Editing Oranges and Lemons (section)

==As a game==
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| caption1 = Playing Oranges and Lemons. Picture by [[Agnes Rose Bouvier Nicholl]], 1874
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| caption2 = Statue of the game in Surrey, England
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The song is used in a children's [[singing game]] with the same name, in which the players file, in pairs, through an arch made by two of the players (made by having the players face each other, raise their arms over their head, and clasp their partners' hands). The challenge comes during the final lines beginning "Here comes a chopper to chop off your head"; and on the final repetition of "chop" in the last line, the children forming the arch drop their arms to catch the pair of children currently passing through. These are then "out" and must form another arch next to the existing one. In this way, the series of arches becomes a steadily lengthening tunnel through which each set of two players has to run faster and faster to escape in time.<ref name=Opie1997/>

Alternative versions of the game include: children caught "out" by the last rhyme may stand behind one of the children forming the original arch, instead of forming additional arches; and children forming "arches" may bring their hands down for each word of the last line, while the children passing through the arches run as fast as they can to avoid being caught on the last word.<ref>[https://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A696125 "Oranges and Lemons"], [[h2g2]], [[BBC]]{{dead link|date=January 2025}}</ref>