Folklore: Tag (the game)

Subject: RE: Folklore: Tag (the game)
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 04 Apr 11 - 05:16 AM

It was always 'tiggy' at Hendon County, 1943-44. A favourite was 'tiggy-off-the-ground', in which you could not be had if your feet were off the ground standing on a bench &c. There was also 'tiggy-green', where you had to touch something green to be exempt from being had. Boys wore shorts in those days; & members of the Boy Scouts would have green tabs hanging from the garter holding up the sock under the fold-over; it had to be agreed that running around leaning down & clutching these, apart from making yourself look absurd, did not count as a green refuge!

~Michael~

Subject: RE: Folklore: Tag (the game)
From: Snuffy
Date: 04 Apr 11 - 02:17 AM

Mysha,

In the parts of England I know, the game is "tick" (or even "ticky"), not "tig", so the connection to Dutch and Friesian may be closer than you think.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Tag (the game)
From: Mysha
Date: 03 Apr 11 - 02:25 PM

Hi,

In Dutch, "tikkertje spelen", which is: play "tikkertje". "-tje" is the diminutive suffix, and "-er(d)" is the suffix for the actor, leaving for the action "tik" (as an imperative or 1st person). It might derive from English "tig", as that g doesn't exist in Dutch. It might also stem from "tikken" in the sense of "to tick", a short, noticeable touch, though for some reason in Dutch that's only from around 1600.

In Frisian "tikboartsje", with "boartsje" being "to play" (child's play, rather than theatre). It would not have come from English directly, as Frisian does have the same g as English, but it could have come by way of Dutch. Then again, it might have been in our language much longer: In old Frisian there's "tigta", to point out someone, in the sense of accusing or blaming them. Have we been trying to pass the blame around all this time?

Viracocha : It's always: who gets caught takes your place, otherwise the games unbalances.

Guest Anonymous : The Zombies could tag (over here), but they had to stay in character, meaning a single zombie could easily be evaded, but zombies teaming up would get more and more difficult. Probably something that was inspired by the Living Dead films.

Bye,
                                                                Mysha

Subject: RE: Folklore: Tag (the game)
From: GUEST,ADalton
Date: 15 Jul 10 - 04:02 PM

Forgot to mention in my last post location was California.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Tag (the game)
From: GUEST
Date: 15 Jul 10 - 04:01 PM

I remember in the late '90s (when I was a kid) we would play Zombie Tag. When the person who was It would tag you, you had to walk around acting like a zombie, with your arms stretched out in front of you. The game ended when everyone was a zombie. Not sure if zombies could tag people.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Tag (the game)
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 06 Sep 09 - 08:31 AM

For the record: jacks or dibs was called 'fivestones' in N London [Hendon] where I was at school.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Tag (the game)
From: Mr Happy
Date: 06 Sep 09 - 06:49 AM

Sorry, forgot to say the area was Boughton, Chester, Cheshire UK

Subject: RE: Folklore: Tag (the game)
From: Mr Happy
Date: 06 Sep 09 - 06:48 AM

Round our way, the 'dipping ' was similar, but for a contrived dip, the chant could be lengthened by the crafty to ensure a different outcome, as in

Dip, dip, dip, my blue ship,
sails on the water,like a cup and saucer,
O - U - T spells out, & out you are !"

Subject: RE: Folklore: Tag (the game)
From: GUEST,GUEST, OldRugface
Date: 04 Sep 09 - 12:12 PM

In Nottinghamshire from at least the 1950's until at least the 1990's, when I heard my own children playing versions of the same game, "Tig" was referred to as "Dobby". There were diferent versions such as "Dobby off ground", where the person who was "on" couldn't "dob" you if your feet were off the ground. "Dobby Little-Man" meant you were protected if you crouched down before being "dobbed" etc. Various "Dips" were indeed used to decide who was "on". "Dip, dip, dip,
          my blue ship,
          sails on the water,
          like a cup and saucer,
          O - U - T spells out!"
Some "Dips" required a number being picked by the first child to be identified e.g.
   "Mrs. Ink fell down the sink,
    how many miles did she fall? (the child now identified choses a number, such as "five". The child "Dipping" now continues counting around the circle)
    "One, two, three, four, five and O-U-T spells out!"

