Five on the n****r side

[Abdul Alhazred]

Who played this racist game of dexterity and slapping as a kid? I sure did.

Who even knows what I'm talking about?

Is this just a USA perversion?

[epepke]

Who played this racist game of dexterity and slapping as a kid? I sure did.

Who even knows what I'm talking about?

Is this just a USA perversion?

I never heard of it.

[Abdul Alhazred]

I never heard of it.

Where are you from?

Explanation here:
http://www.freethought-forum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=4925

Maybe I (or somebody) should spin off a thread about kid on kid torture.

[epepke]

Where are you from?

New York City and Sarasota, Florida.

[Spidey13]

Reading your explanation, yes, I have played it, though I never called it that. Actually, I never knew what the heck it was called. However, I do have experience with something similar.

Growing up in Western Kentucky, in a 99.99999999% white area, I did grow up a round a lot of racism and quite a bit of racist terms which I didn't really recognize at the time having not been exposed to people of other races and cultures. When I was a kid, I dabbled in a game that most kids do - where you run up to a house, knock on the door or ring the doorbell and run. Where I grew up, this was called "N****r Knocking." That's all I knew it as and, when I was young, I never even thought about the racial remark within the name. It was just a name. As I got older, I realized how wrong that was and quit using the term, but for the longest time I didn't know what else to call it. When I was about 23 years old, I finally heard someone call it "Ding Dong Dash" which is what I now use to describe this activity.

I've also learned from my 3-year-old daughter that sitting in what used to be called "Indian Style" is now "Cross-Cross Applesauce."

[Abdul Alhazred]

OK. I Think we've gone far enough to justify a general switchboard. Please read all before answering.

FF: http://www.freethought-forum.com/forum/showthread.php?p=126625

SC: http://skepticalcommunity.com/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?p=166264

Moosie: http://europeforum.12.forumer.com/viewtopic.php?p=17317

Jref: http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=46621

[epepke]

OK. I Think we've gone far enough to justify a general switchboard. Please read all before answering.

Hmm... OK, but what was the question again?

I was in NYC from about 1963 to 1973 at 8th avenue and 19th street. It's ritzy now, but back then it was a very mixed neighborhood, and I don't think that we were even particularly aware of the concept of race.

We did "slap me five," and occasionally someone would reverse the hand, but the term for that was "fakeout."

[Jeff Corey]

Never heard of it. Grew up in CT. And even back in the 50s we were told what was polite talk.

[Abdul Alhazred]

Hmm... OK, but what was the question again?

I was in NYC from about 1963 to 1973 at 8th avenue and 19th street. It's ritzy now, but back then it was a very mixed neighborhood, and I don't think that we were even particularly aware of the concept of race.

We did "slap me five," and occasionally someone would reverse the hand, but the term for that was "fakeout."

Must have been a neighborhood thing, then. You're of my era.

The orthodox liberal explanation is that conservative parents teach prejudice. My parents were no conservatives.

I learned prejudice from other kids.

Didn't get better until high school.

[NoZed Avenger]

The orthodox liberal explanation is that conservative parents teach prejudice. My parents were no conservatives.


My parents were. Your orthodox liberal explanation seems lacking.

I was/am unfamiliar with it, as well - Texas.

[Thitical Crinker]

Who played this racist game of dexterity and slapping as a kid? I sure did.

Who even knows what I'm talking about?

Is this just a USA perversion?


West Virginia born and raised here. Never heard of it.

We did say the eeny, meany, miney moe catch a n****r by the toe thing, but at the time I didn't have a concept of racism.

[emperorchaos]

I have never heard of this game... though I am aware of "N****r Knocking" and its opposite term. When we were kids and we did this, we never had a name for it.

I'm from South Carolina, which has been known to be quite a racist area, even though, percentage-wise based on counties, there are more blacks here than in any other states.

