"Tinker, Tailor" is a counting game,

nursery rhyme A nursery rhyme is a traditional poem or song for children in Britain and other European countries, but usage of the term dates only from the late 18th/early 19th century. The term Mother Goose rhymes is interchangeable with nursery rhymes. Fr ...

and

fortune telling Fortune telling is the spiritual practice of prediction, predicting information about a person's life.J. Gordon Melton, Melton, J. Gordon. (2008). ''The Encyclopedia of Religious Phenomena''. Visible Ink Press. pp. 115–116. The scope of for ...

song traditionally played in England, that can be used to count cherry stones, buttons, daisy petals and other items. It has a

Roud Folk Song Index The Roud Folk Song Index is a database of around 250,000 references to nearly 25,000 songs collected from oral tradition in the English language from all over the world. It is compiled by Steve Roud. Roud's Index is a combination of the Broadsid ...

number of 802. It is commonly used by children in both Britain and America for "counting out", e.g. for choosing who shall be "It" in a game of tag.

Lyrics

The most common modern version is: :

Tinker Tinker or tinkerer is an archaic term for an wikt:itinerant, itinerant tinsmith who mends household utensils. Description ''Tinker'' for metal-worker is attested from the thirteenth century as ''tyckner'' or ''tinkler''. Some travelling grou ...

Tailor A tailor is a person who makes or alters clothing, particularly in men's clothing. The Oxford English Dictionary dates the term to the thirteenth century. History Although clothing construction goes back to prehistory, there is evidence of ...

, :

Soldier A soldier is a person who is a member of an army. A soldier can be a Conscription, conscripted or volunteer Enlisted rank, enlisted person, a non-commissioned officer, a warrant officer, or an Officer (armed forces), officer. Etymology The wo ...

Sailor A sailor, seaman, mariner, or seafarer is a person who works aboard a watercraft as part of its crew, and may work in any one of a number of different fields that are related to the operation and maintenance of a ship. While the term ''sailor'' ...

, :Rich Man, Poor Man, : Beggar Man, Thief.I. Opie and P. Opie, ''The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1951, 2nd edn., 1997), pp. 404–5. The most common American version is: :Rich Man, Poor Man, :Beggar Man, Thief, :Doctor, Lawyer, (or "Merchant") :Indian Chief.

Origins

A similar rhyme has been noted in

William Caxton William Caxton () was an English merchant, diplomat and writer. He is thought to be the first person to introduce a printing press into Kingdom of England, England in 1476, and as a Printer (publishing), printer to be the first English retailer ...

's '' The Game and Playe of the Chesse'' (c. 1475), in which pawns are named: "Labourer, Smith, Clerk, Merchant, Physician, Taverner, Guard and Ribald." The first record of the opening four professions being grouped together is in

William Congreve William Congreve (24 January 1670 – 19 January 1729) was an English playwright, satirist, poet, and Whig politician. He spent most of his career between London and Dublin, and was noted for his highly polished style of writing, being regard ...

's ''Love for Love'' (1695), which has the lines: :A Soldier and a Sailor, a Tinker and a Tailor, :Had once a doubtful strife, sir. When

James Orchard Halliwell James Orchard Halliwell-Phillipps (born James Orchard Halliwell; 21 June 1820 – 3 January 1889) was an English writer, Shakespearean scholar, antiquarian, and a collector of English nursery rhymes and fairy tales. Life The son of Thomas Hal ...

collected the rhyme in the 1840s, it was for counting buttons with the lines: "My belief – a captain, a colonel, a cow-boy, a thief." The version printed by William Wells Newell in ''Games and Songs of American Children'' in 1883 was: "Rich man, Poor man, beggar-man, thief, Doctor, lawyer (or merchant), Indian chief", and it may be from this tradition that the modern American lyrics solidified.

Alternative versions

A. A. Milne Alan Alexander Milne (; 18 January 1882 – 31 January 1956) was an English writer best known for his books about the teddy bear Winnie-the-Pooh, as well as children's poetry. Milne was primarily a playwright before the huge success of Winnie-th ...

's '' Now We Are Six'' (1927) had the following version of "Cherry stones": :Tinker, tailor, soldier, sailor, rich man, poor man, beggar man, thief, :Or what about a cowboy, policeman, jailer, engine driver, or a pirate chief? :Or what about a ploughman or a keeper at the zoo, :Or what about a circus man who lets the people through? :Or the man who takes the pennies on the roundabouts and swings, :Or the man who plays the organ or the other man who sings? :Or what about the rabbit man with rabbits in his pockets :And what about a rocket man who's always making rockets? :Oh it's such a lot of things there are and such a lot to be :That there's always lots of cherries on my little cherry tree. The "tinker, tailor" rhyme is one part of a longer counting or divination game, played by young girls to foretell their futures, similar thematically to MASH. It runs as follows: :When shall I marry? ::This year, next year, sometime, never. :What will my husband be? (or what I be?) ::Tinker, tailor, soldier, sailor, rich-man, poor-man, beggar-man, thief. :What will I be? ::Lady, baby, gypsy, queen. :What shall I wear? ::Silk, satin, cotton, rags (or silk, satin, velvet, lace) (or silk, satin, muslin, rags) :How shall I get it? ::Given, borrowed, bought, stolen. :How shall I get to church? ::Coach, carriage, wheelbarrow, cart. (or Coach, carriage, wheelbarrow, dustbin) :Where shall I live? ::Big house, little house, pig-sty, barn. During the divination, the child will ask a question and then count out a series of actions or objects by reciting the rhyme. The rhyme is repeated until the last of the series of objects or actions is reached. The last recited term or word is that which will come true. Buttons on a dress, petals on a flower, bounces of a ball, number of jumps over a rope, etc., may be counted.

Lyrics

Origins

Alternative versions

See also

Notes

Further reading