It is commonly used by children in both Britain and America[citation needed] for "counting out", e.g. for choosing who shall be "It" in a game of tag.
"[2] The version printed by William Wells Newell in Games and Songs of American Children in 1883 was: "Rich man, Poor man, beggar-man, thief, Doctor, lawyer (or merchant), Indian chief", and it may be from this tradition that the modern American lyrics solidified.
A. Milne's Now We Are Six (1927) had the following version of "Cherry stones": The "tinker, tailor" rhyme is one part of a longer counting or divination game, played by young girls to foretell their futures, similar thematically to MASH.
It runs as follows: During the divination, the child will ask a question and then count out a series of actions or objects by reciting the rhyme.
Buttons on a dress, petals on a flower, bounces of a ball, number of jumps over a rope, etc., may be counted.