I'm going to go out on a limb here. Since you've provided only two
examples of Millie Tillie's likes and dislikes, I cannot be certain
that I have the correct answer. But I will give some examples of other
instances of this kind of game, and the unifying principle behind the
rules.
The secret is that the "likes" and "dislikes" have nothing to do with
the meaning of the words, but only with the spelling of the words. In
the "Silly Sally" game that my troop of Girl Scouts played at camp,
the rule was that Silly Sally liked anything whose name contained
double letters, and she disliked anything that didn't have double
letters in its name. So she would like waffles (since the word
contains double F's) while she'd dislike pancakes (since the word has
no double letters.) A few more samples should give you the idea:
Silly Sally likes: | Silly Sally doesn't like:
|
The moon | The sun
Cheddar and Swiss | Gouda and Parmesan
Beer | Wine
Betty | Veronica
The other example that I gave, the "Grandma" version, is even easier.
It generally starts out with "Grandma likes coffee, but she doesn't
like tea." It turns out that grandma dislikes anything whose name
contains the letter 'T' (youngsters are usually really amused by the
T/tea pun in this). Of course, the coffee/tea thing works with Silly
Sally, too, since the word "coffee" has double letters, and "tea" does
not.
If the examples that you gave, "Millie Tillie likes cars but she
doesn't like buses" and "Millie Tillie likes ice cream but she doesn't
like
sherbet" are accurate, I see a couple of possibilities. Millie Tillie
may like anything whose name contains the letter 'C' (which is present
in "cars" and in "ice cream.") Or Millie Tille may dislike anything
that contains the letter 'B' (which is present in "buses" and in
"sherbet." More examples will help you to home in on the exact rule.
The key is to concentrate on the spelling of the word, rather than its
meaning or connotations.
Here's a good description of the game in its "Aunt Em" incarnation:
"You might be familiar with the guessing game that begins with the
leader saying something like, 'Aunt Em likes apples, but she doesn't
like oranges.' The goal for the group of players is to induce the
principle governing Aunt Em's likes and dislikes. Each person proposes
various statements about Aunt Em's likes and dislikes, and the leader
lets the group know which statements are correct. For incorrect
statements, it is helpful for the leader to provide a new correct
example that is somehow related to the proposed example. A session
might go something like this (L is the leader and P represents various
players):
L: Aunt Em likes apples, but she doesn't like grapes.
P1: Aunt Em likes peaches, but she doesn't like cherries.
L: No, Aunt Em likes cherries, but she doesn't like peaches.
P2: Aunt Em likes basketball, but she doesn't like baseball.
L: Actually, Aunt Em likes all kinds of ball, but she doesn't like sports.
The leader might clarify from the beginning that this is a word game
so that players look for patterns within the words themselves rather
than in the concepts the words represent. Once a player induces the
pattern, he or she can assume the leader's role or can provide other
correct examples, each of which provides additional clues to the
pattern. The rest of the group continues to try to induce the pattern.
If students remain stumped after some time, it can be helpful for them
to write the names of things Aunt Em likes in one column and the names
of things she doesn't like in another. Seeing the words can help
students recognize the pattern.
This can be a great game to play on a car trip, around a campfire,
whenever there are a few unexpected moments."
Grammar and More: LinguaPhile, September 2001
http://www.grammarandmore.com/edu/archive/issue14.htm
The PBS children' show "ZOOM" has a recurring skit about "Fannee
Doolee," who likes only things whose names contain double letters:
"The trick to Fannee Doolee is that she likes anything with double
letters. So, Fannee Doolee likes swEEts, but she doesn't like candy.
She likes dEEr and mOOse, but she doesn't like antelope. She enjoys a
gOOd guFFaw, but she doesn't like to laugh."
PBS Kids: ZOOM
http://pbskids.org/zoom/help/faq/other.html#7_toFannee
Here are some online versions of similar games:
Jenny's Likes and Dislikes
http://www.angelfire.com/ak/rschmidt/jennyLikes.html
Mentoring Project: What Minnie Likes
http://www.mentoringproject.com/wml1.html
Alan Rosenspan: The Perfect Brainstorm
http://www.alanrosenspan.com/recent_pubs/perfect_brainstorm.html
Inkspiration Forums: Time for a different game
http://www.inkspiration.net/forums/archive/index.php/t-896.html
Google search strategy:
Google Web Search: "likes * but she doesn't like"
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&q=%22likes+*+but+she+doesn%27t+like%22
I hope this has been helpful. If you have any questions, or if I've
been unclear, please request clarification; I'll be glad to offer
further assistance before you rate my answer.
Best wishes,
pinkfreud |
