NEW YORK FOLKLORE QUARTERLY
Vol. II, No. 3, Autumn 1947

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CURRENT EVENTS IN NEW YORK CITY CHILDREN’S FOLKLORE
Carl Withers

IN their folklore children are often rigidly conservative and traditional—a point frequently made. But they are also often very inventive, and it is both entertaining and instructive to observe the original treatment they give to contemporary characters and events, even within the traditional patterns and categories that are commonly called “folklore.”

The rhymes, riddles, sells, and other items which follow come from a large body of New York City children’s folklore which, aided by many Brooklyn College freshmen, I have been gathering during the last five years. In addition to the conventional games, songs, and chants, riddles, gags, sells, insults, tongue twisters, secret languages, superstitions, etc., my collection contains much data on other traditional aspects of the life of children; for example, gangs and clubs; neighborhood, age, sex, race, and “racial” discriminations; collecting and hobbies; cheating and stealing; etc. Some day I hope to present these materials in a study of folklore as an important regulatory and socializing influence in the life of children. My purpose here, however, is far less ambitious.

American children not only memorize and repeat verbatim but are at all times playing and tampering with rhymes, riddles, and the rest of the folkloristic heritage of childhood which is passed down to them from parents, teachers, books, and other children. They are also constantly inventing new items on the patterns and formulae of the old, in which they embrace new experience and new social attitudes....

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