Miss Susie
![A photograph of the Sultana a day or two before the explosion of three of its four boilers in 1865. The approximately 1,800 fatalities—many Union prisoners of war returning home—remains the largest maritime disaster in US history.](/Images/godic/202501/27/Ill-fated_Sultana,_Helena,_Arkansas,_April_27,_18650056.jpg")
![](/Images/godic/202501/27/Nursery_Rhymes_pg_30056.jpg")
"Miss Susie had a steamboat", also known as "Hello Operator", "Miss Suzy", and many other names, is the name of an American schoolyard rhyme in which each verse leads up to a rude word or profanity which is revealed in the next verse as part of an innocuous word or phrase. Originally used as a jump-rope rhyme, it is now more often sung alone or as part of a clapping game. Hand signs sometimes accompany the song, such as pulling on the bell in the first verse or making a phone gesture in the second.