Where do kids learn stuff??

[Greg]

"At school dummy!"

This would be the usual answer but that's not what I'm pondering here. I mean 'kid's stuff'.

For example: Jingle bells, Batman smells, Robin laid an egg. etc.

or

Bloody Mary

or

Jinx

Where do they learn this crap? Seriously.

I mean me personally? I learned it from my classmates. I didn't instantly conjure up this stuff in my head. But where do they get it from???

Now here's the kicker. There's only two big sources right?

Adults or television.

Right? But since not all of this jargon finds its way onto television (and while some of it does, it's not likely that many children would come in contact with it unless it was on Spongebob) it has to be adults teaching their kids these cultural flowers of childhood.

And now here's the final pondering:

HOW DO ADULTS REMEMBER THIS SHYT!?

I mean seriously, I had to wrack my brain to come up with three examples but I know for a fact that almost every day my classmates were coming up with new things that have been around loooong before any of us were born. How do adults (a category in which I suppose I should include myself starting this year -_-) remember this crap???

[OnePieceLover12]

@Greg:

"At school dummy!"

This would be the usual answer but that's not what I'm pondering here. I mean 'kid's stuff'.

For example: Jingle bells, Batman smells, Robin laid an egg. etc.

or

Bloody Mary

or

Jinx

Where do they learn this crap? Seriously.

I mean me personally? I learned it from my classmates. I didn't instantly conjure up this stuff in my head. But where do they get it from???

Now here's the kicker. There's only two big sources right?

Adults or television.

Right? But since not all of this jargon finds its way onto television (and while some of it does, it's not likely that many children would come in contact with it unless it was on Spongebob) it has to be adults teaching their kids these cultural flowers of childhood.

And now here's the final pondering:

HOW DO ADULTS REMEMBER THIS SHYT!?

I mean seriously, I had to wrack my brain to come up with three examples but I know for a fact that almost every day my classmates were coming up with new things that have been around loooong before any of us were born. How do adults (a category in which I suppose I should include myself starting this year -_-) remember this crap???

Well, Greg, in my opinion, all of us learn things that are impossible to forget. Nursery rhymes, certain phrases, etc. And people take those things into adulthood and teach them to their kids, and, as they say, the cycle continues.

[captain usopp]

I remember some stuff. I remember those sick "little johnny" stories the boys came up with. (not pg-13 apropriate either mind you) I often wondered myself where this stuff comes from. kids just arn't that clever and creative, yet, the childishness of it is just beyond adults. I'm gonna blame the pre-teens for coming up with all this wierd stuff. It's right up their ally.

At least that's the only theory that I can come up with.

[Greg]

Nursery rhymes, certain phrases, etc

Okay! Perfect example!!!!! Thank you!

Nursery Ryhmes right?

Give me a book of them and sure, I can remember saying them when I was a kid. But I need a book to remember just about all of the lines in them not to mention half of what they were.

[captain usopp]

hickory dickory dock, the mouse ran up the clock. The clock struck one, the mouse ran down, hickory dickory dock.

I also have theme songs to most of the cartoons I watched as a kid memorized.

Hey, everyone is different. I can't remember names worth a damn. start talking about actors. I'll have no clue.

[Paulie]

I didn't remember that one, captain usopp, until you said it. ;o

[CosmicDebris]

Kids have minds like a steel trap. All the little songs, jokes and rhymes I learned as a kid, I still remember them. When old people get Alzheimers, often the last things they remember are things from childhood. They're very deeply imprinted on our brains.

We did all that Bloody Mary stuff, Light as a feather, stiff as a board, jinx…funny how it just gets passed down from kid to kid...who started it? Who knows, try looking it up.
We know that some really old stuff is kind of morbid...like Ring around the Rosey = the Plague. Who keeps passing that one down? Yeesh.

I remember a lot of nursery rhyme and folk song type stuff:

! Jack Sprat, could eat no fat, his wife could eat no lean. So betwixt the two of them, they licked their platters clean
! Humpty Dumpty sat on a Wall
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall
All the kinds horses and all the kings men
Couldn't put Humpty back together again.
! Fuzzy Wuzzy Was a bear
Fuzzy Wuzzy had no hair
Fuzzy Wuzzy wasn't fuzzy was he?
! Pocket full of six-pence a pocket full of rye
4 and 20 blackbirds baked in a pie
When the pie was opened the birds began to sing
Was that not a dainty dish to set before the king?
! Miss Merry Mack, Mack, Mack
All dressed in black, black, black
With silver buttons, buttons, buttons
Down her back, back back
She asked her mother, mother mother
For fifty cents, cents, cents
To see the elephant, elephant, elephant
jump the fence, fence fence
He jumped so high, high, high
He touched the sky, sky, sky
and he won't be back, back, back
'Till the fourth of July, July, July
!
! And probably a whole lot more songs. I don't think think they teach kids old folk songs as much as they used to now.