Most of my family is racist, or at least prejudiced. I've never been this way... although I must admit the thoughts slip into my mind from time to time since it was the way I was raised. I usually dismiss them by thinking about how horrible white people have been, and how great some black men were (like W. E. B. DuBois, MLK, Jr., and Medgar Evers.) but honestly most of the time I think of everyone as Homo sapiens and realize that race is nothing more than a classification based on color.

[Abdul Alhazred]

All good responses.

My point is that I was brought up anti-racist, but it didn't stick until I was a teenager and really thought about it.

Until then it was peer pressure and parents be damned.

[Flo]

All good responses.

My point is that I was brought up anti-racist, but it didn't stick until I was a teenager and really thought about it.

Until then it was peer pressure and parents be damned.


I was raised in Geneva, Switzerland in the '60. I was the only black kid in all of Geneva schools for years. At the time, racism was concentrated against Southern European migrants, like Italians, Spaniards, later Portuguese, not blacks (this came much later, almost in the 80s). As most kids, I would use derogatory terms towards them, peer pressure indeed, but under the influence of the majority of adults, who would usually express their disdain for people lower than themselves on the socio-economic scale ... even in my family.

[ranson]

Hm . . . also WV born and raised here. Heard the door-knocking term from peers, but we called the slap game "Hot Hands".

Race was never really an issue in my household. There wasn't a lot of diversity in my neighborhood (my elementary school had exactly one non-white child, and he was actually half so), but there was quite a bit more after I entered junior high and high school. It just didn't come up as cause for concern. My older brother dated girls across the spectrum of ethnicity. Most racial comments that I heard in school, even directed at me, were met with confusion at first. Later, I tried to get people to explain why they thought that way. Never got much more than "because".

I can't say that racism doesn't exist, or that I'm absolutely not a racist. I do have prejudices. I try to be aware of them and fight them within myself, and none of them are about someone's vaule as a human being due to skin color. Hell, as noted on another thread, it's not like there's a lot of "pure blood" floating around in anybody's veins, and my parents have great genealogical documentation saying that I'm quite the melting pot. Anything I'd say about others, I'd likely be saying about myself. So why bother?

[LostAngeles]

I thought I had heard of something similar so I checked your explanation. What I'm thinking of is similar, but not entirely. (For the record, lily white town, late 80's/early 90's)

One person would extend their hands with the palms up and the other would put their hands with the palms down on top of the first's palms. The first would then try to slap the the tops of the other's hands before they could pull away.

I don't remember the exact name, but I do remember that particular epithet being used in relation with it.

Of course, it could have been being hurled at me. I only remember the "good" racist events and my memory could be wholly faulty.

[HeyLeroy]

A shoutout to all you West Virginians, I love your state. Was there in '86 on a school spelunking trip and again in '94 for my honeymoon.

Anyone ever heard of a 'purple nurple'?

[Soapy Sam]

When I first read the thread title, I guessed the asterisked word was "nether".

Don't know the game you refer to.
There was a counting rhyme here when I was a kid- "Eenie meeny miney mo, catch the n*r by the toe, if he squeals, let him go, you-are-it. (or "out").
Often, the n-word was replaced by " baby" , which I suspect was the original version. I was probably eighteen before I actually met a black African.

[Checkmite]

When I was about 23 years old, I finally heard someone call it "Ding Dong Dash" which is what I now use to describe this activity.

We referred to it as "Knock Knock, Zoom Zoom".

[epepke]

When I first read the thread title, I guessed the asterisked word was "nether".

Don't know the game you refer to.
There was a counting rhyme here when I was a kid- "Eenie meeny miney mo, catch the n*r by the toe, if he squeals, let him go, you-are-it. (or "out").

When I was a kid, it was "tiger."

By the way, "eenie meenie miney moe" is a remnant of a counting system that predated the Romans. A lot of archaic language is preserved for a long time in childhood rhymes.

[Soapy Sam]

http://www.dukemagazine.duke.edu/alumni/dm15/memory.html

This is interesting. Scroll to the end and read the last section about the counting rhyme itself.

