criss-cross applesauce
English
Etymology
Rhyming on criss-cross, particularly with a word familiar to children and teachers, possibly with similarity to lap forming a bowl.
Apparently originated in the 1990s US, as an alternative for Indian style.
Compare also traditional children’s rhyming game / massage (rhyme said while touching, tickling, and blowing), which goes:
- Criss, cross. Apple sauce.
- Spiders climbing up your back.
- Spiders here, Spiders there.
- Spiders even in your hair.
- Cool breeze,
- Tight squeeze,
- And now you have the shivers.
- Brrrrrrr.
Pronunciation
Audio (AU) (file)
Adverb
criss-cross applesauce (not comparable)
- (childish, US, regional, idiomatic) (of sitting): cross-legged
Usage notes
Generally used by nursery school and primary school teachers to children, sometimes followed by “spoons in the bowl” to mean “hands in your lap”, strengthening analogy with a bowl of applesauce; alternatively, “spoons in your bowl” or “spoons in your lap”.
Spelling varies, as it is primarily spoken and not written, but “criss-cross applesauce” and “criss cross applesauce” are most common.