Subject: RE: Folklore: Tag (the game)
From: Kosmo
Date: 04 Sep 09 - 08:59 AM

We played tig, and then you had bagsie which was "safe" and then you had out which was when you joined the person who was "it" and had to help them tig people, out was usually when you'd been tigged a few times ... conjugate the verb to tig!
We also had "can't tig the butcher back" meaning if you've jsut tigged or tug someone they can't instantly tig you back and therefore must find someone else to tig, therefore it's a three or more person game. :)

We also had the old man on the hill game, where one of us would be the old man (or woman), then the rest of us would each have a number, and then we'd creep towards them (the "old man" would have his/her back facing us) and they'd count and turn on which ever number they liked, the person moving still would have to go back 10 paces. Anyway, say that person was number 5, the old man would turn back round and count to five (at any speed) and then turn again ... and it's the first one to tig the old man that wins.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Tag (the game)
From: Mr Happy
Date: 04 Sep 09 - 08:28 AM

Following a query from Azizi, I got these extra bits for the 'Queenio coco game [my post 27th Aug 07 here:thread.cfm?threadid=123101&messages=37]

thus:




Queeny Old Co-Co, who쳌fs got the ball- e-oh?
See I haven쳌ft got it; see I haven쳌ft got it,
It isn쳌ft in my pocket
So Queeny Old Co-Co who쳌fs got the ball- e-oh?

Hand movements showing empty hands left and right alternately when saying, 쳌gSee I haven쳌ft got it.쳌h

Subject: RE: Folklore: Tag (the game)
From: Anne Lister
Date: 23 Aug 07 - 03:33 PM

Yes, we played jacks, and marbles, and then there were the skipping games, the elastic games (elastic around the ankles of two people and an elaborate system of intertwining it and then jumping clear, although I never played this) and lots more chasing games, if only I could remember them. I was good at jacks, though.

Anne

Subject: RE: Folklore: Tag (the game)
From: GUEST,Terry McDonald
Date: 23 Aug 07 - 08:51 AM

We called 'jacks' 'dibs' - five little cubes that you'd catch between the fingers with the back of your hand turned upwards. I was at the local grammar school in the early fifties and playing 'dibs' was one of the crazes that suddenly took off, lasted a few weeks (perhaps a couple of months) and then became old hat.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Tag (the game)
From: Mr Happy
Date: 23 Aug 07 - 08:12 AM

We played Jacks too & also marbles.

Loads've varieties've marbles games.

Hopscotch was another favourite, also skipping

Subject: RE: Folklore: Tag (the game)
From: Viracocha
Date: 23 Aug 07 - 06:46 AM

THAT was 'a Tisket a Tasket'? We always called it (allbeit a FAR milder version) "the keys game". Someone sat in the middle, curled up (or eyes closed), and they had keys beside them. Someone else had to creep up silently, quietly lift the keys and tiptoe all the way around the circle. Of course, as soon as the 'sleeper' realised the keys were gone, it was no longer tiptoing. If you caught them, you could remain the sleeper; if not, they must become the sleeper. Or was it the other way round...?   Needless to say, it required too much silence to play in the playground.

It's a bit like 'Duck Duck Goose', too.

Tabster, your information is very interesting, thanks - Fainite and Failance might have the same stem. Though I can't imagine where 'cree' comes from. And thanks to Guest,Terry McDonald, too. And I've never heard of anything like "Witches Fairies and Giants", but I have heard of jacks. Though we never played it, sadly.

