A plaque remaining from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem.

Above, a 1934 plaque from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem. Discarded as trash in 2006. Now a Popeyes fast food restaurant on Google Maps.

Recent entries:
“I read old books because I would rather learn from those who built civilization than those who tore it down” (4/18)
“I study old buildings because I would rather learn from those who built civilization than those who tore it down” (4/18)
“Due to personal reasons, I’m still going to be fluffy this summer” (4/18)
Entry in progress—BP17 (4/18)
Entry in progress—BP16 (4/18)
More new entries...

A  B  C  D  E  F  G  H  I  J  K  L  M  N  O  P  Q  R  S  T  U  V  W  X  Y  Z


Entry from September 03, 2019
“Teacher, teacher I declare I see someone’s underwear”

“Teacher, teacher” children’s rhymes have existed since at least the first half of the 1900s. These were printed in The Journal of American Folk-lore in 1949:
 
“Teacher, teacher, I declare, I see bedbugs in your hair.
Teacher, teacher, I declare, I see holes in your underwear.

   
This was printed in the Garden City (KS) Telegram on October 17, 1955:
   
“Teacher, teacher I declare
I see somebody’s underwear.”

 
     
Google Books
The Journal of American Folk-lore
Volumes 62-63
1949
Pg. 425:
Sometimes it goes:
 
Teacher, teacher, I declare, I see bedbugs in your hair.
Teacher, teacher, I declare, I see holes in your underwear.

 
17 October 1955, Garden City (KS) Telegram, “The Distaff Side” by D. H., pg. 4, col. 6:
SHADES OF my own days in the grades: A group of grade schoolers homeward bound down Walnut street chanting:
 
“Teacher, teacher I declare
I see somebody’s underwear.”
     
Google Books
Jump-Rope Rhymes:
A Dictionary

By Roger D. Abrahams
Austin, TX: University of Texas Press
1969
Pg. 185:
Teacher, Teacher, I declare,
I see someone’s underwear.
   
1 June 1972, Staunton (VA) Leader, “Valley Folklore” by Dr. Elmer L. Smith, pg. 21, col. 3:
Teacher, teacher
I declare!
You’ve got bedbugs
In your hair!
(...)
Teacher, teacher I declare,
I can see your underwear.
   
21 November 1987, St. Petersburg (FL) Times, “We can learn a lot from kindergarteners” by Sandra Wiggins Stange, Clearwater Times, pg. 2, col. 5:
Teacher, teacher, I declare;
You forgot your underwear!
 
5 January 1989, LA Weekly (Los Angeles, CA), “Voices from the Curfew Zone” by Wanda Coleman, pg. 53, col. 2:
Teacher teacher I declare
I see someone’s underwear
It may be black it may be white
It may be loaded with dynamite!


OCLC WorldCat record
Teacher, teacher, I declare! : and other little tattle tales
Author: W Royce Adams
Publisher: [Philadelphia, PA?] : Xlibris Corp., ©2000.
Edition/Format:   Print book : Fiction : English
Summary:
This book contains twenty stories thematically related in that they all have to do with teachers. Not all are classroom stories, and sometimes the fact that the characters are teachers is incidental. But they all concern grownups on the edge of something risky, often a bit mad, sometimes mighty mad. The stories don’t shrink from sex or from violence, and yet there is also a good measure of sardonic whimsy involved.
 
Twitter
Th3 ESOTERIC COWBOY
@TheManicMedium
Teacher teacher I declare give me back my underwear…
Image
3:22 PM · Mar 23, 2016·Twitter for Android
   
Twitter
Master_Modeler
@Master_Modeler
Replying to @BlueVotr and @DevinNunes
“Teacher-teacher I declare.  I see someone’s underwear!”
9:17 PM · Aug 9, 2019·Twitter Web App

Posted by Barry Popik
New York CityEducation/Schools • Tuesday, September 03, 2019 • Permalink


Commenting is not available in this channel entry.