Epepke- you got me thinking about this. Not relevant, but have a quick look.

http://www.slaidburn.org.uk/counting_sheep.htm

[AmateurScientist]

http://www.dukemagazine.duke.edu/alumni/dm15/memory.html


Terrific link. The malleability and fluidity of memories intrigue me. I am fascinated by how infallible we often think our memories are, but they change over time and get influenced by new experiences and by physiological changes in our brains.

Dr. Rubin is right that the new concepts from cognitive science about memory's being so fallible are deeply troubling to lawyers. Courtroom trials rely mostly on testimony from witnesses based on what they remember. Often, the events they testify about happened years earlier. Those memories could be very inaccurate by the time of the trial, or they could even be wrong altogether. Casting so much doubt on their reliability is unsettling to our whole system of jurisprudence.

AS

[zakur]

My friends and I played this as kids, but we did not call it that. Does it still count as a "racist game" then?

[aerosolben]

One person would extend their hands with the palms up and the other would put their hands with the palms down on top of the first's palms. The first would then try to slap the the tops of the other's hands before they could pull away.

I don't remember the exact name, but I do remember that particular epithet being used in relation with it.
I played that, but I don't recall it having a name. It was just the girly version of bloody knuckles: place your fists against your opponent's fists, and attempt to rap him on the knuckles (back of the hand) before he could pull away. Jumping the gun on pulling away earns a free rap.

[bigred]

West Virginia born and raised here. Never heard of it.

We did say the eeny, meany, miney moe catch a n****r by the toe thing, but at the time I didn't have a concept of racism.
We had that and the "n***** rigged" (kind of like jury rigged) thing. But it wasn't intended as a slight of any kind.

Also I'm simply amazed this thread is still open.

[hodgy]

West Virginia born and raised here. Never heard of it.

We did say the eeny, meany, miney moe catch a n****r by the toe thing, but at the time I didn't have a concept of racism.

We said 'eeny meeny miney mo, catch a ****** by the toe, if he squeals let him go, eeny meeny miney mo'.

I can quote it now as I said it then - without any racial implications. We were children and the word '******' had no more meaning or consequence than the word 'miney'.

[hodgy]

We said 'eeny meeny miney mo, catch a ****** by the toe, if he squeals let him go, eeny meeny miney mo'.

I can quote it now as I said it then - without any racial implications. We were children and the word '******' had no more meaning or consequence than the word 'miney'.

I'm not impressed that the JREF censors words like that - I hope that anyone reading will understand the context.

[l0rca]

Reading your explanation, yes, I have played it, though I never called it that. Actually, I never knew what the heck it was called. However, I do have experience with something similar.

Growing up in Western Kentucky, in a 99.99999999% white area, I did grow up a round a lot of racism and quite a bit of racist terms which I didn't really recognize at the time having not been exposed to people of other races and cultures. When I was a kid, I dabbled in a game that most kids do - where you run up to a house, knock on the door or ring the doorbell and run. Where I grew up, this was called "N****r Knocking." That's all I knew it as and, when I was young, I never even thought about the racial remark within the name. It was just a name. As I got older, I realized how wrong that was and quit using the term, but for the longest time I didn't know what else to call it. When I was about 23 years old, I finally heard someone call it "Ding Dong Dash" which is what I now use to describe this activity.

I've also learned from my 3-year-old daughter that sitting in what used to be called "Indian Style" is now "Cross-Cross Applesauce."


We called it "knock knock zoom zoom"

[gerdbonk]

Eenie, Meenie, Miney Mo,
Catch a tiger by the toe.
If he hollers let him go.
Eenie Meenie Miney Moe

According to the Duke University article and others on this thread, the above or something very close to it is the standard for this verse. But it leaves out the extortion and maternal guidance!

Eenie, Meenie, Miney Mo,
Catch a tiger by the toe
If he hollers make him pay
Fifty dollars every day
My-mother-said-to-pick-the-very-best-one-and-you-are-it

Let him go? Let him go?! Fifty bucks a day is a lot of green to let go, especially for a five year old.