-Viracocha

Subject: RE: Folklore: Tag (the game)
From: Lonesome EJ
Date: 22 Aug 07 - 06:38 PM

OK, here's another violent game I remember playing around the same age (13-16 yrs). I think it was based on the innocent little kids' game called "A Tisket, A Tasket". We played this in boy scouts, with the supervision and approval of the adults Scoutmaster, I might add.
In this game, everyone stood in a circle facing inward, with hands behind their backs. The scoutmaster selected someone from the ring, and placed a belt in his hands. This person, the Belter I suppose he'd be called, prowled slowly around the outside of the ring, until he would suddenly place the belt in your hands. He would then run around the circle counter-clockwise while you chased him, beating the hell out of him with the belt. You kept this up until he reached the space you had vacated, at which point you became the belter.
I tried to onlygive the belt to kids who had asthma or were very small, etc, however I can remember Steve Klinglesmith who was about 5 ft 10 and weighed 180 or so, stepping back to wrestle the belt from my grasp, and then me having to run like I had the Devil behind me around the circle.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Tag (the game)
From: s&r
Date: 22 Aug 07 - 06:09 PM

We played a lot of 'snobs' (jacks, fivestones) in Nottingham Ca 1950. There was a progression of throwing picking and catching tricks from one to nine: after nine, a harder set followed called 'French ones, twos etc. If you succeeded in completing the Frenchies, you progressed to the 'Carltons' from one to nine.

I once knew someone who claimed to have completed the Carlton nines.

Stu

Subject: RE: Folklore: Tag (the game)
From: Anne Lister
Date: 22 Aug 07 - 05:58 PM

I had a nomadic childhood and had to adjust quickly to the various rules of the games played - and the "safe" word. In one area it was "fainite", in another "pax" and in yet another "cree". In all cases it was accompanied with crossed fingers. We moved from Bromley in South East London to Reading, then to Worcester and then to Cardiff (all the UK variety, for our US cousins!).

We played a version of British Bulldog, but it was far more sedate than the versions written down by others - in fact, these versions make it clear why it was banned in many playgrounds! Our version had the rhyme "Farmer, farmer, may I cross your golden meadow?". The Farmer would give permission for certain colours, so if you were wearing them you'd be fine, but if not you had to run across the space and avoid being caught. Anyone who was caught would join the Farmer and be ready to catch the next unfortunates.

We played Sticky Tag, and various Cat and Mouse games, as well as Pirates and the "Ship, Lifeboat, Deck" game mentioned by others ... which also had the command "sharks!" at which point you had to lie on your back with one leg in the air, or "Bombs", for which you had to lie on your stomach with your hands over your head. I still do this with children now ... great fun to have them rolling over and over on the floor ... maximum energy dispersal for minimum effort on my part!

At my secondary school (all girls) we had numerous ball games. The main one was called Donkey, and involved throwing a ball against the wall, letting it bounce and then doing various things - either ways to catch it (one handed, two handed etc) or jumping over it. I think there was a hierarchy of what actions to take but I can't remember now what the various actions were!

My favourite current game (which I was taught by some children in London) is called Witches, Fairies and Giants.   There are two teams, either end of a space. They have a time to confer (regulated by some kind of referee) and to decide if they will be Witches, Fairies or Giants. Witches have to move forward going "cackle, cackle, cackle", Fairies have to say "twinkle, twinkle" and Giants go "stomp, stomp".   The rule is that Witches catch Fairies, Giants catch Witches and Fairies catch Giants, so once it's clear what each team is doing it becomes a catch game, and prisoners become members of the capturing team.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Tag (the game)
From: GUEST,Terry McDonald
Date: 22 Aug 07 - 12:39 PM

In the Parkstone area of Poole, Dorset, in the late 1940s, we called it 'Daddy-dun' (or perhaps 'done.') The truce word, with fingers crossed, was 'failance.'

Subject: RE: Folklore: Tag (the game)
From: Viracocha
Date: 22 Aug 07 - 09:55 AM

This sort of thing ("Smear") makes me even more certain that my generation (I was in Primary School in the early/mid 90s) were a bunch of wimps! Or maybe the adults were just stricter. We'd never have played a game like that, we were a bunch of little crybabies.

We were even made to play some form of "safe" rugby in gym (it had a specific name that I can't recall - we weren't allowed to tackle or bodily attack others). I've still never been taught proper rugby rules...

I wonder if this is another example of adults smothering each new generation more and more...?

-Viracocha

Subject: RE: Folklore: Tag (the game)
From: Janie
Date: 21 Aug 07 - 11:27 PM

Hi Kent,

I was responding to your post of 8/20 at 10:13 pm about freeze tag. You happened to post a response tonight to LEJ while I was typing. Your most recent post wasn't up there when I started typing, or I would have been more specific about what I responding to. (about which that to which I was responding:^)

Sorry for the confusion.

