Oxford Paperbacks
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This study looks at the superstitions, practices and beliefs, rhymes and chants, catcalls and retorts, stock jokes, ruderies, riddles, epithets, nicknames and juvenile slang that continue to flourish among children in England, Scotland and Wales. First published in 1959, it discloses a wealth of traditional lore and language. Iona and Peter Opie also wrote "The Singing Game", "A Nursery Companion", "The Oxford Nursery Rhyme Book", "The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes", "Children's Games in Street and Playground", "The Oxford Book of Children's Verse" and "The Oxford Book of Narrative Verse".
This record of children's outdoor games played in the street, park, playground, or wasteland is drawn from the contributions of 10,000 children in England, Scotland and Wales. It reveals that the games children take pleasure in when out on their own are usually those learnt from each other - not from adults. They are games in which children may deliberately scare each other, ritually hurt each other, take foolish risks, play ten against one, and yet in which they consistenly observe their own sense of fair play. This volume explains in detail how a large number of street games are played, and gives the rhymes and sayings children repeat while playing them, together with their different regional names. It also contains notes on their individual histories, and compares apparently recently invented games with amusements in Elizabethan, medieval and even classical times, while numerous analogues from other countries indicate the extent of their distribution.
Iona and Peter Opie have also written "The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes", "The Oxford Nursery Rhyme Book", "The Oxford Book of Children's Verse", "The Lore and Language of Schoolchildren", "Classic Fairy Tales", "A Nursery Companion" and "The Oxford Book of Narrative Verse". Iona Opie is also the author of "The Singing Game" and "People in the Playground".
Iona and Peter Opie have also written "The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes", "The Oxford Nursery Rhyme Book", "The Oxford Book of Children's Verse", "The Lore and Language of Schoolchildren", "Classic Fairy Tales", "A Nursery Companion" and "The Oxford Book of Narrative Verse". Iona Opie is also the author of "The Singing Game" and "People in the Playground".
This volume is based on 30 years of collecting and research, and traces the histories of singing games such as ring a ring o' roses and oranges and lemons. It is an exposition both of the workings of folklore and of the play habits of young children. Each game is described in detail with reference to its history and its present form. Fashionable in the Middle Ages, frowned upon in the 16th century, and suppressed in the 17th, the singing game is now generally considered to belong to the past. The Opies' research show that the tradition is continuing. The book is illustrated throughout with photographs and prints and includes words to each game, with music for many. Iona and Peter Opie have also written "The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes", "The Oxford Nursery Rhyme Book", "Children's Games in Street and Playground", "The Oxford Book of Children's Verse", "A Nursery Companion" and "The Oxford Book of Narrative Verse".