[oceanizer]

At least I know my friends and I were the one who created our junior high school's seven mysteries (七不思議). We were the first generation in the newly-built school. It was satisfying when I heard from my friend that his younger siblings' generation still keep the seven mysteries that we created.

[Solar Knight]

@Paulie:

I didn't remember that one, captain usopp, until you said it. ;o

Neither did I. I think things like that just go somewhere in the back of your mind, forgotten until reminded.

I'd love to know who started things such as cooties, jinx, Bloody Mary (does anyone here know of a variation of it called Mr. Clown?)… racks brain and... can't think of anymore.

[GearSecond]

I have no clue.

Everyone learns it from other people. So maybe some kids 50 years ago did sometihng that caught on. A precursor to internet memes, perhaps? Except they don't die because everyone passes thorugh school and everyone has older brtohers/sisters or adults who learned the same jokes and stuff, and tells the little kids, who then pass it on to other kids and so on and it jsut passes down.

Besides no company would put those things on TV, I mean, like they would never think of them.

[Captain Kuro]

@CosmicDebris:

Fuzzy Wuzzy Was a bear
Fuzzy Wuzzy had no hair
Fuzzy Wuzzy wasn't fuzzy was he?

Hey, I remember that one.

My brother and I came up with tons of stuff when we were young. I don't mean rhymes or anything, but just stories and things only we understand (and we still remember most of it to this day). But there would be no use in trying to explain all the stuff to others, because I don't see how anybody but my brother and I could understand any of it.

[Greg]

Did anybody learn:

"Crack an egg on your head, watch it fall down your back, stick a knife in your back, spider crawls up and back" along with the appropriate movements to give someone chills.

Or is that a northwestern Jersey thing?

Anyway, this thread has actually generated an answer to the initial (main) question which is, how do they learn stuff. And someone suggested that kids simply pass it on to kids. Wow. Isn't that amazing. You've got this constant cycle of stuff being passed on before being forgotten and then picked up only to be passed on and forgotten again. That thought never even crossed my mind because of how quickly that cycle works.

Aren't humans spiffy?

[Pants-eater]

I, as a kid, learnt all this shyt at school.

And some lame joke books. And some lame joke site permitted by school internet restrictions.

Siblings also help.

[CosmicDebris]

@Greg:

Did anybody learn:

"Crack an egg on your head, watch it fall down your back, stick a knife in your back, spider crawls up and back" along with the appropriate movements to give someone chills.

Yep, I had someone do something like that to me, I don't remember the knife part though.

Anyway, this thread has actually generated an answer to the initial (main) question which is, how do they learn stuff. And someone suggested that kids simply pass it on to kids. Wow. Isn't that amazing. You've got this constant cycle of stuff being passed on before being forgotten and then picked up only to be passed on and forgotten again. That thought never even crossed my mind because of how quickly that cycle works.

There's multiple grades in school, so if you have something spread amongst 1-6 graders in one school, it'll still be on campus for several years before the youngest leave the school. And then they may spread it to their siblings, or friends from other schools.

What I find even more funny is how certain expressions are present only in certain age levels. Like kids saying "I FLICKED him off" instead of flipped. Kids said that when I was in elementary school, but everyone my age says flipped…but I still hear kids saying "flicked" now.

And then there's stuff like "NOT!" and "Psyche! (Syke?)" and "um, hello?" which cycle around until they become overused in the media that nobody uses them anymore.

[Local-chan]

its just those things you pick up from around you lol, like insecure guys peeing 2 urinals away from the next guy, its just one of 'them' things that you learn for no apparent reason XD

[Gear_2nd]

i think part of the behavior that kids learn is from their parents and part of it from school. depends on the situation and terms

[MarshalD.Teach]

they learn it from reading books and watching nba i think

[taboo]

So so, suck my toe, all the way to mexico~

Fatty fatty two by four, couldn't get through the bathroom door, so he did it on the floor~

! Miiiiiiiss Suzie had a steamboat, the steamboat had a bell (toot toot!)
The steamboat went to heaven, miss suzie went to hello operator
give me number 9, and if you disconnect me,
I'll kick you from behind the frigerator, there was a piece of glass,
miss suzie sat upon it, and broke her little ask me no more questions,
tell me no more lies, the boys are in the bathroom, zipping up their flies
the cows are in the pasture, making chocolate pies
there is another flavor, cherry coconut,
and if you do not like it, I'll shove it up your butt!

