Back in the Day
By Craig Terlson
Billy and Suzy sitting in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g
First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes… well, you know the rest.
I’ve been thinking of juvenile taunts lately. Why? Because I am not all that mature – so neener, neener. A lot of these, or the best ones, seemed to revolve around love or some grade school form of it. What is it that is so fascinating about bugging a fellow classmate about sitting next to a girl in the lunchroom – well, I should clarify, it wasn’t just the guys. Girls were not innocent in this area. I believe the above was often a skipping rhyme, and sure there were boys that skipped (but we bugged the hell out of them). This one came from the girl’s side of the lunchroom:
Shame, shame, double-shame now I know your boyfriend’s name.
It came complete with hand gestures – I even remember three girls standing up together and performing this taunt like some elementary school Pointer Sisters.
My kids are older now, so I don’t know if these taunts still make the rounds on the playground, or perhaps there are some new ones for this techno-age.
I am rubber you are glue, you love her like PS2
I guess what I am wondering is where all those good love taunts go when you get older. In these PC times we can’t really rib our buddies with a good old shame, shame, now I know your girlfriend’s name, um, I mean, your wife, and I guess you know it too… so, well, nevermind. And, uh, sorry about the shame thing, I know that is very bad for your self-esteem.
Wait… I do know of one that could still work. You know when you said you really liked something, like a book or a movie or even a sweater and some big kid would go, “Hey, if you like it so much… why don’t you marry it?!”
So, yeah, you know that girl with the long brown hair that I was always hanging around with? Yeah, the one I REALLY liked.
“Well, why don’t you --”
I did. So there.
And we’re still childish after all these years.
Craig Terlson shouts about fiction at http://woofreakinhoo.squarespace.com
Billy and Suzy sitting in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g
First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes… well, you know the rest.
I’ve been thinking of juvenile taunts lately. Why? Because I am not all that mature – so neener, neener. A lot of these, or the best ones, seemed to revolve around love or some grade school form of it. What is it that is so fascinating about bugging a fellow classmate about sitting next to a girl in the lunchroom – well, I should clarify, it wasn’t just the guys. Girls were not innocent in this area. I believe the above was often a skipping rhyme, and sure there were boys that skipped (but we bugged the hell out of them). This one came from the girl’s side of the lunchroom:
Shame, shame, double-shame now I know your boyfriend’s name.
It came complete with hand gestures – I even remember three girls standing up together and performing this taunt like some elementary school Pointer Sisters.
My kids are older now, so I don’t know if these taunts still make the rounds on the playground, or perhaps there are some new ones for this techno-age.
I am rubber you are glue, you love her like PS2
I guess what I am wondering is where all those good love taunts go when you get older. In these PC times we can’t really rib our buddies with a good old shame, shame, now I know your girlfriend’s name, um, I mean, your wife, and I guess you know it too… so, well, nevermind. And, uh, sorry about the shame thing, I know that is very bad for your self-esteem.
Wait… I do know of one that could still work. You know when you said you really liked something, like a book or a movie or even a sweater and some big kid would go, “Hey, if you like it so much… why don’t you marry it?!”
So, yeah, you know that girl with the long brown hair that I was always hanging around with? Yeah, the one I REALLY liked.
“Well, why don’t you --”
I did. So there.
And we’re still childish after all these years.
Craig Terlson shouts about fiction at http://woofreakinhoo.squarespace.com
posted by Antonios Maltezos | 7:13 am
6 Comments:
There's great pleasure in giving up the maturity act every once in awhile!
Your post has me recalling how surprised I was to love Lars Von Trier's "The Idiots"- which I thought 'sounded' ridiculously awful when I read about it.
so great to see you here Craig, thanks so much for posting!
Yeah, what was it about those taunts? Why was it so terrible to like someone? What I remember was the terror of Valentine's Day, waiting to see if a boy you thought was a creep would give you a valentine. If he did, your girl friends would tease you no end.
Wow, I had totally forgotten about all those silly playground taunts. Thanks for this, Craig. And good to read you once again.
Those taunts, part of the reason for that adult low self-esteem, eh? All those attempts by peers to control the uncontrollable. Neener, neener, indeed! Love on! (And it's great to see your art and words here again!)
thanks everyone!
it was so nice to pop in, thanks for the opportunity - keep up the fantastic work.
You can visit me over at woofreakinhoo
take care
craig
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