The See-Saw
Playing on the see-saw
Riding up and down
Going up into the air
And back down on the ground
It’s so much fun to be with one
Who see-saws fair and true
But when a rascal jumps off short
Your butt turns black and blue
Riding up and down
Going up into the air
And back down on the ground
It’s so much fun to be with one
Who see-saws fair and true
But when a rascal jumps off short
Your butt turns black and blue
No one likes a bully
The kid who plays unfair
The one who likes to deal out pain
The one who can’t be square
It’s like that too, in real life
Where bullies own it all
Where 99 percent of us
Will always take the fall
The kid who plays unfair
The one who likes to deal out pain
The one who can’t be square
It’s like that too, in real life
Where bullies own it all
Where 99 percent of us
Will always take the fall
The balance is so out of kilt
It’s never been this bad
They’ve taken almost everything
And we have all been had
If something doesn’t happen soon
To even out the game
The see-saw will be broken
And we’ll never be the same
It’s never been this bad
They’ve taken almost everything
And we have all been had
If something doesn’t happen soon
To even out the game
The see-saw will be broken
And we’ll never be the same
See-Saw -- Francis Hayman
The Exercise of See Saw -- Francis Hayman
The Exercise of See Saw -- Francis Hayman
"See-saw" is an Anglicization of the French "ci-ça" (this -that), but perhaps was also a pun on the English word "saw" and its French equivalent "scie." In the US it is commonly called a teeter-totter (from the Scandinavian "tittermatorter," which is also what the device is called in Norfolk. The English words "teeter" and "totter" both mean to sway back and forth; "teeter" is from the Old Norse "titra" (shake, shiver), while "totter" is from the Middle dutch "touteren" (to swing). Sesaw and teeter-totter both demonstrate the linguistic process called reduplication, in which a word or syllable is doubled but often with a different vowel. Reduplication is typical of words that indicate repeated activity (such as riding up and down on a see-saw).
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