A friend sent me one of those ‘remember when’ emails recently which I always enjoy.
This one was for those who graduated from high school in the 1950s-60s, and I just managed to qualify. Many memories made me smile but some made me sad, for the statements were too true and showed by comparison how privileged and self-centred we have become today.
“When being sent to the principal’s office was nothing compared to the fate that awaited the student at home.” Kids have texted parents from class when the teacher confronted them and parents believed their children not the teacher. They can’t be failed or told to “do over” or get the strap.
Did the strap hurt? I got it, once, but it was more embarrassing than painful. Did I get disciplined at home? Yes, and it taught me an important lesson. No matter where – at school, work, or at home – everything we do and say has consequences. If the kids can’t be wrong or suffer the consequence, how do they know what is right?
Another was “they threatened to keep kids back a grade if they failed… and they did it!” I know several people who were held back and will admit it helped them shape up.
Others included “You’d reach into a muddy gutter for a penny.” I still pick any coin today. And “When a quarter was a decent allowance and made with real silver!” If you did your household chores, you got it. “It was a great privilege to be taken out to dinner at a real restaurant with your parents.” In our house that happened once a year on Mom’s birthday.
“It wasn’t odd to have two or three ‘Best Friends.’” I still do! “Remember Howdy Doody and The Peanut Gallery, the Lone Ranger, The Shadow Knows, Nellie Bell, Roy and Dale, Trigger and Buttermilk?” Yes! How about peashooters, hi-fi’s and 45 RPM and even 78 RPM records?
“The worst embarrassment was being picked last for a team.” This always hurt as I couldn’t run or kneel. I failed gym all the time. What I could do was smack that ball. Finally, one gym teacher let me hit the ball and had another student run for me. That was a life changing moment, when one teacher realized what I could do, not just what I couldn’t do. That was my favourite public-school teacher, Mrs. Tuck.
That released more memories. While other kids climbed trees or kicked cans playing in the alley, I made mud pies. We had to rake the lawn but got to play in the mountain of leaves for a few days. My brother was allowed to light the firecrackers and burn the (cardboard) schoolhouse on Dominion Day.
When I got to “I double dog dare you” I wondered where did that come from? The oldest reference I could find was from the 1896 book The Child and Childhood in Folk, which noted it was a scale of challenging. “I dare you; I dog dare you; I double dog dare you.”
My favourite was Olly Olly Oxen Free. I certainly remembered it, but as olly-olly-octan-free. I had to find out why we yelled that when we played hide and were allowed to come out of hiding.
This old “yell” has metamorphosized over centuries and countries. I discovered that it could have been a derivative from English, French, German or Dutch languages; amazingly all pronounce it very similarly. The Dictionary of American Regional English says the phrase may be derived from “all ye, all ye outs in free,” or possibly “calling all the outs in free”; in other words, all who are out may come in without penalty.
Interestingly, the phrase has always related to hide and seek but was also used to bring in the outfielders during baseball. French court historian and poet Jean Froissart (1337–1405) wrote of having played hide-and-go-seek in England as well as in France. Today’s game is nearly identical to the game described by the 2nd-century Greek writer Julius Pollux. I think it originated much earlier, before the game was invented when brigands attacked a village everyone fleeing into the woods. After the pillaging, “all ye, all ye outs in free,” would be called that it was safe to return. Perhaps in all those countries the children then created hide and seek.
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Do you remember the 1950s and 60s?
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28.12.2023
A friend sent me one of those ‘remember when’ emails recently which I always enjoy.
This one was for those who graduated from high school in the 1950s-60s, and I just managed to qualify. Many memories made me smile but some made me sad, for the statements were too true and showed by comparison how privileged and self-centred we have become today.
“When being sent to the principal’s office was nothing compared to the fate that awaited the student at home.” Kids have texted parents from class when the teacher confronted them and parents believed their children not the teacher. They can’t be failed or told to “do over” or get the strap.
Did the strap hurt? I got it, once, but it was more embarrassing than painful. Did I get disciplined at home? Yes, and it taught me an important lesson. No matter where – at school, work, or at home – everything we do and say has consequences. If the kids can’t be wrong or suffer the consequence, how do they know what is right?
Another was “they threatened to keep kids back a grade if they failed… and they did it!” I know several people who were held back and will admit it helped them shape........
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