Ollie ollie oxen origin3/2/2024 We also know that the game of hide-and-seek is nearly identical to the game described by the 2nd-century Greek writer Julius Pollux. What we do know is that French court historian and poet, Jean Froissart (1337 – 1405) wrote of having played hide-and-go-seek in England as well as in France. It may also be a corruption of “ allez, allez” which is a Norman addition to the English language from French and is pronounced “ all-ay, all-ay.” The word “ allez” in French, of course, means “go.” The ensuing “ in kommen frei” was a phrase popular in Dutch/German New York and Pennsylvania and meant “come in free.” In this case, “ Allez, allez, in kommon frie” may have morphed into a French-English hybrid: “ Allez, allez, come in free!” With minimal effort, it easily becomes: ollie, ollie, oxen free. Imagine how it sounds when excited children are running about, shouting this at the top of their lungs and it’s easy to see how it becomes this: aw-luh aw-luh owxin fry. When “alle, alle auch sind frei” is said in a normal speaking voice, phonetically it sounds somewhat like this: aw-luh aw-luh owhk zint fry. The most likely explanation for the phrase is that it is a corruption of the German “ Alle, alle auch sind frei” which, when translated, means “Everyone, everyone also is free.” And so, errors in passing the sayings down from generation to generation is not unlike the misheard lyrics of popular songs over the decades. That’s because they’ve been passed down orally from one generation to the next, with no adult intervention or correction. In Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell, if a player shoots an enemy and then hides, the player is hunted down with the phrase “ Ollie, ollie, oxen free! Come out, come out wherever you are!”Īside from that, it’s hard to find published references to the phrase “ ollie, ollie, oxen free.”Ĭhildren’s sayings were hardly recorded until the 1950s, and even then, the sayings are very variable. "In the video games, Halo: The Fall of Reach and Halo: First Strike, the phrase “ ollie, ollie, oxen free” is used a number of times to pass along information to other members of the team. I added italics to highlight the saying "Olly Olly oxen free". In some versions of the game, after the first hider is caught or if no other players can be found over a period of time, the seeker calls out a previously-agreed phrase (such as "Olly olly oxen free", "Come out, come out wherever you are" or "All in, All in, Everybody out there all in free") to signal the other hiders to return to base for the next round.”… The game is an example of an oral tradition, as it is commonly passed by children. Another common variation has the seeker counting at "home base" the hiders can either remain hidden or they can come out of hiding to race to home base once they touch it, they are "safe" and cannot be tagged. The most common way of ending is the player chosen as "it" locates all players the player found first is the loser and is chosen to be "it" in the next game. After reaching this number, the player who is "it" calls "Ready or not, here I come!" or "Coming, ready or not!" and then attempts to locate all concealed players. The game is played by one chosen player (designated as being "it") counting to a predetermined number with eyes closed while the other players hide. "Hide-and-seek (sometimes known as hide-and-go-seek) is a popular children's game in which at least two players (usually at least three) conceal themselves in a set environment, to be found by one or more seekers. Numbers are added for referencing purposes only. These online sources are given in no particular order. INFORMATION & COMMENTS ABOUT THE PHRASE "OLLIE OLLIE OXEN FREE" OR SIMILAR PHRASES Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post. The content of this post is presented for folkloric and recreational purposes. This post also includes comments from several online sources that document some childhood memories of saying "Ollie Ollie oxen free" and similar phrases. This pancocojams post presents information about the children's phrase "Ollie Ollie oxen free" (also spelled "Olly Olly oxen free") and similar sayings that are yelled out while playing hide & seek (also known as "Hide & Go Seek") and other games.
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