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Wow! I remember this rhyme, my Grandfather used to say it to us all the time when I was a kid. It’s been hanging in my head for years and decided to Google it and stumbled on this thread, amazing! 😃

I remember it as follows;

Ah-Lah, Chick-a-Lah
Chick-a-Lah, Ah Lah
Ooney Pooney
Ping Pong Piney
Cat-a-go Watski
Chinese Ching

Definitely recall him mentioning it was the Chinese alphabet too! 😊

I wonder if there are any Liverpudlians out there who might be able to answer what may seem to be a rather daft question.   I was born in 1942 and as a young child my mother, who was born and bred in Liverpool, taught me two pieces of nonsense prose.   One went as follows:  “Ar rar chicker rar, chicker rar rooney, rooney pooney ping pong piney, arra karra whisker, chinese chunk”.    I remember liking the other one better as it was more challenging but I can’t bring it to mind.  Does anyone remember anything similar from their childhood?  I would be particularly interested to know the origin.
Rosa