Eeny, meeny, miny, moe MGM's "Ars Gratia Artis". The rhyme appears towards the end of 1949 British black comedy, "Kind Hearts and Coronets". The use of the word "nigger" was censored for the American market, being replaced by "sailor". Eeny, meeny, miny, moe "Eeny, meeny, miny, moe" — which can be spelled a number of ways — is a children's counting rhyme, used to select a person in games such as tag, or for selecting various other things. It is one of a large group of similar rhymes in which the child who is pointed to by the chanter on the last syllable is
Latin influence in English text in Latin, the prevalent Medieval lingua franca of Europe. However, when monks occasionally wrote in the vernacular, Latin words were translated by finding suitable Old English equivalents. Often, a Germanic word was adopted and given a new shade of meaning in the process. Such was the case with Old English "gōdspell" ("gospel") for Latin "evangelium". Previously, the Old English word simply meant "good news," but its meaning was extended in Old English to fit a religious context. The same occurred for the Old Germanic pagan word "blētsian", which meant "to sacrifice, consecrate by shedding blood". It was adapted by