The rhyme is definitely not a regional thing. We added the line “how many kisses did she (he) get?” using it as a jump rope rhyme and trying to jump as long as we could for lots of “kisses” and lots of giggles.
Oh, yes! As a child this was one of our jump robe rhymes. Of course, there was a bit of teasing that occured because a girl was usually matched up with some boy in the class, maybe one that should have been a secret. (Might that beautiful picture be you and the Deer Hunter?)
I’ve heard the rhyme as long as I can remember and used it many times to torture my three sisters, they returned the torture to me if I ever made the mistake of letting them know I was “sweet” on some girl. I developed a crush on a charming lass in 1963 and after the chore of living life brought us back together we married in 1977 and made the rhyme a fact plus added additional lines about Grandchildren and Great Grandchildren. I just don’t remember us sitting in a tree while K-I-S-S-I-N-G.
Tipper, I remember this from the 1940’s. If you told a friend you thought a
particular boy was cute the friend would taunt you with this rhyme.
Tipper, This was a rhyme that was sung when I was in 1st grade in 1949 and beyond. The girls sang this when playing jump rope and to tease a boy if he showed any interest in a girl at school.
This was in South Jersey, so I guess it was something that was not just regional.
We would chant this rhyme while jumping rope back in the late 40’s early 50’s when we still lived in the country. Never heard it when we moved to the city. Never jumped rope again either.
Love the picture of you and Deer Hunter.
Great photo. You seem to have had such a happy life, great husband, wonderful daughters and the rest of your family.
Tipper–I can unfortunately (a testament to my age)assure you that rhyme was around at least as far back as 1949 or 1950, because I remember if from early school years.
Romantic matters aside, it was often the occasion for fisticuffs or at least anger in my youth. A boy might secretly have a “crush” on some girl, but any mention of such things to a 6th or 7th grader was considered a major indignity which could not be ignored.
On a different and much less discordant note, what a lovely couple in the photo
Jim Casada
http://www.jimcasadaoutdoors.com
Tipper, I can remember this little rhyme from grade school and that was in the 50’s. I love the picture. You were such a beautiful bride and the Deer Hunter was a handsome groom! My husband and I celebrated our 41st wedding anniversary January 26th. One of the greatest gifts the Lord gives us is a mate to share our lives with and to grow old together. Wishing you many, many more wonderful years together!
What a beautiful wedding picture, Tipper and Deer Hunter! Did you ever dream on that beautiful day the blessings (and sometimes the burdens, too) that lay ahead for you?
The rhyme K-I-S-S-I-N-G was used in my community, too. Eva Nell may have hit upon why–in the day when some phases of life were in the “unmentionable” category. How about, after that first sight of the one you might well fall in love with, you remembered this rhyme, and with starry-eyed wonder, when the first star appeared in the night sky, you would say:
“Star-light, star-bright–
Wish I may, wish I might
Have this wish
I wish tonight!”
And with visions of that handsome guy dancing in your mind, you might wish he were kissing you?
I remember that one, we used it to tease the boys when I was in elementary school.
Tipper, I remember this rhyme from elementary school. That would have been in the 50’s. My memory of the rhyme was kids teasing each other about a boyfriend. I don’t remember it used with hand clapping or jump rope.
I also remember the day of the above picture. I knew it was a good marriage then and with time to know you better I’ve come to see how perfect you and the Deer Hunter are for each other. If I had gone looking for a wife for my only son I could never have found anyone that matched him as well as you do. I thank god for you on a daily basis.
It was certainly around in the early 1950’s!
Happy Anniversary, i think… love that photo. and our 29th anniversary is tomorrow
Yes Tipper, this saying always seemed like a warning to the elementary students jumping the rope or what ever game we were playing out there in front of our little (TWO ROOM) wooden school house – way down in the woods – away from the high school. Maybe it was a subversive effort to teach the girls and boys about @@@ education – without using that word and upsetting parents!
Hope you have sunshine today!
Eva Nell