[Roz]

@Greg:

Did anybody learn:

"Crack an egg on your head, watch it fall down your back, stick a knife in your back, spider crawls up and back" along with the appropriate movements to give someone chills.

Or is that a northwestern Jersey thing?

That was all the rage in fifth grade. It's definitely not confined to NW Jersey.

Actually, ours was more like "Crack an egg on your head and the yolk runs down" at the beginning.

[Cr4zy]

I think parents and teachers are the source for this and they remember these little rhymes and such from their childhood memories, maybe they can recall from looking at old photos or such. And yeah, like ComicDebris said, kids' minds are like a steel trap. We remember these fun times for the rest of our lives because being a kid was the most of fun parts of our life. At least, that's what I think.

[captain usopp]

I always grew up with the "jinx" thing, where you had to say the person's name before they could talk. Well, my 40yr old friend from school, caught me a couple of times, but she said instead, you owe me a beer. I've never heard that before then.

Also, I remember when I was a brownie leader for girl guides, I would catch myself, and say "what in the hey" (hell) My little brownies heard this and thought they'd be cool, and say "what in the hay". And then one said "what in the barn" Kids have an interesting way of interpreting things, and twisting them around. XD it was cute though.

[bevin]

It's interesting that all of us, from all over the country had these little schoolyard jingles. There are some variations, of course (the version I grew up with didn't have 'crack an egg on your head' but most of the rest of that was the same or very similar), but the basic ones are the same. All those double-dutch rhymes, the inappropriate jokes (did anyone else have the 'me Chinese, me play joke, me go pee-pee in your Coke' routine?), I remember learning them from school, of course, but why do we all learn the same jokes at the same age no matter where we are across the country? Is it a sort of 'collective unconscience' thing or do we pick them up from older kids who learned them from older kids, etc etc, like a giant game of telephone that crosses generations? I'm probably thinking about it too much. ^^

[Greg]

'me Chinese, me play joke, me go pee-pee in your Coke' routine

TOTAL FLASHBACK!!!!! Wow, good-old culturally hurtful kid's things.

[Buuhan1]

I learned it from other kids my age, mainly in school. Mind I usually didn't do any of them myself. I never got up the courage to do "Bloody Mary". XD

[taboo]

I played Bloody Mary in the school's bathroom during lunch in the 6th grade with a bunch of girls. I was the lights girl. :3 Our lights were controlled with keys, but if you bent a paper clip just right and stuck it in the slot, then moved it up and down fast, it would work the lights. Eventually we got the guys to do it too, then we all got caught one day. Me and the boy light-guy got sent to the principal's office, but I got off easy because I used a plastic coated paper clip (no chance of shock I guess.)

[Crickeylynn]

@Greg:

Did anybody learn:

"Crack an egg on your head, watch it fall down your back, stick a knife in your back, spider crawls up and back" along with the appropriate movements to give someone chills.

We did something like that. I think it went Big X little X question mark dot. Spiders crawling up your back, spiders crawling down, spiders crawling up you back, it bites blood comes rushing down. Tight squeeze (you would squeeze their shoulders) cool breeze (blow on their neck) Now you got the shiveree (run your fingers up their arms)

Yes children are quite amazing when i comes to learning stuff like that. And the younger ones pick it up from the older ones.

And here is an example at how good their memory is on things like that. I used to be a preschool teacher at a daycare. I had four year olds. One of them was sitting there coloring and singing "whatcha eatin, eating chocolate, where did ya get it, doggy dropped it, where did he drop it, in the sewer, Oh my got it's cow manure. I asked her where she heard it, her older sis was singing the night before.