Janie

Subject: RE: Folklore: Tag (the game)
From: Kent Davis
Date: 21 Aug 07 - 10:59 PM

Janie,
I apologize in advance for being dense, but what is the issue and what is the problem to which you are referring? If it is the term "queer", the only issue was whether or not we said taboo words. That particular word was taboo. I doubt very much if my friends even knew what the word meant to adults.
Kent

Subject: RE: Folklore: Tag (the game)
From: Janie
Date: 21 Aug 07 - 10:54 PM

Now that I think about, we did not have a
'home base' in tag or in freeze tag.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Tag (the game)
From: Lonesome EJ
Date: 21 Aug 07 - 10:46 PM

I exaggerated a tad, Kent. No strangling, but no real rules about what techniques could be used to take down the ball carrier, either. Tackling, true, but the piling on was the worst. I remember plenty of bloody knees, black eyes, and torn shirts. We usually played out of sight of any adults, who tended to frown on this activity. I guess it was a sort of an early "fight club".

Subject: RE: Folklore: Tag (the game)
From: Janie
Date: 21 Aug 07 - 10:41 PM

Kent,

I don't recall it ever being much of an issue. There were a bunch of kids in my neighborhood, and simple peer pressure may have taken care of that problem.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Tag (the game)
From: Kent Davis
Date: 21 Aug 07 - 10:37 PM

Lonesome EJ,

The game you call "smear" was played by my father (born 1937) in Kegley, WV. He called it "hahchemahlee" which is, I would guess, how a little Anglo boy in the '40s heard "hot tamale".
We played the same game in Orangeburg, SC, in the late '60s and early '70s. I called it "Smear the Quarterback", as did my friends if an adult was listening. If not, they usually called it "Smear the Queer". The "queer" was whoever had the ball.
We did not allow strangling. It was an all against one tackle and rough, but not that rough.
Kent

Subject: RE: Folklore: Tag (the game)
From: Lonesome EJ
Date: 21 Aug 07 - 10:20 PM

In Louisville Kentucky circa 1964, we used to play Smear, and I have sometimes wondered whether other kids in other places played it, or if it was a perverse local phenomenon.
It took five or six people, always males, and a football. The game began with all standing in a circle around the ball until somebody got the nerve to pick it up and run with it, at which point everyone else would tackle, kick, beat, gouge, and strangle(smear) the ball carrier. Once the ball carrier was forced to relinquish the ball, we would stand around it again until someone else picked it up, and the brutality was repeated. It was more like a male puberty ritual than a real game, I suppose.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Tag (the game)
From: Bonecruncher
Date: 21 Aug 07 - 08:22 PM

Viracocha
In UK trousers for girls were never worn in school until about the early 1970's.
By that time the girls referred to by Mr. Happy were probably allowing balls of a different type to be near their upper thighs!

Colyn.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Tag (the game)
From: HouseCat
Date: 21 Aug 07 - 12:55 PM

We played "Devil In The Ditch" - you had to have a good-sized ditch, which we did. The "devil" stood at the bottom of the ditch and the poor souls he was trying to steal ran back and forth across the ditch as fast as they could as the devil tried to tag them. First one tagged was the new devil. Our ditch had steep sides and we had lots of skinned knees but it was great fun.
We also played "Colored Eggs" which required a wolf, a hen, and an assortment of chicks. Each chick secretly chose a color. The wolf came and KNOCK KNOCK KNOCKED on the door. The hen answered with, "What do you want?" and the wolf replied, "I want to buy some colored eggs!"
"What color?" the hen would ask, and the wolf would start naming colors until he called one that a chick had chosen. Said chick would then take off running around the yard until it was either tagged by the wolf or made it safely back to the hen. The most fun was trying to think of colors so rare (from the Crayola box) that the wolf would never think of them. Last chick standing won, or if the wolf got them all, he won.
Both were played in the 60's and before, in rural Alabama.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Tag (the game)
From: Viracocha
Date: 21 Aug 07 - 08:28 AM

Thanks everyone.

