Children’s Folklore Recent Titles in Greenwood Folklore Handbooks Myth: a handbook

TAUNTS AND COUNTERTAUNTS
Baby, Baby
Baby, baby, stick your head in gravy,
Stir it around, stir it around,
You’ll never get in the Navy.
This variant of the popular “Baby, Baby” taunt came from seven-year-old Celia in 
Watertown, New York, in the spring of 1979. Celia was taunting her brother, one 
year younger than herself. The Opies note one variant of this taunt in 
I Saw Esau
(30) and more in 
Lore and Language 
(187–88); Edith Fowke includes a variant in 
Sally Go Round the Sun
(116).

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Examples and Texts 63
Cry-Baby Cow
Cry-baby cow, give [me/us] some milk.
How much does it cost?
Two nickels.
Halina Weiss presents this withering taunt in her essay “
Draznilkas
—Russian 
Children’s Taunts” (1999). Like the English “Baby, Baby” taunt, this one mocks 
children for crying and encourages more mature behavior.
Snot-Nose
I am a stupid Snowmaiden,
Uncle Frost is my daddy,
My mother is a violet,
And you are a snot-nose.
Like the above verse, this countertaunt comes from Halina Weiss’s 1999 essay on 
Russian children’s insults. Weiss notes that the speaker, a girl who was accused of 
being stupid, turns the taunt around, so that the child who insulted her becomes 
a “snot-nose.”
I’m Rubber
I’m rubber, you’re glue, whatever you say bounces off of me and sticks to you.
Eight-year-old Molly responded to nine boys’ taunts with this classic counter-
taunt in Binghamton, New York, in April 1987. Iona and Peter Opie observe that 
“In any juvenile exchange of pleasantries the esteemed feature seems to be not the 
quality of the wit, but the ability to have the last word” (
Lore and Language
45). 
Besides stopping criticism, this rhyme quasi-magically sends hurtful taunts back 
to the child who uttered them.
Liar, Liar
Liar, liar, pants on fire,
Hanging by a telephone wire.
While you’re there, cut your hair
And stick it down your underwear.
Kellie Greenhalgh, a 20-year-old student at Utah State University, shared this 
taunt with Stephanie Smedley in the spring of 1998. Edith Fowke recognizes this 
taunt’s popularity in Canada (114); Mary and Herbert Knapp identify it as a wide-
spread American jeer (60). In 1997, the movie 
Liar, Liar
gave the taunt’s opening 
words another dimension of fame.

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64 Children’s 
Folklore