Okay. Now I'm curious.

[deird_lj]

(This is all beer_good_foamy's fault.)


[Poll #1526051]


Is it a regional thing? A generational thing? Why all the confusion?

Comments

[lavastar.livejournal.com]

Hey, what's with the default being on incy wincy??? Trying to trick us, huh?


I think the confusion is that YOU'RE WRONG and it's itsy bitsy and your silly delusions must be stopped at once. :D

[deird1]

Hey, just wait - all the British people are currently asleep, and my poll has been taken up by Americans...

[stormwreath.livejournal.com]

When it comes to knowing about spiders, I'm going to trust the Aussie before I take the word of any Americans...

[menomegirl.livejournal.com]

I hit the wrong thing.

It's itsy bitsy spider.

[snowpuppies]

You can change your poll answers. Just click on the POLL Link then click 'fill out poll'. :)

[twilight-dew.livejournal.com]

Incy Wincy. Definitely.

[rahirah]

Is incy wincy even a word?!?!?!

[gabrielleabelle.livejournal.com]

What she said.

[jl-in-the-lane.livejournal.com]

I have just discovered another nursery rhyme that differs, this time by nationality!

Coooooooooooool.

[deird1]

:)

(So far, the British people are going for "incy wincy", and the Americans are split between "itsy bitsy" and "eensy weensy"...)

[snowpuppies]

eensy weensy??

incy wincy??

WTF?

Really?

[deird1]

Really! It's Incy Wincy!

It seriously never occurred to me that it'd be different in America.

[2maggie2.livejournal.com]

Usually I have an affection for the british turn of phrase. But eensy weensy is just silly. The yanks get one right for a change. The staccato makes all the difference.

[deird1]

Actually, the Brits are all going for "incy wincy". "Eensy weensy" is being chosen by Americans...

JL pulls the 'I'VE GOT AN EXPERT OPINION' card

[jl-in-the-lane.livejournal.com]

My 3 year-old kinder teacher friend reckons that her students would find 'itsy bitsy spider' rather difficult to say and that 'incy wincy spider' therefore works better as a nursery rhyme for children of tender years.

Adults, however, are free to sing it however they choose. :P

SO THERE.

Re: JL pulls the 'I'VE GOT AN EXPERT OPINION' card

[jl-in-the-lane.livejournal.com]

*feels good that people can still get passionate about nursery rhymes - it restores her faith in the world*

[beer-good-foamy.livejournal.com]

Imse Vimse Spindel klättrar uppför trån
Ner faller regnet, spola spindeln bort
Upp stiger solen, torkar bort allt regn
Imse Vimse Spindel klättrar upp igen

Clearly, "incy wincy" is closer to the real version. Personally, I'm glad some English speakers are at least close. Maybe there's hope for you people yet.

[naatz.livejournal.com]

Hee. Hebrew has a version (http://www.flix.co.il/tapuz/showVideo.asp?m=3273135) for this nursery rhyme. It basically goes "A small spider climbed on the wall / the raindrops drove him away from here / Suddenly came the sun / Dried up the whole garden / A small spider climbed on the wall". Apparently there's another version, but I'm not familiar with it. :D

|Meduza|

[dipenates.livejournal.com]

Incy Wincy. Of course.

[ruuger]

It's hämä-hämähäkki! :D

(when your word for spider is 'hämähäkki', you don't need itsy-bitsys or incy-wincys to fill out the line)

Also, is Finnish the only language where the rhyme has more than one verse? Because we have four - two about the spider, one about an ant and one about a cricket.

[jl-in-the-lane.livejournal.com]

Uh, we kinda sing one about the spider climbing up a tree at playgroup, but I'd never ever heard it before and I don't know half the words:

Incy Wincy spider was climbing up a tree
Down came the snow and made poor Incy freeze
Out came the sun and melted all the snow
So Incy Wincy spider had another go.

[quinara]

What is this 'itsy bitsy' bollocks? It doesn't even sound like a spider! It just means small...

Spider

[1c2k3p4p5c.livejournal.com]

I think it's a generational difference. I whistled it to my mother (in her eighties) and she said "Itsy Bitsy". I believe I grew up with that and did a double-take in my daughters' childhood when they sang "Incy Wincy/Eency Weency" (Eency Weency is the spelling in the Playschool Useful Book publishe 1979). I switched in order to avoid confusing them.

Re: Spider

[jl-in-the-lane.livejournal.com]

!

!!

!!!

!!!!

!!!!!

My childhood is flashing before my eyes!

[timeofchange.livejournal.com]

Itsy bitsy. Here's the version that was a fav when Time Jr. was itsy bitsy: http://www.amazon.com/Itsy-Bitsy-Spider-Iza-Trapani/dp/1879085690/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1266321953&sr=1-1

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

Hmm - I wonder what Legolas learnt...

[beer-good-foamy.livejournal.com]

I doubt an elf would be impressed with that spider's climbing abilities. If they have that song, it's probably called "Clumsy Bumsy Spider".

[neutralalienist.livejournal.com]

...Well I thought it was itsy bitsy but now I'm not so sure.

Hold Everything!

[1c2k3p4p5c.livejournal.com]

I take it all back! I have been singing the song to myself and I just realised I actually sang "Ipsy Wipsy Spider" as a child. We need another option please.

Re: Hold Everything!

[lavastar.livejournal.com]

OMG, the plot thickens!

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

I think I'm late to the party, but I've never heard the phrase "eensy weensy." I mean, I've heard "teensy weensy" (though not in the context of this song--then it's always been "itsy bitsy") a ton, but not without that T at the beginning. Huh.

[deird1]

Well, for that matter, I've never heard "incy wincy", except in that song...

[twilight-dew.livejournal.com]

OMG. This is definitely the funniest thread ever! :p

[gg-83.livejournal.com]

I accidentally entered "incy wincy" instead of "eensy weensy"! It's really the eensy weensy spider. (And if it matters for the poll, I'm in my mid-twenties and from the U.S. Midwest.

[spikereader.livejournal.com]

You win for Poll of the Year! I love it.

And of course, being a Brit I vote for Incy Wincy (which is obviously the right version *g*).

[padawanspider.livejournal.com]

Itsy bitsy. As in I wish I was an itsy-bitsy Spider.

Need to go exercise.

[libco.livejournal.com]

Found a uk site that says Itsy Bitsy-http://www.rhymes.org.uk/