I never played Queenie - but few of us wore skirts past a certain age (and the school was mixed).

We didn't have freeze-tag, but if people stood too long on "dell", we counted down from ten. At zero, we could jump on dell and grab anyone still left (our "dell" tended to be a low step - or 3 low steps - not a wall, as the walls had those little jabby stones. Sometimes it was the wall, but there was a lot of wall, so that wasn't very fair).

And I remember "Port Starboard Bow Stern" very well from parties, gym AND Brownies. There were many commands such as:

Captain's coming (stand to attention)
Captain's gone (look relieved and stand relaxed)
Climb the rigging (mime climbing rigging - looks like a midair doggy paddle)
Swab the deck (mime scrubbing the floor)
Up periscope (lie on back and lift one leg)

But I don't remember "Boom Overhead" or "Man the lifeboats".

-Viracocha

Subject: RE: Folklore: Tag (the game)
From: GUEST,CrazyEddie
Date: 21 Aug 07 - 07:04 AM

Queenie, Queenie, who has the ball?
Is she big, or is she small?
Is she fat, or is she thin?,
Or is she like a safe-eh-tee-pin*?

Subject: RE: Folklore: Tag (the game)
From: GUEST,CrazyEddie
Date: 21 Aug 07 - 07:00 AM

Bee 07 Aug:
Besides 'It' tag, Shadow tag and Freeze Tag, in Cape Breton (50s, 60s) we played a tag game called Ghost in the Cellar.
We called it "Witch in the well", but the water, knife, chasing etc. was the same. The phrase & responses were very specific, & if you were the youngest, you made sure you were two steps away before the withch said "knife".

Bonecruncher 20 Aug
One, Two, Three, Me Mother caught a bee.
She put it in the teapot, To make a cup of tea.
The bee flew out, mammy gave a shout,
And in came Johhny, with his shirt hangin' OUT.

This could be used to select who wasn't "IT"

Queenie was never played at my (boys only) school, but I'd sometimes play it at home with my sisters. (They had to pronlise not to tell anyone though!)

Subject: RE: Folklore: Tag (the game)
From: Mr Happy
Date: 21 Aug 07 - 05:15 AM

Bonecruncher.

I recall the girls "Queenie" game you mentioned, though in my neighbourhood, it was called "Queenio-Coco"

Down our way, the girls often invited me & other boys to play as well.

After the thrown ball had been hidden, the chant was:
'Queenio-Coco, who's got the ball ee-o?'

Boys were at a great disadvantage in hiding the ball because they wore shorts or trousers, whereas the girls in those days [1950's] wore dresses or skirts.

They'd slyly shove the ball up under their skirt & hold it between their upper thighs, so when the searcher sought it, they could turn all around without the ball being detected!

Subject: RE: Folklore: Tag (the game)
From: Kent Davis
Date: 20 Aug 07 - 10:13 PM

How did you keep freeze-tag players from standing right by the safe area so that it was impossible to tag them? We* told them not to "guard the base". My children** say:
"One, two, three,
Get off my father's apple tree".
How did you keep the one who is "it" from standing right by a "frozen" player so that it is impossible to "un-freeze" them. We had no special terms that I recall, but my children tell the one who is "it" to stop "baby-sitting" or to stop "dog-guarding".

* Lived in Southern West Virginia '60 to '66, Low Country South Carolina '66 to '72
** Living in Appalachian Ohio

Kent

Subject: RE: Folklore: Tag
From: Bonecruncher
Date: 20 Aug 07 - 08:33 PM

One, Two, Three.
Mother caught a flea.
She put it in the teapot
And made a cup of tea.

That was another "counting-out" rhyme, used in the Southampton area of UK.

Two of the games described by Mr. Happy actually did have rules, although perhaps in his area or school the had not been passed "down the line", so to speak.

The object of British Bulldog was for one or two persons to be in the centre of the play area, be it a large room, hall or playground, and the other competitors lined up against the wall on one side of the area. At a signal all the competitors would rush to try to get to the other side of the area while those in the middle tried to catch one of them. It was then required for the two "catchers" to lift the caught person off the ground, holding him airborne while shouling "British Bulldog". The caught person would then join the catchers in the middle. The winner was the person who was last left uncaught.

