Comments on: Ollie, Ollie, Oxen Free

By: Jonathan

Jonathan — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 21:28:59 +0000

Does anybody know of the version, “Ollie, Ollie home come free!”. That’s what I used when I was little in the New York/Connecticut area. I am using it in a show (I am a comedian/singer/songwriter) and I’d like to use 1. a version that people in New York/Connecticut would recognize, and 2. another version that people in Scotland would recognize.

Thanks so much!

By: Karen

Karen — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 16:53:27 +0000

I grew up in the 1950′s and we would play hide and seek and use the term “ollie, ollie, oxen free”. I grew up on the west coast

By: Joe

Joe — Sun, 03 Feb 2013 20:53:25 +0000

Never heard of cucumber, but we called out “Ally, ally in come free”. I guess it was pretty clean cut in St. Louis in the 70′s.

By: lorla bene

lorla bene — Fri, 11 Jan 2013 18:18:06 +0000

this 76 yr grandma definitely remembers olly olly ocean free new cucumber…..don’t know why we used “ocean” instead of “oxen”, but we had fun…. I’m also surprised not too much mention of “new cucumber”….

By: Sandra Lewis

Sandra Lewis — Sun, 06 Jan 2013 23:19:47 +0000

I heard it from my old Irish grandmother that it is a slurred version of “All ye, all ye, out and free!”

Gee, my cap lock key was never welded down properly, it keeps CoMiNg UnStUcK. Must have got a bad one here.

By: MarkB

MarkB — Sat, 22 Dec 2012 20:07:15 +0000

I seem to recall ‘ollie ollie entry,’ while my father told me he used ‘oxen free.’ I’m surprised to see no mention of ‘new cucumber’ here. Typically, a boy would should ‘ollie ollie entry/oxen free, new cucumber!’ This was notice that a new person was joining the game. This was in Boston during the 1960s. It’s been suggested that ‘new cucumber’ was a play on ‘new comer,’ as in new person joining the game.

I have to add that when I was using these words, it never occurred to me that they could be spelled out. Since they were only used orally, there was no reason for them to be tied down to a particular literary form. I think that at the time I would have transliterated ‘ally-ally,’ as in ‘all of you.’ The ‘ollie’ spelling I see now certainly makes less sense than my original assumption.

It is sad to see that this sort of thing seems to be disappearing. Generations of children passed these cultural tidbits down to each other, without schooling or parents being involved. Now? I doubt hide and seek has been played in my old Boston neighborhood in decades.

By: Ron

Ron — Sun, 16 Sep 2012 01:51:14 +0000

Of course, another German phrase that’s possible is changing auch to such, as in “Alle alle euch sind frei”, which would render “All, you all are free.” Euch is you and auch is also.

By: Ron Grimes

Ron Grimes — Sun, 16 Sep 2012 01:14:49 +0000

Btw, punch that German phrase into Google translate and then click the speak icon in the lower right of the translation box, and see if you can hear the similarity. See http://translate.google.com/?hl=en&tab=wT#auto/en/alle%20alle%20auch%20sind%20frei

By: Ron Grimes

Ron Grimes — Sun, 16 Sep 2012 01:12:37 +0000

Well, here’s my twist on this saying. This year, I decided to learn German, and I’m currently at level 4 of the German Rosetta Stone course. As you may know, English is a Germanic language, and so many of our words sound very close. I was thinking the other day about the origin of Ollie Ollie oxen free, and I noticed how this could easily have been the poor attempts of English speaking children to imitate their German speaking friends shouting, “Alle alle auch sind frei.”, which means All, All are free.

By: Jodi

Jodi — Mon, 06 Aug 2012 14:19:14 +0000

I’m 52 and a half years old, and ollie, ollie, oxen free is what I said as a child.

By: admin

admin — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 03:12:49 +0000

BACK WHEN THE CAP LOCK KEY WAS WELDED DOWN?

By: CAROLE MUSGRAVE

CAROLE MUSGRAVE — Tue, 12 Jun 2012 23:02:37 +0000

I HEARD IT COME FROM OLDEN TIMES WHEN IT WAS, ALL IN ALL IN URCHINS FREE. URCHINS BEING KIDS