old habits

It was...
'Tinker, tailor, soldier, sailor, rich man, poor man, beggar man, thief' in my day! No transport to my wedding predicted!
No I don't still do it because I don't eat stoned fruit any more.

The last time I ate cherries I found myself counting the stones:
tinker, tailor, soldier, spy! I think I read too many paperbacks!

I count when I see magpies - 1 for sorrow, 2 for joy, 3 for a letter, 4 for a boy, 5 for silver, 6 for gold, 7 for a secret never to be told.

I hang them over my ears for a while and when I get around to counting the stones as a great Le Carre fan I also would say Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. There are 4 and Allardine I think is the next sentence.

Tinker Taylor Soldier sailor etc for fruit stones and I also count magpies lots of them around here😂

I'm with JoyBloggs on fruit stones, and I count magpies ( after I've said Good Morning to them, obviously)..

Lady, baby, Gypsy, Queen, elephant, monkey, tangerine; was what we used to say as a skipping rhyme. I have no idea what it meant.

Magenta8

Lady, baby, Gypsy, Queen, elephant, monkey, tangerine; was what we used to say as a skipping rhyme. I have no idea what it meant.

We said that too, and ^this year, next year, sometime, never for when we’d get married.

dragonfly46

I count when I see magpies - 1 for sorrow, 2 for joy, 3 for a letter, 4 for a boy, 5 for silver, 6 for gold, 7 for a secret never to be told.

I thought it was ‘3 for a girl, 4 for a boy’…?

We said 3 for a letter, 4 for a boy, but when we were older, we said 3 for a girl, 4 for a boy. We also said, eight for a wish, nine for a kiss, 10 for an evening ending in bliss!

Ah, the male counting we had was double the female set so:~

Tinker, taylor, soldier, sailor, rich man, poor man. beggar man .thief!

Love the elephant , monkey , tangerine. Had never heard that before but also sounds a great line when we used to go skipping with a big rope and we all went in and out together!

We also said "Good morning Mr Magpie" and that rhyme for us went
One for sorrow, two for joy, three for a girl and four for a boy. five for silver, six for gold, seven for a secret never told.

Cant remember the name of the song but the Uthanks used to sing this folksong beautifully with those words.

For the socially ambitious, maybe...

Soldier brave, sailor true, dashing airman, Oxford blue
Skilled physician, curate pale, sporting noble, squire so hale

Wedding dress material: Silk, satin, muslin, rags!

My mum used to count everything, but particularly liquids. Eight to pour a cup of tea, twenty four to fill her teapot, ten to fill a hot water bottle. I think she lost count if she was running a bath.