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

[menomegirl.livejournal.com]

I hit the wrong thing.

It's itsy bitsy spider.

[twilight-dew.livejournal.com]

Incy Wincy. Definitely.

[rahirah]

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

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

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

Coooooooooooool.

[snowpuppies]

eensy weensy??

incy wincy??

WTF?

Really?

[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.

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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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...

[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.

[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.

[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/