Fiction_L Archives Adam and Eve and Pinch Me Dates: 2/21/02,2:20 PM  through  2/22/02,7:01 AM  (4 postings) Search for: Select one or more indexes to search: 2011-current     2009-2010     2004-2008    1995-2003    (Matches from each index will be displayed separately in the results page.) Return to February 2002 thread menu   |   Fiction_L Archives Menu

FROM: Julie Nelson <[removed]@tscpl.lib.ks.us>
REC'D: 2/21/02, 2:20 PM

After reading Rendell's latest, I'm curious as to the origin/meaning of the
phrase "Adam and Eve and Pinch Me". Is this solely a silly joke (as it was
in the novel?) or some kind of Britishism? Any thoughts would be
appreciated!

Julie Nelson
Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library
[removed]@tscpl.lib.ks.us

FROM: Mary Ann Bakken <[removed]@linc.lib.il.us>
REC'D: 2/21/02, 2:40 PM

I remember it as a silly sort of riddle/game that my grandmother used to
play with me a gazillion years ago. The rhyme went something like: Adam
and Eve and Pinch Me went [somewhere] to bathe. Adam and Eve fell in. Who
do you think was saved? The answer, of course, produced a pinch.

Mary Ann Bakken
St. Charles (IL) Public Library

At 02:17 PM 2/21/2002 -0600, you wrote:
>After reading Rendell's latest, I'm curious as to the origin/meaning of the
>phrase "Adam and Eve and Pinch Me". Is this solely a silly joke (as it was
>in the novel?) or some kind of Britishism? Any thoughts would be
>appreciated!
>
>Julie Nelson
>Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library
[removed]@tscpl.lib.ks.us
>
>......................................................................
>Need to subscribe, unsubscribe, search the archives?
>Everything Fiction_L: http://www.webrary.org/rs/flmenu.html

FROM: Dennis Lien <[removed]@tc.umn.edu>
REC'D: 2/21/02, 2:40 PM

At 02:17 PM 2/21/02 -0600, you wrote:
>After reading Rendell's latest, I'm curious as to the origin/meaning of the
>phrase "Adam and Eve and Pinch Me". Is this solely a silly joke (as it was
>in the novel?) or some kind of Britishism? Any thoughts would be
>appreciated!
>
>Julie Nelson
>Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library
[removed]@tscpl.lib.ks.us
>
Don't know about "origin" offhand, but there's a famous story by
A.E. Coppard by this title that much precedes the recent Rendell--
it's the title story of his first book, from 1921. All I recall
of the story is that it's a sort of dream/timeslip fantasy in
which the protagonist watches his children playing, including one
or more so far unborn. I think the title comes from the game
they were playing, but even if that's correct I don't know if it
was a real game or one Coppard devised.

Dennis Lien / U of Minnesota Libraries // [removed]@tc.umn.edu

FROM: "christine jeffords" <[removed]@hotmail.com>
REC'D: 2/22/02, 7:01 AM

>From: Julie Nelson <[removed]@tscpl.lib.ks.us>
>Reply-To: "Fiction_L" <[removed]@maillist.webrary.org>
>To: Fiction_L <[removed]@maillist.webrary.org>
>Subject: Adam and Eve and Pinch Me
>Date: Thu, 21 Feb 2002 14:17:17 -0600
>
>After reading Rendell's latest, I'm curious as to the origin/meaning of the
>phrase "Adam and Eve and Pinch Me". Is this solely a silly joke (as it was
>in the novel?) or some kind of Britishism? Any thoughts would be
>appreciated!
>

It comes from a children's trick-game. Child #1 singsongs: "Adam and Eve
and Pinch Me/Went down to the creek to bathe./Adam and Eve were
drownd*ed*,/And who do you think was saved?" Child #2 innocently replies,
"Pinch me," and of course #1 does.

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