Why Do Kids Say ‘Olly Olly Oxen Free’?

Even the simplest children’s games have some set rules. During hide-and-seek, for example, the seeker can yell, “Olly olly oxen free!” to signify that the hiders can come out without penalty, or that the game is over. 

Historians have traced versions of hide-and-seek back hundreds of years across various cultures. The earliest version dates back to the second century, recorded by Greek rhetorician Julius Pollux, and it’s been documented in 14th-century French and English records, too. However, it’s unclear if any version of  “olly olly oxen free” was a part of those games. 

Some linguists suspect the idiomatic phrase is part of an oral tradition that started in the Appalachian United States. It’s recorded as “all-ee, all-ee, outs in free,” essentially meaning “all you who are out can come in.” This theory supposes that Scots-English immigrants brought “all-ye, all-ye” — the town crier’s call for attention — to the United States, where it was absorbed as part of a game. The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture documents the phrase as “all ye all ye outs in free” in relation to the game of hide-and-seek. 

However, the game’s rules have been passed down through oral tradition, making the origin story hard to pin down. Some historians also theorize the phrase has global linguistic origins. In German, there’s a phrase that has similar pronunciation, with the right accent and intonation: alle, alle auch sind frei, which translates to “everyone, everyone also is free.” The French verb “allez,” meaning “let’s go,” could be another potential root of “olly.” A mix of immigrant cultures coming to America may have combined French and German influences with allez, allez, in kommen frei, with the second part of the phrase meaning “come in free” in German.

No matter the origin, the phrase has passed between generations of children because play is part of their daily life. Whether the phrase spread through English dialects or from international influences, it’s been accepted into popular culture, appearing in episodes of The Simpsons, the Tom Hanks movie Big, and the video game Halo.