It all started with a spider. I should’ve known. Spiders are frustrating creatures, especially when it comes to children’s songs. Actually, in children’s culture, any animal can exhibit any character trait they choose. Hence, the adaptable arachnid. But I’m getting ahead of myself.
Long ago, after the birth of our first daughter, my husband and I discovered sometimes a song was necessary to put her to sleep. She had diverse interests. Among her favorites were “Jesus Loves Me,” “Heaven” by Warrant, and “The Itsy-Bitsy Spider.” For those of you who can’t remember the words of the latter song, it’s a rather simple tune about a spider that’s either too stubborn or too stupid to stay out of a waterspout. Nevertheless, sometimes “The Itsy-Bitsy Spider” was the only tune preventing our daughter from throwing a royal fit.
At least I thought it was called “The Itsy-Bitsy Spider.” After seeing a commercial on television I saw the title: “The Incy-Wincy Spider.” I was skeptical. What does the word “incy” mean? Or even more suspicious, the word “wincy?” I’d never heard either used before.
“Doesn’t matter,” my husband said, seemingly pleased to be the one telling me I was singing the song wrong. “That’s what the song is titled.”
I didn’t minor in English for nothing. So I checked The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language. It didn’t have “incy” or “wincy” listed as a real word. Ha! Take that, I thought. But then I discovered it didn’t list “itsy” or “bitsy” either. At least I was relieved to find spider is a real word with not one definition, but (count ‘em) four.
Still dissatisfied, I checked Webster’s Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary. Although the copyright was 1967, I was pretty sure “incy” or “wincy” wouldn’t be found in any conventional dictionary. While these two words were absent, I was disappointed to find “itsy” and “bitsy” were missing, too.
Nevertheless, this unsatisfactory hunt led me to Partridge’s Concise Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English. By this time, I knew I had ventured beyond mere curiosity. Now it was a quest to prove I was right. Not a stellar moment for me, obviously. This dictionary yielded some interesting finds. “Incy” was listed as “an incendiary bomb.” Apparently, The Armed Services of the Crown used this abbreviation in written reports around 1940 to 1945. To my surprise, “wincy” was found under “wincey” and was defined as “very small.” Apparently, the spider song was about a very small, British arachnid still caught up in WW II. This was a very hard pill to swallow. I’d sung about This Stupid Spider for twelve months, and it felt unnatural to be renaming it The Incy-Wincey Spider. I wasn’t sure there was any justification for my own title choice.
There was a rumor circulating in our family that someone had sung the song “The Rinky, Dinky Spider.” I wasn’t sure I even wanted to go there. But judging from this spider’s inability to learn simple lessons about waterspouts and rain, I began thinking perhaps this title actually worked better than the other two.
Then I remembered the song about the itsy-bitsy, teeny-weeny, yellow-polka-dot-bikini, and decided if it was good enough for the Baby Boomers, it was good enough for the spider.
One interesting find on the way through the dictionary in my hunt for “wincy,” was the word “whammy.” It means a supernatural power bringing bad luck. With all the nonsense of Incy-Wincey vs. Itsy-Bitsy vs. Rinky-Dinky, I wondered if I should write a song about a jinxed spider with a gun. I’d title it “The Whammy-Blammy Spider.” I bet it’d be a hit.
Long ago, after the birth of our first daughter, my husband and I discovered sometimes a song was necessary to put her to sleep. She had diverse interests. Among her favorites were “Jesus Loves Me,” “Heaven” by Warrant, and “The Itsy-Bitsy Spider.” For those of you who can’t remember the words of the latter song, it’s a rather simple tune about a spider that’s either too stubborn or too stupid to stay out of a waterspout. Nevertheless, sometimes “The Itsy-Bitsy Spider” was the only tune preventing our daughter from throwing a royal fit.
At least I thought it was called “The Itsy-Bitsy Spider.” After seeing a commercial on television I saw the title: “The Incy-Wincy Spider.” I was skeptical. What does the word “incy” mean? Or even more suspicious, the word “wincy?” I’d never heard either used before.
“Doesn’t matter,” my husband said, seemingly pleased to be the one telling me I was singing the song wrong. “That’s what the song is titled.”
I didn’t minor in English for nothing. So I checked The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language. It didn’t have “incy” or “wincy” listed as a real word. Ha! Take that, I thought. But then I discovered it didn’t list “itsy” or “bitsy” either. At least I was relieved to find spider is a real word with not one definition, but (count ‘em) four.
Still dissatisfied, I checked Webster’s Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary. Although the copyright was 1967, I was pretty sure “incy” or “wincy” wouldn’t be found in any conventional dictionary. While these two words were absent, I was disappointed to find “itsy” and “bitsy” were missing, too.
Nevertheless, this unsatisfactory hunt led me to Partridge’s Concise Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English. By this time, I knew I had ventured beyond mere curiosity. Now it was a quest to prove I was right. Not a stellar moment for me, obviously. This dictionary yielded some interesting finds. “Incy” was listed as “an incendiary bomb.” Apparently, The Armed Services of the Crown used this abbreviation in written reports around 1940 to 1945. To my surprise, “wincy” was found under “wincey” and was defined as “very small.” Apparently, the spider song was about a very small, British arachnid still caught up in WW II. This was a very hard pill to swallow. I’d sung about This Stupid Spider for twelve months, and it felt unnatural to be renaming it The Incy-Wincey Spider. I wasn’t sure there was any justification for my own title choice.
There was a rumor circulating in our family that someone had sung the song “The Rinky, Dinky Spider.” I wasn’t sure I even wanted to go there. But judging from this spider’s inability to learn simple lessons about waterspouts and rain, I began thinking perhaps this title actually worked better than the other two.
Then I remembered the song about the itsy-bitsy, teeny-weeny, yellow-polka-dot-bikini, and decided if it was good enough for the Baby Boomers, it was good enough for the spider.
One interesting find on the way through the dictionary in my hunt for “wincy,” was the word “whammy.” It means a supernatural power bringing bad luck. With all the nonsense of Incy-Wincey vs. Itsy-Bitsy vs. Rinky-Dinky, I wondered if I should write a song about a jinxed spider with a gun. I’d title it “The Whammy-Blammy Spider.” I bet it’d be a hit.