"Port and Starboard" also had additional commands, such as "Boom Overhead" when one would have to lie flat to avoid being struck by the (imaginary) boom of a sailing ship. "Bow" and "Stern" also involved rushing to the requisite part of the "ship". "Man the lifeboats" involved the competitors forming themselves into fours (or sixes if a large group) and sitting line astern. As was said above, it was devil take the hindmost as regards to who was "out".

"Pirates" has already been described but another playground game, usually played by girls, (yes, we were very sexist in those days but playgrounds were divided into "girls" and "boys") was a ball game known as "Queenie" which involved an individual throwing a tennis ball backwards over their head towards a line of other competitors stood behind them. The ball, having been caught by one of the line was then secreted behind a back, sometimes with surreptitious passing along the line. At the call of "Queenie, Queenie, who's got the ball?" the thrower would then be required to turn around and guess who held the ball. If the guess was correct then the ball-holder would become the thrower, otherwise the thrower would throw again.

There was another game, whose name I cannot remember.
It involved two teams, one crouching against a wall to make a long back, often longer than the vaulting box in the gym, while the other team vaulted onto the long back. The object was to get the other team to break, when they would have to reform their long back. If the team macking the back could hold up the combined weight of all of the other team, they had won and the teams changed over.

Colyn.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Tag
From: Rusty Dobro
Date: 20 Aug 07 - 11:42 AM

Don't worry, Viracocha, many British children are still required to learn long passages off by heart - they're called the Koran.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Tag
From: Mr Happy
Date: 20 Aug 07 - 08:05 AM

Both at primary school & in the cubs, there were a variety of games set up by teacher/akela/cubmaster.

Most were rough & tumble sorts & some I didn't like at all.

One of these was 'British Bulldog' & seemed to consist of random running about in a crowd of small boys, then grabbing each others goolies [AAAAAAArrrrgggggggh!!] & shouting 'British Bulldog!' for no apparent reason.

Another was one where the leader would shout 'Port' or 'Starboard' & the teams had to run to the right or left.

Those who got confused & ran wrong way got eliminated & winners were the team with most left at time period.

A game I did enjoy, played both in school & away was 'Pirates', very similar to 'off ground tag/tick' described above, the school gym version being particularly good with having ropes to swing from place to place.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Tag
From: Viracocha
Date: 20 Aug 07 - 04:45 AM

In reply to DonD - I'm in North-East Scotland, sorry if I didn't say.
And Geoff the Duck - our PE hall had lines like that. Our plyaground only had Netball lines, that's where our Tig-on-the-Line came from. But no one knew the rules, or even if 'It' was allowed to leave the lines, or if anyone could 'hop' onto other lines (such as the circle in the middle).

-Viracocha

Subject: RE: Folklore: Tag
From: open mike
Date: 16 Aug 07 - 08:48 PM

ok, so how did the word "tag" come to mean (musical thread....)
a repeat of the last line of a song?

and then there is "bridge" .... which is somrt of line a chorus,
but not....

Subject: RE: Folklore: Tag
From: GUEST,Scabby Douglas
Date: 16 Aug 07 - 08:30 PM

In Glasgow it was "Tig", and the nominated catcher was "Het".

The truce word was "keys" - always said with fists closed, and thumbs pointing upwards. The safe area was the "den", and reaching the den, you were only safe if you had said "In den, one-two-three!"

Subject: RE: Folklore: Tag
From: Geoff the Duck
Date: 16 Aug 07 - 07:41 PM

I just remembered "Tram Lines" which we played at primary school on the playground.
It was marked out with lines for Football (5-a side soccer), Rounders and others, possibly tennis.
The result was a whole load of lines in different colours.
You were allowed to run along the lines, but not allowed to leave the lines. You could change to a different line if it intersected the one you were on.
As usual we had a person who was "It" and they had to chase along the same line to catch you up. They couldn't tig you from a parallel line, even if they could reach you to touch. They had to be on the same line you were on.