[Carly]

Check wit' it.

erhem

Miss Suzy had a steamboat
The steamboat had a bell
Miss Suzy went to heaven
the steamboat went to HELLlllo operator
Please give me number nine
and if you disconnect me
I'll kick you from BEHIIIND the frigerator
there was a piece of glass
Miss Suzy sat upon it
and cut her little ASSSKKkk me no more questions
tell me no more lies
the boys are in the bathroom
zipping up their FLIIIES are in the meadow
bees are in the park
Miss Suzy and her boyfriend
are kissing in the d-a-r-k d-a-r-k dark dark DARKer than the ocean
darker than the sea
darker than the pantyhose my mother puts on me
my brother is annoying
my dad is from Hong Kong
my stupid little sister is the one who wrote this song

^____________^

[CosmicDebris]

Oh wow, I remember that…That's one of those hand clapping things isn't it? I think someone tried to teach me it but I never really did those things.

[captain usopp]

where I'm from it was "me chinese, me not dumb, me stick finger up my bum" pardon the foulness of that; it's really how it went.

I remember the skipping rhyme:
Ol' gramere, she sat on an electric chair
burnt off her underwear, in popped a polar bear,
and out popped she.

(when the polar bear popped in, a new person jumps in the rope, and the old person jumps out, when gramere popps out.)

[megakazul]

@Carly:

Check wit' it.

erhem

Miss Suzy had a steamboat
The steamboat had a bell
Miss Suzy went to heaven
the steamboat went to HELLlllo operator
Please give me number nine
and if you disconnect me
I'll kick you from BEHIIIND the frigerator
there was a piece of glass
Miss Suzy sat upon it
and cut her little ASSSKKkk me no more questions
tell me no more lies
the boys are in the bathroom
zipping up their FLIIIES are in the meadow
bees are in the park
Miss Suzy and her boyfriend
are kissing in the d-a-r-k d-a-r-k dark dark DARKer than the ocean
darker than the sea
darker than the pantyhose my mother puts on me
my brother is annoying
my dad is from Hong Kong
my stupid little sister is the one who wrote this song

^____________^

The version i know…was similar to yours 'cept...

Miss Suzy and her boyfriend
are kissing in the d-a-r-k d-a-r-k dark dark dark
the dark was like a movie
the movie's like a show
the show was like a tvshow
and that is all i know
i know i kno my ma
i know i know my pa
i know i know my sister and her teenytiny teenytiny bra bra bra

my mother is godzilla
my father is king kong
my sister is the idiot who made me sing this song

i know a flavored icecream
cherry coconut
and if you do not like it
i will shove it up your b-u-t-t b-u-t-t butt butt butt

Miss Suzy had a steamboat
The steamboat had a bell
Miss Suzy went to heaven
the steamboat went to HELLlllo operator
Please give me number ten
And if you disconnect me I will sing this song again repeat regardless

! On cooties
! circle circle dot dot
now you have the cootie shot
circle circle square square
now you have it everywhere
circle circle knife knife
now you have it all your life
! song parodies
! Yankeedoodle went to town
riding on a heater
accidentally turned it on
and then burned off his weener.
! Yankeedoodle went to town
riding on his mother
accidentally hit a bump
and had a baby brother.
! Joy to the world
that Barney's dead
we barbecued his head
what happened to his body
we flushed it down the potty
and round and round it goes
and round and round it goes
and that was the end of Barney.
! Rhyme games:
! Coca cola went to town
Diet pepsi knocked him down
Dr. Pepper picked him up
Now I'm drinking Seven up
Seven up, caught the flu
now I'm drinking mountain dew
Mountain dew fell off the mountain
now I'm drinking from a fountain
just right now the fountain broke
Now I'm back to drinking coke.
! I went to a chinese restaurant
To buy a loaf of bread bread bread
I went to ask the waiter
and this is what he said said said
! **My name is ching chang Charlie
I know karate
punch you in the body
oops i'm sorry.
! **My name is elvis presley
girls are sexy
sitting in the backseat
drinking pepsi.
! Chinese, Japanese, Taiwanese
look at these.
Criss cross applesauce
do me a favor
get lost!!
! Jump Rope:
! Cinderella dressed in yellow
went upstairs to kiss the fellow
made a mistake and kissed a snake
how many doctors will it take?
! And the obligatory…
! "X" and "Y" sitting in a tree
K-I-S-S-I-N-G
First comes love
then comes marriage
then comes baby in a baby carriage
that's not all
that's not all
baby's drinking alcohol
that's not it
that's not it
baby's smoking cigarette!

I learned this from the neighborhood kids that were a year older than me. Heh…at least it relieved me the boredom of waiting for the bus. ...I miss playing hand games. XD