“Ice Cream Soda” Jump Rope Game

“Ice Cream Soda” Jump Rope Game

Informant Data:

Alexandra “Ally” Batter was born on April 22ndof 1999 and grew up in the suburbs of Connecticut. She and her younger brother were raised in the town of Wilton where they had the luxury of entertaining themselves in a large backyard in which they would frequently run around and play with children from the neighboring families. An extremely active kid raised by parents who emphasized exercise and athletics, Alexandra grew up swimming competitively as well as playing soccer and tennis. She attended the local public school until she entered high school and maintained close friendships with her elementary school peers. She is currently a sophomore at Dartmouth College where she studies psychology and is involved in Dartmouth’s Women in Business club.

Contextual Data:

I spoke with Ally on May 10th of 2019 in the lobby of Dartmouth College’s Baker Library in Hanover, New Hampshire. She shared this story as part of a Folklore collection for Russian 13. When I asked Ally about childhood games she and her friends would play, said replied “I guess something I remember doing a lot during recess is jumping rope. A lot of the times the boys always wanted to play tag but a lot of us girls loved all the jump-roping games and the songs that went with them.” Jump-rope games are a type of childlore, but more specifically they also contain elements of verbal folklore as they often involve rhyming songs that are chanted by surrounding children while the jumping child relies on the beat of the song to jump over a rope. Although many children’s backyard games are specific to suburban culture, jump-rope related games are not. Variations of jump-rope games have developed across cultures worldwide and still persist in all types of regions today. For instance, double-dutch (a game involving two ropes turning in opposite directions) is said to have originated in New York City as a form of urban entertainment for girls and has historically been associated with street entertainment among African-American communities. On the other hand, this informant reports jump-rope games being frequently played in her predominately white and upper middle class suburban community. I asked Ally if she could remember any specific jump-roping game in particular, or if she had a favorite. She then proceeded to tell me about “Ice Cream Soda.” Although Ally does remember the boys at her school jumping rope occasionally during recess, she only remember this particular game being played by the female students—perhaps, she thinks, because it involves a line containing the word “boyfriend.”  The game often ends in laughter, with the participating children making jokes about the jumper and their alleged boyfriend (which is established by the rhyme and the nature of the game).

Item:

“Ice Cream Soda” is usually played with a single rope, although in other versions of the game, two ropes can be used. The rhyme associated with the game goes as follows:  Ice cream soda, cherry on the top, who’s your boyfriend I forgot? A,B,C,D,E,F,G,H…” Children then continue chanting the letters of the alphabet continuously until the jumper stops jumping (either because of exhaustion or due to tripping). The letter of the alphabet that is being chanted at the particular moment that the jumper stops jumping holds special importance as the tradition of the game holds that the surrounding children must quickly think of the first person they know whose first name begins with that letter. Whichever person is thought of first is considered the “boyfriend” of the jumper in the context of the game.

Collector’s Comments:

Although I never grew up playing the particular game “Ice Cream Soda,” I did often jump rope during recess with my friends. Notably, like this informant, I distinctly remember jump-rope games being played more frequently by the girls at my elementary school than the boys. It is interesting that jumping rope (traditionally associated with the image of a young girl in pigtails) is still coded as feminine even in this day and age and despite recent increased efforts by many parents, teachers, and schools to eliminate the harmful gendering of specific children’s activities.

Collector’s Name: Ella Ketchum ‘21

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