Quack
GtD.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Tag
From: Geoff the Duck
Date: 16 Aug 07 - 07:34 PM

With Tig there would be local rules about whether you could tig back the person who had just tigged you. Sometimes they were safe until another person became "It" and could have a short rest. On other occasions two players would just keep tigging each other, giving the rest of us a break.

"Off the ground tig" was usually played in school, usually in the gym during a games lesson. You were allowed on wall bars, benches, forms, vaulting horses ropes and the likes, on blue mats but were not allowed to touch the wooden floor. Equipment was arranged so that there were various escape routes.

Quack!
GtD.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Tag
From: Geoff the Duck
Date: 16 Aug 07 - 07:26 PM

Bradford, West Yorks (West Yorkshire for them as didn't live there), England, Europe, The World, The Universe etc. etc.
Sticking specifically to "Tig" games local to me - 1960's.

Tig was called Tig, not tag.
There was no break during a game of tig. It was generally all in the open, no hiding, no safe area, no "time out" words. If you stood still, you would get tigged and would be "It".

Choosing rhymes - a couple used, but probably Dip Dip Dip.
This was an elimination rhyme :-
Dip, dip dip.
My blue ship.
Sails on the water.
Like a cup and saucer.
YOU DO NOT HAVE IT!

The person pointed at when the rhyme hit "IT" stood out, safe, and the rhyme started at the next person in the circle with Dip again. Finally only one was left and they were "It".

In Hide and seek you hid until found.

Some people have mentioned a can kicking game.
Our local one was "Tin Can Squat".
It was a cross between Tig and Hide and seek.
A tin can was put in the middle of the road. About ten or twenty twigs were broken off a bush or tree. They were placed in the tin can.
The person who would be "It" was chosen.
Somebody else then kicked the can, sending the twigs flying.
"It" then had to gather up the twigs and put them back in the can before they could go searching for the rest of the players.
If they found a player they both raced back to the can. If "It" got there first, the player had to stay there, caught. If the player beat "It" they kicked the can and all caught players were free to run off and hide again until twigs were back in the can.

If "It" was fast, all players ended caught.
Sometimes a brave player would leave their hiding place and run to kick the can, hoping that "It" didn't spot them and get back to base before they did.

A singer whose name I can't at the moment recall, (Graham something? - looking at gig list of the Topic Folk Club probably Graham Shaw) wrote a song with chorus :-

Tin Can Squat, Tin Can Squat.
That's the game we used to play,
(We'd) Kick the can and run away
Why don't they do the same today,
Tin Can Squat.

Quack!
GtD.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Tag
From: DonD
Date: 16 Aug 07 - 05:42 PM

First, thanks to all for the memories and especially for the consideration of specifying the geography. No thanks to those who think that saying 'here' is of any use at all. Or perhaps they think they're so famous that everyone knows where they're from.

In The Bronx (does everyone know where that is?) when I was a kid in the thirties (!) we played tag and hide & seek (not hide and go seek) and kick the can, among other street games. Car traffic on our residential streets was sparse, and we resented having to interrupt our play when a motorist appeared. Among the popular games was 'War' which involved placing a rubber ball (a spaldeen if we had one) in the center hole of a manhole cover in the middle of the street, drawing a large segmented chalk circle around it and writing the name of a country in each segment. The players stood with one foot in his segment, leaning away to make a fast getaway but stretching an arm toward the ball. Whoever was it first called "I declare war on ---(naming a country)". The player in the named segment lunged for the ball while everyone else ran in all directions, until the ball-holder yelled 'stop!' He/she then had to throw the ball and try to hit the most vulnerable player. If he hit someone that player would be the one to declare war the next time; if he missed, or if his target caught the ball, the thrower would get to declare war. The choice of country names was always influenced by the news of the day and the politics we heard our parents discussing the night before.
Don't get me stared on 'ring-a-levio', because I can't remember the rules.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Tag
From: Viracocha
Date: 16 Aug 07 - 04:09 AM

Thanks for all the examples, btw...
---
Guest,PMB: I didn't get a chance to learn Latin in school, but an online translator says "tangere" can mean three different things:
-touch, strike
-border on, influence
-mention

And the first one sounds very likely. Though that doesn't really explain the French "Cat", but that one probably developed on its own, seperate from tig/tag/tick/ticky. Thanks ^_^
---
Azizi: We never played hide-and-seek at school - at least, not once we were about 7 or older (not a cultural thing, just a lack of hiding places and a large amount of kids in the way). But when we played it elsewhere, we only ever counted, then said ready-or-not-here-I-come - I doubt we'd have remembered all of "All hid!" I still find children learning long rhymes like that very impressive.

But then, I did read somewhere that young children used to be made to learn enormous poems (not to mention bible passages) in Britain, not so long ago. They were sometimes called upon to recite poetry to their elders, and they tried, or were forced, to memorise many different ones. And since that is no longer done in or out of schools (well, in those that follow a government curriculum - I suppose some schools might still force memorising of poetry), that part of our brains isn't developed at a young age and, consequently, we find it more difficult to memorise rhymes/poems (or, arguably, to memorise ANYTHING) in later life. Which is a shame, because oral traditions will get lost. I suppose that's what Mudcat is for. Anyway, I digress...
---
Bert: We played:

Stick-in-the-mud

Polo (no, not the thing with horses)
Tag
Rangers 1-2-3 (a game we were very proud of having invented)
Fishy, Fishy, Swim my Ocean
Tig-on-the-Line (NO ONE knew the rules)
Skipping [with a rope or a french-skipping-rope, mostly by girls]
Hand-clapping [mostly by girls]
Kings and Queens arriving [I discussed this in detail on another thread]
Football [only in a certain area, for one year at a time]
Hopscotch [VERY rarely]
Mummies and Daddies [only the REALLY wee kids]

I collect marbles. I think it's such a shame that no kids up here know how to play it :(

-Viracocha

Subject: RE: Folklore: Tag
From: GUEST,PMB
Date: 14 Aug 07 - 07:31 AM

I'd guess that 'tag', 'tiggy', 'tick' etc. are derived from Latin tangere (tango present tense, tetigi imperfect, tactum participle), so from schoolday Latin along with 'pax'.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Tag
From: Viracocha
Date: 13 Aug 07 - 07:30 AM

And I was always told "S.P!" meant "Stop Please!", but I always though the people talling me that sounded a bit unsure...

-Viracocha

Subject: RE: Folklore: Tag
From: Viracocha
Date: 13 Aug 07 - 07:22 AM

Wow. I didn't expect this much response! Or this many varieties...

There's a lot of these 'choosing it' rhymes on other pages - such as here . Actually, a lot of those were posted by me :S We had several...

As for the 'time out', we crossed our fingers and yelled "S.P!", my mum said "pax" as a child, and the teachers tried to make us make a T with our hands and say "Time Out" when we were in P.E. (gym). And it was ALWAYS called "tig-and-tag", but when we called out "tig", almost never saying "tag", but it was always "tag, you're it" if we did the full version. I wonder why that was?

I'm surprised "Stick-in-the-mud" wasn't mentioned, but maybe that was just a local thing...our gym teachers knew it, and my brownie/rainbow/guide leaders all knew it, and we often played it in the playground. Very much like "tig and tag" (or whatever everyone else called it), but when you "tigged" someone, they had to freeze with their feet apart and their arms spread wide (not freeze in the position they were caught). The teachers/leaders made us go under the legs of the frozen people to save them; we played it ourselves as going under the arm (far quicker, and far far better when there were people of different sizes [tall/large person squeezing under short/small person=embarressing], and genders, and with skirts). The trick was to "tig" all of the people before they could unstick the others. There were usually several "It"s. You had to say "Stick-in-the-mud" rather than "tig".

((Does anyone have any old books that might shed some light on which came first - tig or tick(y)? The two words must be related somehow.))

-Viracocha

Subject: RE: Folklore: Tag
From: Snuffy
Date: 09 Aug 07 - 09:18 AM

Spot on, Les. Ryton on Tyne

Subject: RE: Folklore: Tag
From: Les from Hull
Date: 09 Aug 07 - 08:38 AM

Snuffy - the Opies would locate your cousins in Northumberland or Durham.